What Are Phobias and Specific Fears?

A phobia is an extreme fear of a particular object (e.g., an animal) or situation (e.g., being on a high bridge), along with awareness that the fear is irrational, unnecessary, or excessive. Appropriate and realistic fears  are not considered phobic: for example, if you feel anxious about being mugged while walking alone in dark alleys in a big city it is unlikely to be a phobia, but if you experienced the same level of anxiety whilst sitting in the safety of your locked home then the fear would be irrational.

For the fear to be considered a phobia, it must interfere with your life or be very distressing. If the fear rarely affects your life, then it may not be a problem worth tackling. For example, fear of snakes may not be a phobia if you live in a place where there are no snakes, simply because you don't have to encounter the feared object. However, if you are so fearful of them that you panic if you see one in a photograph and refuse to go outside in summer then you may be phobic and benefit from help.

Being phobic does not necessarily mean that the feared object or situation is avoided all the time. For example, a person who is phobic about air travel may occasionally manage to fly but with a great deal of discomfort or with the aid of medication or alcohol. Weeks of worry and sleepless nights are likely to come before the proposed flight.

What Happens When We Are Afraid?

Fear is a natural emotion. It is a basic survival mechanism that allows us to be physically prepared to escape from real danger, or to meet it head on with an aggressive response. That is why fear is often called the fight-or-flight response. The body is activated by a rush of adrenalin whenever we perceive danger (and become frightened), so we can respond quickly by escaping from the situation or finding another way to reduce the potential threat.

Many of the sensations we experience when frightened are designed to protect us from potential danger. For example, our hearts race to get blood to the big muscles so we can escape easily. We breathe more heavily to get more oxygen, and we sweat to cool off the body so we can perform more efficiently. Fears and phobias are natural emotions that occur whenever a person perceives danger - even when the actual danger is minimal, as in phobias.

When someone says "phobia" we normally think just of simple phobias - involving a specific situation or object (see below) - but this category also includes SOCIAL PHOBIA (fear of being evaluated negatively) and AGORAPHOBIA (fear of leaving a place of safety).  Please follow the links for more information on these problems, as this page continues to think about SIMPLE PHOBIAS.

Simple Phobias

Different Simple Phobias include:

How Common Are Fears and Specific Phobias?

Specific phobias are the most commonly occurring anxiety disorder - approximately 13% of the population reports at least one specific phobia during their lives (Kessler et al., 2005). Women report experiencing more specific phobias than men but this may be owing to the fact that it is less socially acceptable for men to admit to being afraid. (Bourdon et al., 1988). However for phobias involving heights, blood, and needles both sexes seem to be equally fearful.

How can cognitive hypnotherapy help with your phobia?

Typical treatment would include determining the precise features of your phobia, including any relevant thoughts about its origin,  situations or conditions where it is better or worse, and what factors help to maintain your anxiety.  Then  a carefully graduated programme of exposure to the feared situation would be developed, starting at a level that feels possible to you and building up by very small degrees.  Hypnosis is used to develop your confidence and belief in being able to cope with anxiety, and to make initial exposure using visualization, more vivid and realistic.  Using a tried and tested CBT model we work together to dismantle the thoughts and behaviour which are keeping your fear alive, leaving you free to lead a more relaxed and fulfilling existence.

Why continue to let fear restrict your life?  Contact me today to begin your journey towards freedom...