Fears and phobias do not allow to fully live and function, take mental resources to deal with them. Therefore, the treatment of fears is the most important task of psychology and psychiatry. In order to defeat them, it is necessary to study the phenomena associated with them: anxiety, panic, phobia.
What is fear?
Fear (anxiety neurosis) is an emotion associated with a specific or abstract danger, as well as a person’s condition due to a number of psychological and psychological reasons.
If fear interferes with an adequate assessment of the environment and acts rationally, it causes insurmountable horror, increased pressure, the appearance of disorientation - this condition is called panic.
Phobia - persistent fear of a particular object, irrational and obsessive, associated with fear of inability to control something, anxiety at the thought of a frightening object, the presence of physiological manifestations (heartbeat, etc.)
Fears arise on the basis of psychological trauma, and in the first time after it are considered a natural phenomenon. But if they continue to bother for years - this is a good reason to contact a specialist.
Symptoms
This form of state, as a neurosis of fear, manifests itself as a change in behavior and processes in the body. A person is constantly subjected to emotional stress, quickly gets tired, gets enough sleep, is worried about various things, and finds it difficult to choose priorities and his roles in society. Neurosis of fear borders on such conditions as a feeling of unreality of what is happening, a strange sense of self.
The main symptoms of phobia:
- inability to control fear;
- obsessive, haunting fear;
- dizziness, shortness of breath;
- cardiopalmus;
- sweating, nausea;
- sensation of a "lump in the throat"
- a feeling of heat or chills in the body;
- shiver; numbness, tingling;
- inability to move;
- chest pain in the abdomen;
- frequent urination
- fear of going crazy;
- fear of death.
Causes
According to one version, phobias arise as a subconscious reaction to put up protection against an irresistible attraction to something. This also includes the obsessive fear of killing another who transforms into a neurosis.
Mental disorders can be accompanied by high anxiety, which leads to the formation of phobias. Phobic and anxiety disorders, obsessive states syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder are associated with them.
Stress occurs in a healthy person as a reaction to prolonged emotional stress, lack of understanding in the family or in the team, unrequited love, and so on. With the loss of ability to cope with fears, human anxiety is embodied in fears and fantasies from childhood.
Intense events related to a change of residence, loss of a loved one, the birth of a child provoke anxiety and stress. A hereditary predisposition to anxiety, combined with frequent tense situations, strengthens the premise for anxiety neurosis.
The reason for fear is a conflict of desires with goals and opportunities. There is a constant pathological arousal. The prolonged stressful impact of a characteristic situation on the psyche leads to chronic conditions.
Drug treatment
A person suffering from anxiety neuroses, panic attacks, should get drugs that block the characteristic manifestations: Validol, Glycid, Corvalol, drugs based on motherwort and valerian.
Drugs of the last century for the treatment of fears were Sodium Bromide and Potassium Bromide; modern means are tranquilizers and antidepressants.
Tranquilizers, for example, Phenazepam, Sibazon, eliminate emotional stress, are used as a sedative and sleeping pill. These drugs have an antiphobic effect, reduce muscle tone, stop insomnia, a syndrome of obsessive states, nausea, dizziness, sweating, fever.
Antidepressants act to reduce feelings of anguish, apathy, increase mood, activity, improve sleep and appetite. They are as follows:
- Tricyclic: Imipramine, Amitriptyline, the introduction of which begins with a small dose, and the result of their use is observed after two weeks.
- Selective serotonin inhibitors: "Citalopram", "Fluoxetine", "Sertraline", "Paroxetine". Minimum side effects and high results.
- Benzodiazepines: Lorazepam, Alprazolam, Diazepam. They have a short course of therapy.
- Beta blockers, for example, Propranolol. It is used immediately before an alarm situation.
- Herbal preparations: with St. John's wort, other herbs, the use of which requires preparation and imposes some restrictions (prohibition of drinking, visiting beaches).
Any medication for the treatment of anxiety and fear requires consultation with a specialist and official prescription of drugs after diagnosis.
Help Options
Depending on the severity of the phobia and its ability to control, we can talk about methods of treating fear neurosis.
Options for overcoming fears:
- overcoming fear on one's own, attempts, with the help of awareness and willpower, to transform their fear and become free from it;
- Seeking help from specialists who will prescribe a medicine and adjust their behavior.
Talking with a specialist can help you figure out how to deal with fear without resorting to psychoactive drugs. Their task is to concentrate on analyzing and determining the causes of phobias, interpreting the meaning of fear. The treatment of constant fear makes you plunge into the most unpleasant emotions that have been supplanted, suppressed.
Intensive therapy may contain methods such as special exercises for desensitization (reduced manifestation), behavior correction based on the technique of neuro-linguistic programming.
There is not always a means and opportunity to entrust a problem to a qualified specialist, so patients resort to the following techniques and techniques:
- Perceive fear as an ally: in response to a sent alarm from within, start interacting with imaginative images. Come up with the "embodiment" of your fear in the form of a figure, a fashioned figure, transform it into a humorous image or object that will help to rethink your emotions.
- To listen to your condition, if an attempt to take a step towards a phobia begins to inspire - this is a sign that there is a chance to overcome the fear; if such thoughts cause panic - this is an occasion to make all attempts in order to protect yourself by protecting yourself from possible threats.
The main obstacle to freeing yourself from fear is fear. The goal of therapy is to actively manage your life and do something meaningful for yourself.
Help of a psychologist, psychotherapist
The goal of behavioral therapy is to teach a person the right attitude to anxiety, fear, panic, physical discomfort. Psychologists recommend techniques for auto-training, relaxation, and positive concentration.
Through cognitive psychotherapy, it becomes possible to identify errors of thinking, to adjust the way of thinking in the right direction.
Neurosis of fear, which was complicated by phobias, requires hypnotic intervention. The impact is aimed at the subconscious of a person. The session returns the patient a state of trust and security in relation to the world. In the absence of the expected effect, medications are prescribed.
With a mild course of neurosis, the main task is to establish confidential contact between the doctor and the patient.
Stages of treating fears by a psychotherapist:
- clarification of the circumstances that led to the neurosis;
- the search for healing using psychotherapy methods.
Methods of psychotherapy:
- Conviction. It is necessary to change the patient's attitude to the situation, after which the phobias lose their significance and weaken.
- Direct suggestion is the effect on consciousness through words and emotions.
- An indirect effect is the introduction of an auxiliary stimulus, which will be associated with recovery in the patient’s mind.
- Self-hypnosis allows you to activate the thoughts and emotions necessary for treatment.
- Autotraining - muscle relaxation, in the process of which control over the state of health is restored.
Additional methods - gymnastics, massage, hardening - will enhance the effectiveness of the main course of treatment of fears.
Self release
The first advice is to stop fighting obsessive thoughts, put up with the fact that they arise. The more violent their resistance, the greater the stress they cause. It is necessary to develop a correct attitude to thought: if it arises, it is a natural phenomenon, as a result of the work of the brain area. As was proved by experts, obsessive states have nothing to do with intuition.
In order to treat constant anxiety and fear, it is necessary to understand their causes. The primary task is to realize the moment of a person’s true fear: to die, disgrace and the like, in order to resolve the internal conflict. The next step is to start working on phobias, including yourself in frightening situations. This means to meet obsessive thoughts, to encourage yourself to do what leads to a feeling of fear. "Treatment" in this way will allow the forced method to experience strong emotions in order to subsequently rethink and get rid of them.
Keeping a diary of feelings will reveal the essence of feelings and desires, will help you live consciously. It is important to describe in detail the situation that caused fear and discomfort. This process of familiarization with oneself, values, needs will become useful for those suffering from neurosis. It is recommended to record, speak, share your thoughts with others. Incarnated into words, thought seems harmless.
At the next stages, it is necessary to replace obsessive thoughts with rational ones, draw up a plan of actions that will be carried out if trouble occurs. Willingness will reduce fear.
Since panic attacks are a fear, as a reaction to a situation that does not exist, it is necessary to instill awareness, to encourage yourself to "return" at a crucial moment. And in this, meditation and relaxation become good helpers. Over time, it will turn out to face your phobias.
On the way to treating panic fears, it is necessary to eliminate the destructive factors: harmful food, abuse of nicotine and alcohol, staying alone all day indoors.
In addition to everything, it is necessary to tackle the eradication of negative information from your life: stop being interested in bad news, do not watch horror films, TV shows that cause disturbing thoughts, do not communicate with those who are inclined to discuss negative topics. If fear arises, you should focus on the realization that there is no cause for fear.
Breathing exercises
Panic attack is a peculiar way of protecting the nervous system. After the reaction of fear, a person spares himself more, behaves neatly in situations fraught with stress and overload.
To facilitate the state in the process of an attack of fear will help breathing exercises: inhale, pause, exhale, pause. Each phase lasts 4 seconds. This gymnastics, during which you need to relax, is repeated up to 15 times every day.
As a result of the exercises, the level of carbon dioxide in the blood rises, breathing slows down, the heartbeat slows down, the respiratory center in the brain functions at a different pace of activity, the muscles relax, attention switches to current events from panic images.
Children's anxiety neurosis
The main causes of childhood fear neurosis are conflicts in the family, peer groups, sometimes physical trauma, illness, or severe fear.
Parents should be alert for the following manifestations:
- constant alarm;
- obsessive fear;
- emotional depression;
- chronic fatigue;
- frequent hysterical crying for no apparent reason;
- tics, stuttering.
Methods for treating persistent feelings of anxiety and fear in children rarely include drug therapy. Most often, this is a way to solve internal conflicts of influence on the psyche with the help of creativity: drawing, modeling, composition. Art therapy is safe and effective, promotes self-expression and self-knowledge. When a child portrays his fears, this leads to their disappearance from his life.
Family therapy - training family members in productive interaction with each other. Psychotherapists are convinced that the sources of neurosis are in relationships with loved ones, and that anxiety and fear can be cured by removing the cause.
How to distinguish neurosis from psychosis
To make an accurate diagnosis, the doctor needs to talk with the patient in order to exclude psychosis, the symptoms of which are very similar to signs of neurosis.
With psychosis, a person does not realize the fact of a disease that suppresses the personality, and can be treated to a small extent, and in the case of a neurosis, he understands what is happening with a mental disorder: he is critical of himself, does not lose touch with the real world. It is important to undergo a full examination.
Symptoms of neurosis: emotional discomfort, irritability, bitterness, mood swings, experiences without good reason, chronic fatigue, fatigue. Psychosis is characterized by delusions, auditory and visual hallucinations, confused speech, obsession with past events, and limiting oneself from society.
The consequences of panic fears
The consequences of neurosis are such that a person is able to become a hermit because of them, to lose his family, work. Independent methods of getting rid of panic attacks should be used comprehensively. The timing therapy may take about three months.
The most likely consequences of phobias:
- their number will increase;
- the likelihood of physical harm to oneself and others;
- persistent panic attacks can exacerbate chronic diseases;
- frequent, violent, uncontrolled panic attacks can lead to suicide.
Fighting the Fear of Death
The treatment of feelings of anxiety and fear begins with looking at it philosophically and spending resources on vital matters, leaving useless thoughts about death.
It is good to direct thoughts in the direction of perspective, to think about what will happen after the embodiment of fears. If this is the death of loved ones, for some time the state will be unbearable, and then life will continue, but will change. It is impossible to experience the same emotions for too long. Faith in God gives hope for eternity. The condition of believers is calm in terms of such issues.
One must live a full life, and death is only an indication of such a need. Years are given to make dreams come true, receive joy, achieve victories. You can facilitate the path to achieving the goal by breaking it into stages. The more satisfied a person is with his life, the less his fear of death.
You should sometimes be afraid. The more often this happens, the weaker the emotion becomes, and over time it will disappear.
The successful treatment of anxiety and fear is supplanted by confidence in the present, calm about the future, and then death seems to be something far away.
What to do close
Anxious neurosis violates the tranquility of the sufferer and his inner circle. A possible reaction of family members is a wall of misunderstanding and a surge of emotions, because constantly putting yourself in the place of a sick person is not easy.
He needs attention and help in the form of reassurance. But this does not mean that you need to agree with his worldview and play along with his fears. Participation involves moral support, the assurance that all difficulties will be overcome by joint forces.
Independent attempts by the patient with an anxious neurosis do not help him regain a balanced state, despite the awareness of what is happening. In complex cases, the disease is depleted of neurotic, attracting thoughts of suicide. The patient should be recommended treatment of fears and phobias with the help of a psychotherapist, neurologist.