Fears and Phobias
What is a phobia?
A phobia is a particular kind of anxiety disorder, in fact it is the most common form of anxiety.
Most people seem to have one or two phobias, and often they may seem not to affect their life a great deal. They may avoid situations that will make them have to confront their fears, for example, not taking foreign holidays if they have a phobia of flying, or not going into the garden shed where the spiders live if they have arachnophobia.
Whatever a person’s phobia is, it is a very real and intense fear to them, and it can have a very detrimental effect on their life.
Rational and irrational fears.
If you were stood in the street and an escaped lion was running towards you, it is not only rational that you would feel fear but also essential - so that you can take action like running as fast as you can! If, however, you will not get on a plane even knowing that flying is one of the safest forms of travel, and being aware that in any one day a million people take to the air and live to tell the tale - that is an irrational fear. Just as spiders are small insects that do no harm to people in this country, and even in countries where there are poisonous ones the chances of being bitten is very small.
Whether a fear is rational or irrational, the physiological effect it has on the body is the same. In fear situations we go into what has been called ‘the flight or fight response’. This means that we get ready to either run away, or fight the thing that is about to attack us. In these situations our heart rate will increase, adrenalin will be pumped into our blood stream, also the stomach is emptied, and much more. This is all done so that our body can face the life or death struggle it has just encountered. This is all very useful when preparing to run from the lion (and I would suggest you don’t try to fight it!), but it is not so useful when you are 35,000 feet in the air with nowhere to go, or perhaps you are worried because someone near you is going to be ill and you can’t stand it.
The point is that phobias are irrational fears and their cause stems from childhood. But this is not something that you have to put up with.
What can be done?
Both suggestion therapy and hypnoanalysis can help with phobias, and it depends on the individual and their phobia which therapy would be the best. So the best thing to do is to ring for a free consultation and put all of those fears and phobias behind you. 
A list of some of the more common Phobias
- Arachnophobia – fear of spiders.
- Social Phobia – fear of social situations, of being judged in a negative way.
- Aerophobia – fear of flying.
- Acrophobia - fear of heights.
- Emetophobia - fear of vomiting or seeing others vomiting.
- Dental phobia – fear of the dentist.
- Driving phobia – fear of driving.
- Necrophobia - fear of death, dying or things that are dead
- Claustrophobia – fear of confined spaces
This is just a short list of some of the more common phobias. But whether your phobia is common or uncommon, if it is affecting you life it’s time to put a stop to it.
You can ring Rob today for a free consultation on 01522 851806