Effective Natural Cures For Phobias

Table of Contents

All of us have one sort of fear or another. As children, we were afraid of the dark. As adults, we might be afraid of public speaking. But when the fear is exaggerated and excessive, it is called phobia. You then begin to organize your life to avoid the situation or object that you fear. The objects or situations that you have phobia about could be dogs, snakes, spiders, enclosed spaces, open spaces, heights, flying, visit to a shopping center, leaving home etc.

The symptoms upon encountering the feared situation or object can be sweating, trembling, choking sensation, chills or hot flushes, rapid heartbeat, tightness in chest, nausea, dizziness, numbness, feeling faint, dry mouth, ringing in the ears, and feeling disoriented or confused. The causes of phobia can be a bad experience in childhood with the feared situation or object, false alarm like a panic attack all of a sudden while driving, observing others being fearful, or being repeatedly warned about something.

Natural Cures For Phobias

Relaxation Techniques

In an attack of phobia, you experience unpleasant physical symptoms such as feeling of suffocation and racing heart. These physical symptoms themselves can add to the fear.

If you learn and practice relaxation techniques, your ability for tolerating these uncomfortable symptoms becomes better, and you can start to feel calm quickly even when the fear starts. Such relaxation techniques include muscle relaxation, deep breathing, and meditation.

Desensitization

Most phobias can be treated with a form of behaviour therapy known as self-exposure therapy or desensitization. In this therapy you are exposed to the situation or object you fear gradually for more and more time over several sessions of therapy. You will slowly start to feel less anxious, and eventually get more comfortable in dealing with your fears.

For instance, if you are afraid of dogs, initially you may be exposed to photographs of dogs. Then you might be shown videos of dogs under different non-threatening conditions. Subsequently, you may be asked to see a dog on a leash from a distance. Eventually, you may be asked to approach the dog being held on a leash by someone else, and pet it for a short duration of time. Thus, slowly you overcome your fear of dogs.

Herbal Remedies

Be sure to use these herbal remedies only under the supervision and guidance of a health professional because they can have unwanted side effects.

Herbal remedies are derived from different parts of plants and contain several types of chemicals that are thought to influence the body chemistry in a beneficial way. Herbal remedies that reduce the symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks include catnip, chamomile, ginseng, and valerian root.

Hypnotherapy

This form of therapy for phobias is controversial though some therapists use it as part of their larger therapy program. Hypnotherapy is based on the premise that phobias exist in our subconscious mind. By putting you under a hypnotic spell, the hypnotherapist can access your subconscious mind directly by bypassing your conscious mind.

This could allow the hypnotherapist to regress you to a childhood memory that caused the phobia and thus confront it safely under hypnosis. Additionally, the therapist could give positive post-hypnotic suggestions to your subconscious mind that can influence your conscious mind after the therapy.

Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy uses essential oils obtained from plants to cure certain conditions. Examples of such essential oils are bergamot, chamomile, jasmine, geranium, lavender, marjoram, and melissa. There are two forms of administration of these essential oils.

One way is to inhale their odours. The other way is to massage the skin with them, which allows their absorption into the blood stream. Either way, they reach the brain and exert their influence on the limbic system. The limbic system is responsible for influencing your emotions and behaviour.