If you are walking along a dark alley late at night and a tall man wearing a balaclava jumps out at you, there may be good reasons for being afraid. Your body automatically responds by pumping adrenaline(肾上腺素) into your blood stream--your rate of breathing changes dramatically, your heart races and you have feel- Lugs of panic or terror. Your body has entered the 'fight or flight' response, getting ready either to defend you rserf or nm away. In these circumstances, the benefits of this response are .obvious. However, some people respond to harmless events and objects in the same way. An excessive or unreasonable fear is called a Phobia. Phobias are extremely common, affecting people of all ages and from all walks of life. People usually manage their phobia by avoiding the feared situation or objects. For some phobia, like the fear of toads, this might represent a minor inconvenience. On the other hand, a social phobia could severely interfere with the ability to work or socialize. Anyone with a phobia that causes distress or affects their quality of life should consider being treated, especially since phobias generally respond well to treatment. A phobia is learned association between a particular object or event and the feeling of fear. Phobia can be overcome by relearning this association in a new positive way. Many phobics have found hypnotherapy to be an extremely effective treatment for their phobia. During hypnotherapy, the therapist uses easy-to-follow instructions to gently guide the client into the hypnotize state. Stage hypnosis gives the impression that this involves a loss of control, but this is not the case at all. The client remains in charge of their senses throughout and can converse easily in this state. When relaxed in hypnosis, the therapist can help you change the associations that have been learned with the feared object or situation. The number of sessions required to overcome a phobia can vary with the complexity of the issue. For ex- ample, clients with animal phobias, such as fear of spiders, have overcome their difficulty in two or four sessions. However, clients with more complex fears, like social phobias, have required longer. However, in addition to helping you overcome your fear, hypnotherapy can also leave you feeling calm, relaxed and more in control of your life. A phobia is a response______.