How do you conquer phobias?

[Steve 0]

I'm trying to use use Lucid Dreaming as a way to overcome real life phobias. I've read that you can overcome nightmares by facing your fear but can this be done for phobias as well? It seems reasonable that all real life fears are a learned response to a situation. What you believe to be dangerous. So I'm just thinking that if fear is in the mind only, then it can be looked at in a different way subconsciously. A bit like 'Do It Yourself Hypnotherapy - whilst sleeping'. Does anyone know if I'm on the right lines or give any input?

[Scwigglie]

You know, I was thinking the same thing.. and I think it's a great way to overcome phobias. Ooh actually, now I remember that someone on here had a fear of public/outdoor places, and she overcame that through LDs. I have one of my own.. well, it's almost a phobia. I'm a bit nervous to try deal with it in a dream, though..

[jacobo]

i don't know. i was flying to the top of the empire state building in an ld a couple mornings ago and i got the feeling i always get when i'm in a plane taking off. i suppose if you do it enough you might be able to concur your fear... but it would take a lot. i might think lding could help with public speaking but i'm not too sure.

[The Guardians]

Well..there are ALWAYS differences in these things...for instance..Say you have Arachnaphobia...You have a LD that you encounter a black widow...See in the dream if you get bit,you really dont get hurt,In real life,you hvae less than 5 minutes to get to a hospital or you die..But the fear of heights is a good thing to conquer..But there really is nothing to be afraid of with heights...I mean,if you do fall of something high,you wont feel it when you hit the ground...

[Scwigglie]

Ha, I disagree with the spider thing. Most people, if they're afraid of spiders, are afraid of the little ones that run around their house. I'm sure that could be conquered in a LD. And with heights, I think LDs would give you more confidence and therefore more balance, like if you're walking along a tree-trunk bridge or something that's very high above water.. meh..

[Remus]

I'm gonna try to help my fear of heights...The odd thing is, even in nonlucid dreams I am never afraid of heights....

[Ev]

I had arachnophobia. What cured me was my sister getting a tarantula. After facing it, I feel much better about spiders in general... however, it may not be very wise to face ur fears in a LD unless you have some experience

[Steve 0]

I look at the mind in this way. Your subconscious mind holds all your memories and if something frightens you, then before you know it, your subconscioius hits the alarm bells and your running away from the thing that frightened you. Then what happens next time is that the brain uses a pattern recognition process and before you can say I'm not frightened of whatever... you find your body has been taken over and your panicking. So, if the only fear humans have when they are born are the fear of loud noises and falling, then other fears are misinterpreted by you. Instead of seeing something for the way it really is, you make a quick and wrong decision that bypasses your critial consious mind and gets entered into the subconscious. So now the information is stored away in the subconsious you believe the fear to be true and so act on it! I know from experience that no matter how much you tell yourself 'I'm not frightened', you don't really believe it. Or rather your subconsious doesn't. So if your asleep with full access to the subconscious, why not reprogramme it. Remember the subconsious believes everything, no matter what.

[O'nus]

Phobias are truly gems amongst psychoanalysis. Every phobia can be analyzed and boiled down to an essential hysteria or traumatic event that ocurred in the past which allows the psychoanalyst to learn more about the individual they are speaking with. Just like any other significant feeling, it can be analyzed down to an archetype of the character which then allows the psychoanalyst to utilise the new found information to the true purpose of the sessions. My point is that phobias can be cured through lucid dreaming, however, it is best to know why exactly this phobia exists in the first place. Just standing on a cliff and staring down the 80 foot drop won't exactly cure your fear for it - these are methods to desensitise you to the phobia or adapt to it. The most effective method of curing the phobia is to focus upon what was the original catalyst to the phobia. Of course, the largest phobias anyone will have are those things that frightened us in our youth because of our fragile age, thus, these fears will be the hardest to overcome - even harder on your own (in a lucid dream). If you are able to be aware of yourself and the reason behind your phobia, how you originally developed the phobia, then you could manipulate the milieu of the dreams to suit the origin of the phobia and reenact the scenario with a new mentality, a confident mentality, and overcome the fear. The most difficult aspect of this method is that our dreams have a consistency of projecting our most significant fears within them, thus, it's easier to get caught up in the dream and loose your lucidity. Most likely the best way to keep your lucidity is (no, not to keep saying, "It's only a dream!" if you watch movies, you know how effective that is..) is to hold onto a thought or item in the dream that you use as a reality check or dream sign, such as a pendent you do not actually have. Of course, it's much harder on your own, and to cure the phobia would be much easier with a guide, a friend, a therapist, etc. to help you to cure the phobia. Hope I've been enlightening.

[Steve 0]

I've had a phobia for the past 20 years or so and was hoping to go back and relive the day when I originally developed it. I have an unfortunate case of Agoraphobia. Which is a panic attack that sets in for no logical reason. I have seen Hypnotherapists etc, but I am one of those people that do not respond well to hypnotists. I was sort of hoping that while I am asleep I can regain a bit of conscious thought and reprogramme my subconscious. I would have a lot of access to this, being that I'm asleep. This is why I looked at Lucid Dreaming. It does seem to be the opposite as to what Hypnotherapists do. They try to gain access to your subconscious and turn off your conscious thoughts. While if your asleep, you try to gain conscious thought. Surely this would be a better approach? I know what the Catalyst for my panic attack was and I'll try to desensitise myself to different situations first. Once I can better cope with situations I will leap frog back into the past where I should be able to change the original cause without feeling too much panic. Well that's the idea at the moment!!!

[Scwigglie]

Yes, agoraphobia, that's exactly what someone else on here had and overcame.

[O'nus]

Originally posted by Steve 0 I've had a phobia for the past 20 years or so and was hoping to go back and relive the day when I originally developed it. I have an unfortunate case of Agoraphobia. Which is a panic attack that sets in for no logical reason. I have seen Hypnotherapists etc, but I am one of those people that do not respond well to hypnotists. I was sort of hoping that while I am asleep I can regain a bit of conscious thought and reprogramme my subconscious. I would have a lot of access to this, being that I'm asleep. This is why I looked at Lucid Dreaming. It does seem to be the opposite as to what Hypnotherapists do. They try to gain access to your subconscious and turn off your conscious thoughts. While if your asleep, you try to gain conscious thought. Surely this would be a better approach? I know what the Catalyst for my panic attack was and I'll try to desensitise myself to different situations first. Once I can better cope with situations I will leap frog back into the past where I should be able to change the original cause without feeling too much panic. Well that's the idea at the moment!!! Desensitising yourself to certain associated aspects makes perfectly good sense, it also helps ease your way up to taking on the actual crux of the phobia. Take your time, you've already proven you have the motivation and confidence in doing it. Good luck. We're here for you if you need us.