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Notes on counselling

Phobias in children — the price for a civilised life?

Dr. Soumitra Basu

Abstract
One can finally get over fears and phobias by contacting the deepest core of the being that
is connected with the Universal Truth that governs the world.

if left unattended, the condition becomes
chronic and may turn out to be refractory. In
recent times another type of school phobia has
been gripping children — the phenomenon
of bullying in school. Nothing seems to work
here satisfactorily, for counselling sessions
often prove counterproductive, as it is
followed by new types of bullying. Bullying
affects victims not only psychologically but
also affects their immune-system. Yet an
It is a counsellor’s dilemma whether to view important cause that makes counselling
phobias in children as a price for a civilised ineffective is that many teachers are unable
life. For phobias in children very often to be neutral or non-judgmental. The bullying
develop in the matrix of interpersonal life, in children seem to successfully manipulate
the social milieu. Did such phobias exist in such teachers, who not only support them
primitive life when humans had not settled but make them class monitors and allot them
down for agriculture? lead-roles in school programmes while the
hapless victims go on shuddering in fear and
Take the case of school phobia. In most cases feel miserable with a lowering of self-esteem!
children cannot bear the separation anxiety
from the mother figure. We recommend, to Perhaps the primitive simplicity of nature has
break the impasse, somehow tricking the been disturbed by our civilisational liabilities.
child to attend school, and that actually works Would the child fearing the school because of
in many cases in the beginning. However, being scared by the bullies among his or her

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