... 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.  

... anxiety disorder, phobia, therapy, and treatment in the philippines ... (life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

Fear Not! (excerpts)

By HEIZEL L. MAINAR

November 1, 2011, 3:45am

The Manila Bulletin

MANILA, Philippines — November first, perhaps, is the time of the year when people can openly shriek or run away from the objects that they most fear like the aswang, manananggal or demonoids or the ample ghost and kababalaghan features that dominates the television shows.

Although fear is an instinct, according to Dr. Randy Dellosa, a psychiatrist and psychologist who also wears the hat of a life coach, “Fear means that there has been some danger and it may be real or imaginary.  [But] even if it is imaginary the mind picks it up as something real or could be real so there is a reaction.  And that includes fear of the dark or the cemetery.  They may be imaginary but then that shows how powerful the mind is.”

What do you fear  the most?

Aside from fearing those who hold the highest position in the management structure, some of the common fears or phobias, according to Dr. Dellosa, would be stage fright, fear of needles, snakes, heights, the dark, blood, and even the fear of the unknown.  In stage fright, he says that a person fears being criticized, looked down upon or rejected.  “Pinapangunahan nila ang thoughts ng mga tao…and their fear could be imaginary.  Even for some artists, the first time that they go on stage, it could be nerve-wracking.”

To overcome fear, Dr. Dellosa stresses that a person must first understand where the fear is coming from or its causes before the fear can be properly addressed.

The fear of snakes, needles and the dark, among others, can be caused by many factors and it can be explained by many ways. Dr. Dellosa explains that one probable cause is childhood conditioning wherein a fearful or anxiety-provoking childhood experience can be integrated in the psyche of a person..."

Another factor that can cause phobias is genetics.  According to Dr. Dellosa, those who are prone to anxiety and panic attacks are those who are easily scared or surprised. “If the parents or relatives have it, it can be passed on through the genes.”

Facing Your Fears

Since there are many ways to skin a cat, Dr. Dellosa also applies many ways and approaches to help his clients face their fears. But since the first thing that gets disrupted while experiencing fear is the breathing, he stresses that a person must first know how to breathe properly.  Then apply positive affirmation or positive thoughts before exposing the person to the object of his fear.

Once proper breathing and mental conditioning are attained, Dr. Dellosa then applies one or a combination of therapies like the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a method wherein the mind is used to address the fear, irrational thoughts were identified and replaced  with positive thoughts or affirmation.  

Exposure therapy can be gradual or it can be direct.  “Like if a person is afraid of snakes, he can think first of a worm and then he can start imagining a bigger snake, then a python until he imagines holding a python.  The final step is  actual exposure.  He can start with a rubber worm, then a small rubber snake until he can hold an actual snake.”

Hypnotherapy is also another technique wherein a therapist gives suggestions directed to the person’s subconscious while he is in a relaxed state.  “If the person is awake and the therapist tells him not to be afraid, the conscious mind might resist.  So it has to be more in a relaxed state,” he says.

Another approach is what he calls ‘Fake it until you make it.’ He explains that even if a person is not brave enough, acting upon it sometimes makes the emotions follow.

Lastly, facing and conquering fears may be a one-session miracle as what Dr. Dellosa calls it.  But for others, intervention could last for months or even years.  “Realize that people can’t immediately change, you cannot impose change and they have to go through a process…it is more of a journey,” he concludes.

the workshop: helping typhoon victims overcome and survive their emotional storms

.
the workshop was attended by educators, social workers, hr officers, psychologists, ministers, and students.
.
we started by sharing our personal experiences during the typhoons ondoy and pepeng. though a month had past since the two storms, many participants were still emotionally distraught as they narrated their stories.
.

after the sharing session, we proceeded with learning different ways to help typhoon disaster victims overcome anxiety, depression, grief, insomnia, and post-traumatic stress disorder. among the the topics covered were:
- cognitive processing therapy,
- relaxation methods,
- emotional freedom techniques,
- emotional release therapy and EMDR,
- brain balancing techniques, and
- art therapy.
.
participants had plenty of practice sessions:
.
many participants received relaxation and healing in the process:
.
and what workshop would be complete without some smiles and camaraderie?
.
my thanks too to agnes, al (and may) for their ever-reliable, ever-efficient support and assistance!

.

... fear of dolls; fear of separation from cellphone ...

.

the second time around for just this month, i get another interview on phobias. this time, gma-7's ka-blog crew visited me to interview actual people who have the fear of dolls (pediophobia) and the fear of separating from one's cellphone (nomophobia).

.

benj (wearing black), the lady with doll phobia, remembers being scared of dolls as early as 4 years old. what she fears most are dolls that are life-like, particularly dolls with realistic skin texture. she also fears the sight of doll body parts like doll arms, legs, heads, and torsos. with a doll in sight, she starts panicking. and as soon as the doll actually touches her skin, she becomes hysterical.

.

ana (wearing yellow), has the fear of separating from her cellphone. she says that without her cellphone, she feels emotionally empty and alone because according to her, the cellphone is her lifeline to other people. it was only because her family members pointed out her exaggerated reactions that she realized there was something wrong with her. otherwise, she would have considered her fear "normal." just like benj, she gets panicky and hysterical even upon the thought of losing her cellphone.

.

to help them with their phobias, i did talk some brief psychotherapy and exposure therapy on them. i also taught them some breathing and body-focusing exercises. in such a short span of time, it turned out relatively well, with benj actually holding a baby doll and ana being estranged from her cellphone for 10 long minutes.

.

assisting me in doing the exposure therapy was the show's host, lucky mercado. being the prankster that he is, he did a pretty good job in provoking benj and ana to feel more phobic than ever!

.

... cognitive-behavioral therapy (cbt) in the philippines ... (life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

.

way back when i was in training as a psychiatric resident, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) was virtually unheard of among psychiatrists. that's because psychiatrists are basically trained in the the psychoanalytic (freudian) tradition of psychotherapy. having taken up psychology as my pre-med course, i was well-aware of the weaknesses and limitations of the psychoanalytic approach and decided that i would never use it as stand-alone therapy. in my desire to offer more substantial help to my patients, i studied and learned how to do cognitive-behavioral therapy at the same time that i was training myself in psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

.

here i am teaching cbt to psychotherapy students.

in my current clinical practice as a psychotherapist, i commonly employ cognitive-behavioral therapy on my clients with anxiety disorders (panic attacks), depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (ocd), and addiction problems. cognitive-behavioral therapy teaches that "bad" thought patterns cause us to experience"bad" feelings and makes us engage in "bad" behaviors. 

cbt however is not always the appropriate therapy to use. cbt may be the most popular and most-researched of the psychotherapies but this does not make it superior to other psychotherapies.  for instance, a large long-term study by the national institute of mental health (nimh) rated medical treatment and interpersonal therapy to be more effective in the treatment of depression than cbt.  

furthermore, cbt is the most-researched of the psychotherapy approaches NOT because it is most effective BUT ONLY BECAUSE it is the easiest to research on.  why? because cbt is the most structured of the psychotherapy approaches and a cbt treatment protocol can easily be  standardized (i.e., applied as a "de-kahon" approach).  because it is a structured approach, you might not even need a cbt therapist to help you.  buying yourself a self-help cbt workbook and religiously doing the exercises and assignments on a long-term daily basis will probably do you much better than merely consulting a cbt therapist for weekly sessions of one hour each.   

in my long years (decades actually) of exposure to and practice of different psychotherapies, I personally and professionally consider gestalt therapy to be more effective than cbt.  for one, gestalt therapy not only has a strong cognitive-behavioral component like cbt, but it also focuses on the physical, emotional, spiritual, energetic, relational (interpersonal), and ecological aspects of existence.  it is therefore a more holistic approach than cbt.  and secondly, gestalt therapy is not only about "fixing" your disorders; its higher goal is for the client to experience personal growth and have a more meaningful life.  unlike cbt, gestalt therapy then is really about attaining your fullest potential as a human being.  it is about becoming the person you were meant to be.  but, enough of gestalt for now.  going back to cbt...

.

many people have the notion that cbt can take the place of anti-depressant or anti-anxiety medications and this simply is not true. in the midst of overwhelming emotions or symptoms, it is very difficult, even impossible, to apply cbt.  do you think, for instance, that you'll still be able to apply your positive affirmations and positive self-talk when you're desperately gasping for air and physically feeling that your heart is going to explode from the pounding heartbeat of an intense panic attack? cbt can certainly be a helpful form of therapy for mild cases.  my clinical experience (and the experience of many many patients) tell me however that psychiatric disorders (i.e., schizophrenia, major depression, GAD, SAD, panic disorder, OCD, etc.) have to be medically treated or managed first before cbt can be successfully applied.

.