Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id PAA08652 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 18 May 2000 15:12:05 +0100 X-Authentication-Warning: koko.umd.edu: debivort owned process doing -bs Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 10:09:58 -0400 (EDT) From: "Lawrence H. de Bivort" <debivort@umd5.umd.edu> X-Sender: debivort@koko.umd.edu To: memetics list <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: PHOBIAS In-Reply-To: <20000518132303.AAA16614@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]> Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.4.21.0005180933440.13662-100000@koko.umd.edu> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On Thu, 18 May 2000, Wade T.Smith wrote:
>On 05/18/00 09:14, Lawrence H. de Bivort said this-
>>It is quite easy to undo the phobia -- to remove it entirely
>>-- but it has to be done with technical precision or the phobic structure,
>>strong as it is, will retain its grip over the person.
>I, for instance, have a phobia of water, which has increased over the
>
>It would be nice to swim.
>
>What is this technical precision of which you speak?
I'll try and describe the technique here:
Phobic model:
A person, usually when they are young and less able to judge threats,
forms an 'irrational' fear of something: snakes, heights, outdoors, water,
enclosure, etc. A test I use for whether a fear is really a 'phobia' is
whether in simply _imagining_ the fear-causing thing, the person has the
fear response, uncontrollably. Phobic fears are strong structures: a
person cannot 'undo' it simply by realizing how irrational it is. Part of
them recognizes the irrationality, part of them believes that the fear
keeps them safe, out of trouble. Phobias are powerful in part because they
seem related to physical survival.
Removing the phobia:
Many approaches to treating phobias seek to give the person a way of
_managing_ the fear. But this is not a cure, the structure of the phobia
remains fully in place, and the person remains vulnerable to the phobic
response if they lose their ability to manage the fear it produces.
The structure of the phobia can be fully undone, leaving the person
totally free of the phobia:
1. Creating a "safety" stimulus: ie. the stimulus (like a touch or a word)
automatically puts the person in a _strong_ and full sense of being
"safe".
2. The person is then led through a series of imaginative 'experiences' of
the phobia-causing thing or situation, starting with a very dissociated
experience, and ending with a direct and intimate experience of it. The
therapist uses the safety stimulus during this series to help the person
avoid going into a phobic state, if the dissociation at any given moment
is inadequate to do so. This step recodes the phobia-creating experience
into something non-threatening, and non-phobia producing, and so removes
the phobic reponse as important for survival, and so allows the removal of
the phobic structure. (Whew! Doing this is easier than trying to explain
it cold over email!)
3. Not essential to this technique but nice, is then a reintegration
exercise, in which that younger person (age when the phobia began) is
visited imaginatively by the 'present' person, and assurfed that they did
the best they could, that the creation of the phobic fear was the best
they could do at that young age, and that they survived and went on to not
need the fear response, that they have now learned new ways to deal with
the threatening thing or situation.
4. Test: the person then tests the results of the phobia-removal process
by accessing the thing or situation that triggered the phobic response,
and confirming that the phobic response and structure have been
eliminated.
This technique is pretty simple and can be completed in half-an-hour or so
by a competent helper (which is where the precision comes in). It does
require a helper however, both to track the process (which can involve
side-exercises), and to use the "safety" stimulus whenever needed. For
technical reasons, the person cannot do so themselves.
I hope this is clear enough.
- Lawrence
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