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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Cass on June 19, 2000, at 22:26:45
My sister-in-law has mulitiple phobias and a great deal of anxiety. She seems to be scared of almost everything. However, she does not want to pursue the traditional psychopharmaceutical route. She is in talk therapy, but she will not take meds. Does anyone know of holistic remedies, herbs, supplements... that might help her? What about alternative treatments such as meditation or hypnosis? Does anyone have any success stories in treating phobias/anxieties with alternative therapies? Are there any books you would recommend for her? The root of her problems seems to come from having been an incest victim. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.
Posted by Cindy W on June 19, 2000, at 23:25:46
In reply to Phobias and alternative therapies, posted by Cass on June 19, 2000, at 22:26:45
>
> My sister-in-law has mulitiple phobias and a great deal of anxiety. She seems to be scared of almost everything. However, she does not want to pursue the traditional psychopharmaceutical route. She is in talk therapy, but she will not take meds. Does anyone know of holistic remedies, herbs, supplements... that might help her? What about alternative treatments such as meditation or hypnosis? Does anyone have any success stories in treating phobias/anxieties with alternative therapies? Are there any books you would recommend for her? The root of her problems seems to come from having been an incest victim. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.Carrie, depending on your sister-in-law's types of phobias, I would suggest she consider behavior therapy (systematic desensitization). This involves working with a behavior therapist to make a list of scary situations, then doing muscle relaxation and imagining coping with these scary things, starting with the least scary and moving up to the most scary. It is very effective. The past incest experiences, however, could be talked out with a talk therapist. Meditation and relaxation alone probably aren't as effective for phobias as behavior therapy, and past sexual trauma is probably best dealt with by seeing a caring, kind talk therapist, IMHO.
Posted by ChrisK on June 20, 2000, at 5:51:11
In reply to Phobias and alternative therapies, posted by Cass on June 19, 2000, at 22:26:45
Cass,
The most popular natural remedy on the market is Kava Kava. It is usually only successful with mild anxiety cases and it sounds like that doesn't apply here. I would guess that the best shot would be CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). A good therapist should be able to help her through this.
One other thing that I found helped during a bad time of anxiety for me was accupuncture. It sounds a little goofy but it really did help calm my nerves. The only problem was that it wasn't covered by my insurance so I had to give up because of the cost. Just a thought.
Chris
Posted by Johnturner77 on June 20, 2000, at 10:48:03
In reply to Re: Phobias and alternative therapies, posted by ChrisK on June 20, 2000, at 5:51:11
Richard Bandler of NLP fame says in his books that he thinks Phobias are very easy to cure. If you would like I could post a book list and an outline of the "cure"
Posted by Cass on June 20, 2000, at 14:16:59
In reply to Re: Phobias/Quickie Cures, posted by Johnturner77 on June 20, 2000, at 10:48:03
>
> Richard Bandler of NLP fame says in his books that he thinks Phobias are very easy to cure. If you would like I could post a book list and an outline of the "cure"John, I would appreciate that very much. :)
Posted by Johnturner77 on June 23, 2000, at 8:30:14
In reply to Re: Phobias/Quickie Cures » Johnturner77, posted by Cass on June 20, 2000, at 14:16:59
> >
> > Richard Bandler of NLP fame says in his books that he thinks Phobias are very easy to cure. If you would like I could post a book list and an outline of the "cure"
>
> John, I would appreciate that very much. :)I checked through the books I have and am not sure I can make it coherent enough from what info I have.
I am not an NLP practitioner and have some personal reservations about some of what they do.Here is a brief outline taken from Richard Bandler's "Using Your Brain For a Change" from the chapter, Points of View.
Imagine that you are sitting in a movie theator and on the screen is a black and wihite snap shot in which you see yourself in a situation just BEFORE you had the phobic response.
Then pretend you can float out of your body and up to the projection booth, where you can watch yourself watching yourself. From this position you 'll be able to see yourself sitting in the middle of the theator, and also see yourself in the still picture up on the screen...
Now turn the snap shot up on the screen into a black and white movie, and watch it from the beginning to just beyond the end of that unpleasant experience. When you get to the end stop it as a slide, and then jump in side the picture and run the movie backwards so that everything happens in in reverse. People walking backwards etc just like rewinding a movie, just remember that you will be inside the movie. Run it backwards in color quickly so that it only takes a few seconds to do...Weird huh? It works best obviously if you are a good visualizer. There are other techniques and an experienced therapist could deal with any problems that came up. To work it needs to be done quickly and vividly. Phobics are fast learners. Afterall, a phobia is often a one trial learning event.
hope this is of some help....
Posted by Cass on June 26, 2000, at 23:35:10
In reply to Re: Phobias/Quickie Cures, posted by Johnturner77 on June 23, 2000, at 8:30:14
Hi John,
Bandler's book sounds really interesting, and I wouldn't be surprised if the visualization technique really helps. I'm going to pass the information onto my sister-in-law. Thanks so much!!
Cass
Posted by Sara T on June 27, 2000, at 9:26:58
In reply to Phobias and alternative therapies, posted by Cass on June 19, 2000, at 22:26:45
>
> My sister-in-law has mulitiple phobias and a great deal of anxiety. She seems to be scared of almost everything. However, she does not want to pursue the traditional psychopharmaceutical route. She is in talk therapy, but she will not take meds. Does anyone know of holistic remedies, herbs, supplements... that might help her? What about alternative treatments such as meditation or hypnosis? Does anyone have any success stories in treating phobias/anxieties with alternative therapies? Are there any books you would recommend for her? The root of her problems seems to come from having been an incest victim. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.Cass,
In 2 weeks I will be starting my daughter (5) in therapy treatment for anxiety and phobias (yep, we got it all here). I'll let you know how they proceed since it is a research project through the university where my husband teaches.
Sara T.
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