Social phobia is an anxiety disorder in which a person is afraid of being in certain social settings. An individual with social phobia experiences incapacitating fear that impacts all aspects of their life.

People with social phobia are very self-conscious and worried about what others may think or say about them. They are often afraid of speaking up, out of fear that they will be judged or criticized. Those with social anxiety tend to look down on themselves or have negative feelings about themselves. They are worried about being seen by other people and find socializing to be very terrifying.

Some people with social phobia may seem "shy," but in the case of a phobia, this is taken to irrational extremes. For example, if you struggle with social phobia, you might be reluctant to make a crucial phone call because you're anxious about talking on the telephone. You dial the number, but you're so anxious that you "freeze up" or forget what you were going to say. Although it happens to everyone sometimes, for a person with social phobia it may happen every time, to the point where they find it near impossible to make any phone calls.

Perhaps it is the evening before a big meeting at work and you find yourself panicking. You hate the idea of being in front of a room with your boss and all your co-workers watching as you discuss a project or new idea. You can't help but feel very embarrassed and self-conscious. Even after the meeting, you can't stop overanalyzing everything you said and did. You worry that you humiliated yourself in front of your colleagues by stuttering or saying the wrong thing.

Or maybe you would like to go to parties and meet new people, but you avoid social gatherings because you're anxious about meeting someone new. You find the crowds intimidating and the idea of meeting someone new frightens you. You worry about saying the right thing, or that you'll get rejected. You might end up staying at home a lot because you're too scared about going out. These are only some examples of the way social phobias can affect our lives.

Social phobias are irrational fears that can prevent you from reaching your career goals or enjoying your life. But even those who realize their fears are irrational may not know how to handle their fears. People with social anxiety would like to socialize and make new friends, but are just too afraid to do so. In spite of their conscious desires and best efforts, they can't completely control their phobia because all phobias are based in the unconscious level of the mind. Ericksonian hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques are the most helpful phobia treatments because they work at this unconscious level.

It can be difficult for sufferers of social anxiety to get cured because they can be reluctant to see a therapist or discuss their fear. This is another reason why hypnosis programs are perfect for them. The programs promote a confidence boosting, peaceful frame of mind in a privacy, without being overwhelming or intimidating.

The first part of a phobia program is stress relief. Hypnosis therapy is a powerful tool for relieving your tension and anxiety. Once you are relaxed, hypnotic techniques will foster positive ideas in your unconscious and get rid of your fears. NLP techniques are used to relieve your fears by targeting the thought process that is responsible for a phobia.

In traditional hypnosis therapy, distinctively worded post-hypnotic suggestions are utilized to treat every unique phobia. The problem is, people tend to resist being simply told what to think or do, so traditional hypnosis therapy doesn't work very well. A deeply rooted phobia requires the use of NLP and Ericksonian Hypnotherapy.

Ericksonian hypnosis techniques work better than traditional hypnosis therapy because they use suggestions that aren't obvious to the conscious mind, instead of direct suggestions. These suggestions are hidden in discussion, in different stories and metaphors, to persuade the unconscious to follow a different line of thinking. This is why Ericksonian hypnosis is much more sophisticated than conventional hypnotherapy and much harder for the unconscious to resist.

A program that uses Ericksonian hypnotic therapy and NLP techniques can treat social phobia and any other phobia, in any individual. This is because a variety of techniques are combined to maximize their effectiveness. People are often in awe of the apparently miraculous results they can see through hypnosis therapy. Ericksonian hypnotherapy and NLP are ideal tools to help build your confidence and overcome social phobia so you can fully enjoy your life.

Alan B. Densky, CH has pioneered several hypnotherapeutic methods for the management of social phobias. He also offers hypnotherapy CD's for all other phobias. His website offers a comprehensive list of hypnosis CD's. Visit for Free hypnosis videos, downloads, and newsletters.