Virginia Beach, VA ( your-story ) March 10, 2010 – US-based, the Phobias and Fears website is introducing its informational site that provides practical insight and motivation for teens (and others) struggling with pervasive social anxieties. It acknowledges the embarrassment and silent fears many students face, and offers them empathetic advice, informative articles, and a chance to help them reach their full potential.

The website increases awareness of this misunderstood phobia, which often begins when kids are still young and can continue well into adulthood. Often they are weighted down with enormous peer pressure and have to tackle the anxieties on their own. It can be a dark and lonely time for them.

David Miller, Owner of the Phobias and Fears website says, “For thirty years I’ve struggled with many of the social anxieties that the site covers. I thought I was just shy and introverted. It was much more than shyness. I felt terrified and alone. I remember thinking, ‘If people knew what I was battling and the feelings of hopelessness I faced regularly, I’d lose what few friends I had managed to make.’ How wrong I was.”

Miller candidly admits that the one area he struggled with was simple social interactions, and failed quite a bit, but has now reached a moderate amount of success in forming meaningful friendships. He enjoys helping others – teens especially – reach their full potential by breaking through the anxieties one fear at a time.

Explains Miller, “I lost a lot of opportunities because I was terrified to talk on the phone, to meet new people, or even to speak up in class. I was afraid people would reject me.”

Information and solutions on the Phobias and Fears website will not only help increase awareness of this often mislabeled disorder, but it will also help teens to

Improve self esteem
Interact socially
Combat thoughts of rejection
Encourage those experiencing anxieties

People interested in the subject should visit the Phobias and Fears website at http://www.phobiasfears.net

David Miller of the Phobias and Fears website is available for comment and interview by contacting via 240-520-2424 or DavidMiller@phobiasfears.net. Please make first contact via email.

The Phobias and Fears website supplies informational articles and products to people struggling with strong phobias and fears. Each article and product on the site provides insight and perspective to increase awareness in overcoming social anxieties.Â

Contact:
David Miller
520 Piney Branch Dr.
Virginia Beach, VA 23451
USA, 240-520-2424

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Often feelings that are being expressed verbally by a client are masking deeper feelings, such as fear, guilt or anger, that are hiding below the surface. The skilled counselor listens intently for those deeper feelings that need to be acknowledged and released before healing can take place.

Fear, Anxiety and Phobias Can be Helped by Counseling

Traumatic experiences can become fixed in the subconscious giving rise to fear, anxiety and phobias. Counseling may be used to identify underlying fears in order to reprogramme thought patterns that give rise to obsessive behaviour or anxiety states. This style of counseling is known as CBT or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

How Does Counseling Work?

By listening intently to what is being expressed verbally or through body language, the counselor uses a range of skills in order to help the client to become more self aware. These include:

• Listening and reflecting back what has been heard to the client
• Summarising - a good counselor will summarise what has been said, but may also be able to spot something that the client isn't aware of, e.g. self-sabotaging patterns of behavior brought from childhood into adulthood.
• Challenging - flagging up to the client differences between what is said and what is actually happening
• Noticing differences between what is expressed verbally and body language - this means that the client isn't aware of the "feeling behind the feeling"
• Helping the client to safely investigate their fears
• Immediacy - picking up on the emotional sub currents in the room can help clients to open up more deeply to their feelings
• Helping the client to adopt constructive thought patterns and behaviors

Counseling Helps with Self Awareness

Becoming more self aware is one of the greatest challenges of life, but it is only by becoming self aware that one can achieve peace and fulfilment. One of the greatest benefits of counseling is that one becomes more self aware and can thus avoid the pitfalls of negative thinking and behavior patterns. Relationships improve, confidence rises and one becomes empowered to live a fuller life.

Reference

The Gift of Tears, A Practical Approach to Loss and Bereavement Counselling (Paperback),

by Susan Lendrum (Author), Gabrielle Syme (Author), Pub. Brunner Routledge, ISBN 1-58391-933-3