Phobias & Fears

Phobia fear

A phobia is an intense fear of something that, in reality, poses little or no actual danger. Common phobias and fears include closed-in places, heights, highway driving, flying insects, snakes, and needles. However, you can develop phobias of virtually anything. While most phobias develop in childhood, they can also develop in later life..

If you have a phobia, you probably realize that your fear is irrational, yet you still can't control your feelings. Just thinking about the feared object or situation may make you feel anxious. And when you're actually exposed to the thing you fear, the terror is automatic and overwhelming. The experience is so nerve-wracking that you may go to great lengths to avoid it—inconveniencing yourself or even changing your lifestyle.

Fear Phobia

How does Strategic Hypnotherapy work with Fears or Phobias?

Rather than focusing on removing the symptoms of your fear or phobia (calming the mind and focusing on the present), Strategic Hypnotherapy is more concerned with working with the ongoing cause of your phobia. Our primary focus is on teaching you how to not run this phobia in the first place rather than focusing on what to do with your phobia once you get it. ........it just makes sense....... Understanding where your perceptual filter currently sits will determine your levels of sensitivity to risk and how you are perceiving it - in your world. The reason you are running your phobia where others aren't is because you are seeing risk where there isn't any. It is simply your perception of your world. Strategic Hypnotherapy will teach you new skills and new ways to perceive the world around you. You will fundamentally engage in the world with a new set of risk assessment skills which more accurately reflect the reality of your world. We will change the way you see risk as well as minimising the amount of catastrophising you do.

For you to get maximum benefits from your Phobia or Fear Clinical Hypnotherapy sessions, typically allow for between 3 - 6 Sessions depending on the levels of these and any underlying comorbid mental health concerns

Types of Phobias or Fears

  • There are four general types of phobias and fears:

    1. Animal phobias such as the fear of snakes, spiders, rodents, and dogs.

    2. Natural environment phobias such as a fear of heights, storms, water, and of the dark.

    3. Situational phobias (fears triggered by a specific situation) including the fear of enclosed spaces (claustrophobia), flying, driving, tunnels, and bridges.

    4. Blood-Injection-Injury phobia, the fear of blood, injury, illness, needles, or other medical procedures.

Some phobias, however, don't fall into one of the four common categories. These include fear of choking, fear of getting a disease such as cancer, and fear of clowns.

Other Fears or Phobias

Other common phobias that don't fit neatly into any of the four categories include:

Social phobia, also called social anxiety disorder, is fear of social situations where you may be embarrassed or judged.

Fear of public speaking—an extremely common phobia—is a type of social phobia. Other fears associated with social phobia include fear of eating or drinking in public, talking to strangers, taking exams, mingling at a party, or being called on in class.

Agoraphobia was traditionally thought to involve a fear of public places and open spaces, but is now believed to develop as a complication of panic attacks.

Symptoms of Fear or Phobia

Signs to look out for which may indicate you need assistance with your fears or phobias are:

PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS

A person with a phobia will typically experience the following symptoms. The following symptoms are common across the majority of phobias:

  • a sensation of uncontrollable anxiety when exposed to the source of fear

  • a feeling that the source of that fear must be avoided at all costs

  • not being able to function properly when exposed to the trigger

  • acknowledgment that the fear is irrational, unreasonable, and exaggerated, combined with an inability to control the feelings

PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS

A person is likely to experience feelings of panic and intense anxiety when exposed to the object of their phobia. The physical effects of these sensations may include:

  • sweating

  • abnormal breathing

  • accelerated heartbeat

  • trembling

  • hot flushes or chills

  • a choking sensation

  • chest pains or tightness

  • butterflies in the stomach

  • pins and needles

  • dry mouth

  • confusion and disorientation

  • nausea

  • dizziness

  • headache

COMMON PHOBIAS

The most common specific phobias include:

  • Claustrophobia: Fear of being in constricted, confined spaces

  • Aerophobia: Fear of flying

  • Arachnophobia: Fear of spiders

  • Driving phobia: Fear of driving a car

  • Emetophobia: Fear of vomiting

  • Erythrophobia: Fear of blushing

  • Hypochondria: Fear of becoming ill

  • Zoophobia: Fear of animals

  • Aquaphobia: Fear of water

  • Acrophobia: Fear of heights

  • Blood, injury, and injection (BII) phobia: Fear of injuries involving blood

  • Escalaphobia: Fear of escalators

  • Tunnel phobia: Fear of tunnels

 Contact Us

Having an irrational emotional response to a trigger that affects and / or controls critical aspects of your life can be debilitating and isolating. Overcoming this behavioural response requires reaching out for support and making changes to the way you process those triggers and rationalise that process.

For a no obligation chat book a free 15 minute session via the booking button below.