... 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.  

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

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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... treatment for phobias in the philippines ... (life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

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the beautiful and spritely iya villania visited me at my clinic for an interview on fears and phobias.

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i gave her the following tidbits of information: fear is a normal emotion which warns us of impending danger. when the fear is irrational and intense, then it is classified as a phobia. phobias are best treated through a combination of exposure therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and relaxation exercises. other helpful interventions include art therapy, hypnotherapy, basic talk therapy, family support, support groups, and even a change in diet (low sugar and low caffeine).

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at the end of the interview, iya felt comfortable enough to confide in me about her deepest and darkest fear: "it's ipis cuz its nakakadiri." hehe! funny girl!

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