Fears & Phobias

Overcome any fear or phobia with therapy.

The most common forms of fears and phobias people suffer with in this modern day society are: driving, lifts, enclosed spaces, open spaces, Emetophobia (being sick), rats and mice, spiders, insects, flying creatures, reptiles, cats, dogs, heights, thunderstorms, the dark, deep water, fire, blood, needles, hospitals, dentistry, illness, germs and many more.

There is also something known as social phobia, fears include: being judged, meeting new people, talking to members of the opposite sex, being the centre of attention, holding eye contact, blushing, going to a restaurant, using public bathrooms, going to work, authority figures, public speaking etc. (See anxiety page for more information).

Why do we have these fears and phobias?

Often our fears are completely irrational. Although our fear of daddy long legs, for example, can have us running off screaming, consciously we know that the insect can't really do much to hurt us. But as the anxiety lies in our subconscious, we can do nothing to reason away the fear.

No matter what the fear or phobia is and how extreme the problem is, there must have been some trigger event that created the anxiety response.

Most of these trigger events happen in the formative years of childhood. As an adult we have enough life experience to cope with the problems we are regularly confronted with.

The child usually represses this memory or the emotion associated with the memory subconsciously, which will stay there until the experience is unravelled.

However this memory in childhood does not always have to contain the actual thing the person fears in his/her adult life. To explain, a distressing experience on a plane, for example, seldom causes fear of flying. It is usually the forgotten memory that causes the individual to feel the same as he/she perceives he/she might feel on an airplane. There are many examples of where a child may feel trapped, hot, cornered, nowhere to escape etc.

When these feelings are experienced at a level that overloads the nervous system, repression occurs and when that person experiences those feelings again, when they just happen to be on a plane, fear of flying occurs.

How can hypnotherapy help?

Hypnotherapy seeks to release this repression by finding the root cause of the fear/phobia. Once the trigger event has been found and the emotions discharged, the fear is dissolved. Just as if you never had it in the first place.

Related links

 What is hypnosis?

 Frequently asked questions

 Find out more about different therapies used

 Contact us and find out about more information