... phobia treatment and therapy in the philippines ... (life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, osteopath, quezon city, manila)

jason bondoc and ana rodrigo of gma's aha! (hosted by drew arellano) brought me 3 people whose phobias  they wanted me to treat.  

jason and ana

the first client, a hair dresser by the name of benedict, had a fear of coffins.  in the therapy session, i found out that his phobia began as a toddler at his father's wake.  one of their family's rituals was to take a step over the dead person's coffin in the belief that this prevents the deceased person from lingering on earth.  however, benedict felt terrified by the ritual. he imagined that his deceased father would open his eyes and come back to life as he stepped over the coffin. despite his unwillingness, benedict was forced to engage in the ritual which thus began his current phobia.

ruth, becca, me, and benedict

to help undo benedict's phobia, i gave him this instruction,"if your deceased dad could talk to you now about your fears, what would he tell you?"  he then broke into a tearful monologue wherein his deceased dad assured him that he never wanted to depart from his earthly life so early, and he never had any intention to get him scared. this exercise proved therapeutic as benedict felt relieved having "heard" his deceased dad's message of encouragement and reassurance to him. 

okay, next client was becca, a 19-year old student with a phobia of chickens.  from my interview with her, i found out that she had witnessed the butchering of a live chicken and afterwards developed the phobia.  for becca, the therapy i did was called "gradual desensitization" which involved making her imagine that she was petting a chicken, and then making her touch an actual live one.  fortunately, the therapy proved to be a success. 
  

and then there was ruth- a young mother who developed a fear of the dark after she experienced some paranormal activities in her house.  for her, i recommended the behavioral method called "flooding," where she gets exposed to stay in actual darkness until her phobic reaction diminishes.  

phobia is a psychologically debilitating condition and i am just glad to be given the opporturnity to help relieve ruth, becca, and benedict of their fears.