Irrational Fears and phobias can be successfully treated, Whether it’s a fear of heights, flying or driving, needles and injections, spiders or snakes, Hypnotherapy can help you overcome your phobia.

What is the difference between a fear and a phobia?

A fear is a primitive automatic response to real or even perceived danger. Our bodies are put on a state of alert by releasing hormones into the body to ready ourselves for physical activity to either stay or fight the danger or to run away i.e. fight or flight. That rush of adrenaline that we feel in our tummies, clammy hands, rapid breathing, and heart beating faster are all familiar responses to fear. Once the danger has passed our bodily systems return to normal and we get back to this business of our day. Interestingly stress or worry is enough to trigger this primitive response and when under constant and relentless stress and without any physical outlet we can suffer emotional, psychological and physical symptoms as a result.

A phobia is an intense irrational fear towards a given object or situation that provides no real danger at all. A phobic reaction can produce a frightening full blown panic attack with all its associated symptoms but particularly a feeling of being totally out of control.

Why do we have phobias?

Phobias can be created in one of several ways. Firstly we have direct phobias, where the phobia is created as a response to a traumatic experience. For example in the past we may have been bitten by a dog or witnessed someone else being the victim of a dog attack. The mind creates a defence mechanism of a phobia to warn us not to be exposed to the trigger again, i.e. we will at all costs avoid coming into contact with dogs.

Indirect phobias are different in that they are born from an internal anxiety that is trying to find its way out. The exaggerated phobic response always means there is something more going on in the mind that is fuelling and driving the phobia. For example as a child we may have experienced something quite terrifying producing a feeling of pure fear, but our minds being immature and protective bottles up the fear and terror away from conscious awareness . If later in life we are subjected to further traumas, these may be enough to trigger this existing bottled up anxiety and fear within us. Subconsciously projecting and attaching this free floating internal anxiety onto a symbolic or real situation or object helps the person manage and make sense of these feelings. If the person manages to avoid the phobic situation or object indefinitely, eventually the anxiety will find its way out attaching itself to further situations i.e. the person phobic of flying might become phobic on trains, buses or cars for example.

Lastly a phobic response could be the result of learned behaviour from a parent or sibling with a phobia. However the projection of the anxiety could still be as a result of a childhood event, but by adopting the parent’s phobia this again makes sense to the sufferer and can almost normalise it as being hereditary!

Essentially all phobias are driven by bottled up negative emotion i.e. ‘a symbolic outward expression of an internal anxiety’.

Common Phobias

There are names for literally thousands of phobias but some of the more common are listed here. If yours is not here please do not hesitate to call Karen on 07887715711 to discuss your concerns.

How can Hypnotherapy help with my phobia?

Clinical Hypnotherapy otherwise known as suggestion therapy is well known for dealing with minor anxieties or those symptoms that require urgency such as an impending visit to the hospital or dentist or maybe a requirement to fly on business etc…