Jack Challem
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 Phobias, such as a fear of heights or spiders, are probably the most prevalent form of anxiety and, for many people, are relatively innocuous. Mild phobias (such as a fear of heights) are little more than personality quirks. People who have them typically avoid anxiety-triggering exposures or quickly retreat from them; however, more severe phobias that interfere with day-to-day activities warrant professional treatment.
Some research has found that abdominal obesity—belly fat—is strongly associated with feelings of anxiety. |
Michael Pollan
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 It goes without saying that such a Manichaean view of nutrition is bound to promote food fads and phobias and large abrupt swings of the nutritional pendulum.
Another potentially serious weakness of nutritionist ideology is that, focused so relentlessly as it is on the nutrients it can measure, it has trouble discerning qualitative distinctions among foods. So fish, beef, and chicken through the nutritionist's lens become mere delivery systems for varying quantities of different fats and proteins and whatever other nutrients happen to be on their scope. |
Dr. Arthur Janov
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 There are "successful" cognitive and behavior therapies for phobias, for example. The phobia is now "cured." But its origin is not; it will continue to do its damage.
The thalamus and prefrontal cortex are a reciprocal information service. Sometimes the information sent upward and forward is so overwhelming that it cannot be accepted and integrated. The information is returned to sender. There is a certain nucleus in the thalamus that is the center for the perception and relay of pain. It is in this nucleus that pain can be blocked from its voyage to the prefrontal cortex. |
| Their energy is found in the form of ulcers or irritable bowel, in phobias, and the inability to focus and concentrate. They are the ubiquitous danger, shaping a parallel self—a personality of defenses and the avoidance of pain; a self stuck in history forever. In effect, there is a parallel self, the unreal front; and the real self, the one that feels and hurts. Thus, there are parallel universes that make up the human condition— one that feels and suffers, the other that puts on a good front. |
| This stemmed from the accident, but gradually, with time in Primal Therapy, her phobias disappeared without our ever discussing them directly. The world was dangerous for her and she never knew why; it was dangerous before she even took her first breath. Safety, for her, lay in her cocoon of her home, which was the womb. She felt comfortable in not going out. She kept trying to go back to a safe place, such as the womb was before the accident happened. Being out in the world reawakened the accident and the unconscious terror. |
| It is the kind of thing that bubbles up when defenses are weak and forces the person to adopt all manner of phobias or strange beliefs that may make no sense to others.
When Edith retrieved that memory, it began with a crushing sensation, which was a mystery to both her and the therapist. But the trail led to higher brain structures and finally to the thalamus and then to the neocortex where she was aware of the crushing sensation, the terror, and the fragility. What was missing was the "why." Finally, her mother told her what happened in her eighth month of pregnancy. |
| Unyielding symptoms such as phobias usually derive from the brainstem. Worrying is something that plagues many of us, and is usually expressed as, "What if this or that happens?!" The constant worry is anticipating catastrophe, but what we don't realize is that the catastrophe already has happened; we simply have no access to it. The prefrontal cortices (right and left) are the assembly area where aspects of our history join to become whole, where we gather in disparate aspects of our history. If one goal of psychotherapy is to make a person whole, then memory must be complete and connected. |
John J. Ratey, MD
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 They include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, specific phobias, and social anxiety disorder. They all share the physical symptoms of the severe stress response as well as a similar dysfunction in the brain, namely a cognitive misinterpretation of the situation. The common denominator is irrational dread. The differences are mostly a matter of context.
Someone with generalized anxiety disorder tends to respond to normal situations as if they were threatening—the Nervous Nelly who is afraid of her own shadow or the worrier who sees stressors everywhere. |
Marshall Editions
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 Medication: Benzodiazepines (drugs in the Valium family) are often used to treat severe phobias that are unresponsive to cognitive behavioral therapy. These are addictive and should be used carefully while being monitored by a doctor. There are many side effects, most of which are related to depression.
Lifestyle modification: Meditation and other anxiety-relieving stress-reduction techniques are worth including in an overall treatment plan. |
Dr Ron Roberts
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 Hypnosis can help overcome phobias and more common fears such as dislike of air travel, heights, exams or going to the dentist. Smoking, drug and alcohol addiction and eating disorders can be controlled with hypnosis.
The highest level of co-operation and trust must exist between the patient and the hypnotherapist. At the outset, therapists discuss the patient's problems, what they want to achieve, dispel any perceived concerns, and explain just what will happen during a session. |
Marshall Editions
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| Supplements such as B-complex vitamins, folate, blackcurrant oil, and magnesium aspartate are associated with a reduction of overall anxiety and as such may lead to a reduction of phobias.
TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE
Herbs: The herbs listed below are available from Chinese pharmacies or online. To prepare a formula, place the raw herbs in a glass or ceramic pot and add 3 cups of water. Bring the mixture to a boil and let it simmer for 30 minutes. Strain the liquid and drink 1 cup twice a day. |
| HOMEOPATHY
6
Fears and phobias tend to fall into a chronic category, often going back to childhood, so homeopathic remedies should be administered by an experienced homeopathic practitioner, ideally in combination with additional psychological support such as behavioral therapy. The remedies listed below are included to give an overview of some of the possible homeopathic remedies that can be helpful.
Arsenicum album: If sufferers are perfectionists and crave surroundings that are as neat and orderly as possible, Arsenicum album may be helpful. |
| Fears and phobias (p. 850), and Hyperactivity (p. 855) may be useful.
Passionflower: This herb is used to calm many types of nervous hyperactivity, including panic attacks. It is available in capsule form, as a tincture, or as raw herbs that can be infused to make a tea. The recommended dose of passionflower varies, depending on the person and the severity of symptoms, and it may take several weeks before overall anxiety levels have improved and the frequency of panic attacks have lessened. |
| Extreme fears and phobias should be evaluated by a doctor, as there are many helpful medications and services available.
St. John's wort: When feelings of fear are paired with anxiety and/or depression, St. John's wort can be helpful at relieving symptoms. Current clinical studies show St. John's wort relieves symptoms of mild to severe depression (with or without anxiety), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), all of which are conditions where feelings of fear and anxiety are prevalent. Begin taking 300 mg of the herb standardized to 0. |
Gabriel Cousens
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 In this extraordinary training program you will learn how to turn off the mind and become free from unhealthy habits and negative emotions, self-images, and phobias, allowing you to reconnect with the authentic Self. This course is part of the Six Foundations for Spiritual Life, which prepare you to hold the grace of liberation and open you to living in the pleasure of the Divine Presence. This four-day, all-day, intensive course taught by world-recognized spiritual teacher Gabriel Cousens, who trained as a psychiatrist and family therapist, is Gabriel's approach to Jnana Yoga—Yoga of the Mind. |
Jack Challem
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| People who have them typically avoid anxiety-triggering exposures or quickly retreat from them; however, more severe phobias that interfere with day-to-day activities warrant professional treatment.
Some research has found that abdominal obesity—belly fat—is strongly associated with feelings of anxiety. The specific relationship between obesity and anxiety is not entirely clear, but it's likely that the poor eating habits that cause obesity also result in a deficiency of neuronutrients. |
Marshall Editions
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| Those who suffer from phobias react to the object feared in a manner that is out of proportion to the actual threat posed by it, if indeed there is a threat at all. Sufferers experience feelings of real terror when exposed to the object of the phobia, and even though they know they are not in real physical danger, they are unable to convince themselves of it emotionally. |
Gary Null and Amy McDonald
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 Anxiety disorders include panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and social phobia, as well as other specific phobias. They often co-occur with other mental and/or physical conditions. Although each disorder has a different set of symptoms, common to them all are excessive, irrational fear, and dread. |
Dawson Church
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 These practical techniques have been used successfully to:
Alleviate workplace stress
Decrease workplace injuries
Reduce anxiety in particularly stressful situations
Eliminate phobias such as fear of public speaking, or heights Reduce PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) Improve marital relationships Eliminate allergies Alleviate depression
Produce remission in serious diseases such as cancer
Soul Medicine Institute has also set up the first international database of Energy Psychology case histories. This research tool collects medical and psychiatric diagoses before treatment. |
| EFT could assist people with phobias. The subjects of the study had all been clinically diagnosed as having a phobia to small animals such as spiders, snakes, bats, and mice.
The study used several different measures of the strength of the participants' phobia before and after the study They measured their pulses, to see the extent by which they rose when contemplating the object of their fear. They measured the number of steps toward the feared animal a participant could take. |
| Other testimonials report cessation from various fears and phobias, allergies, depression, weight problems, and a variety of organic diseases.29 rts tasy as lrtl
An easily learned technique that can be applied to a wide variety of anxieties and traumas is TAT, or the Tapas Acupressure Technique, named after its founder, Tapas Fleming.
In TAT, you place three fingers of either hand on the front of your face, and the flat of your other hand at the base of your skull. |
| Phobia Study
Soul Medicine Institute is working with other groups to initiate a study at Kaiser Permanente to determine the effects of Energy Psychology on phobias. This is an extension and replication of the two phobia studies described in Chapter 11, with potential for triggering a larger-scale study in the Kaiser system.
Cortisol/Catecholamine Reuptake Study
Cortisol and catecholamines are "stress chemicals" measurable in blood samples. Concentrations of Cortisol and catecholamines increase in people under stress, and decrease as stress decreases. |
Gary Null and Amy McDonald
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| In a given year, more than 11 percent of people aged fifty-five and older meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder. phobias are the most common type. Three to 9 percent of people in this age group engage in heavy drinking (twelve to twenty-one drinks per week), with men four times more likely than women to abuse alcohol. Older people take prescription drugs at a rate that is three times that of the general population. They also use over-the-counter medications extensively. Problems often result from the misuse of these medications. |
Andreas Moritz
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 The following are but a few examples of what Sacred Santemony is able to assist you with:
=> Reducing or removing fear that is related to death, disease, the body, foods, harmful chemicals, parents and other people, lack of abundance, impoverishment, phobias, environmental threats, the future and the past, unstable economic trends, political unrest, etc. => Clearing or reducing a recent or current hurt, disappointment, or anger resulting from past emotional trauma or negative experiences in life. |
David Steinman
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 No one is telling you to join the Paranoid Society for Chemical phobias and to search under your mattress for every stinking pinko chemical commie phthalate and barbaric bisphenol-A terrorist; you will drive yourself cracked nuts doing so. But to say widespread human exposure to estrogenic chemicals like phthalates isn't worrisome and we should all go back to la-la land isn't good, either.
Let me tell you why I'm concerned, as a parent, as a husband, and as a red-blooded male of the species. |
Charles Barber
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 A drug that cures people of phobias! We would never hear the end of it.
The problem is there's no money in it. Psychologists, social workers, and researchers tend not to be the best marketers in the world. You can get some CBT manuals free of charge, on the Web sites of the National Institute of Corrections. Aaron Beck has said, "The drug companies spend several billion dollars a year on their consumer ads and promotions to professionals. This has created an aura of success" for drugs. |
Dr. Arthur Janov
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| If we have terror stored in our systems, then certain phobias seem normal, or at least comfortable for the system. There are hand-washing compulsives who are comfortable that way and would not dream of changing, nor could they. The ritual binds the pain. Deep feelings rise to the level of behavior and drive compulsions. A prominent comedian who cannot touch doorknobs says he is fine the way he is and would not want to change. That compulsion (using a handkerchief to open doors) allays his fears (the origin of which he is unaware) and makes him feel comfortable. |
Dawson Church
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| On every measure, the subjects' fear dropped dramatically, and some were able to walk right up to the very animals that before had triggered crippling phobias. Not only were the results of EFT dramatic at the time, but in a follow up study done six months later, the subjects still had a much lower rate of phobic reaction to the objects of their fear.3 Steve Wells recounts the following story:
One of the ladies in the study was so afraid of mice that if she saw a mouse or rat, or even thought there was a mouse in the house, she would spend the night sleeping in her car! |
John E. Sarno, M.D.
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 First of all, she had emotional symptoms including anxiety, phobias, compulsive behaviors, delusions, and hallucinations. But she also had physical symptoms. Some were clearly hysterical in type; others were typical of what we see in patients with TMS, what was then called muscular rheumatism, a psychosomatic manifestation. So she had three of the psychogenic categories described earlier.
Fraulein Elisabeth von R was twenty-four when Freud first saw her. She had symptoms that were almost exclusively of the muscular rheumatism (TMS) type and a history typical of the cases I work with today. |
Dr. Jonathan Prousky, BPHE, BSc, ND, FRSH
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 Anxiety Disorders and phobias. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1985:4.
4. Shear MK, Schulberg HC. Anxiety disorders in primary care. Bull Menninger Clin i995;59:A73-85.
5. Ansseau M, Dierick M, Buntinkx F, et al. High prevalence of mental disorders in primary care. J Affect Disord 2004;78:49-55.
6. Sansone RA, Hendricks CM, Gaither GA, et al. Prevalence of anxiety symptoms among a sample of outpatients in an internal medicine clinic: A pilot study. Depress Anxiety 2004;19:133-36.
7. Katon Wj, Von Korff M, Lin E. Panic disorder: Relationship to high medical utilization. Am J Med i992;92:7S-nS. |
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