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<p>Phobias are so common place that almost everybody has something that they feel “funny” about, that they know is a bit irrational, but nevertheless, find causes them a problem.</p>
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<p>It could be that you have a fear of Spiders, perhaps you “need” to sleep with the light on, or perhaps you dread having to make a best man’s speech or presentation of some kind.</p>
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<p>On the whole, people generally manage to deal with these “minor” issues and they tend not to be too damaging to a person’s life.</p>
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<p>There are, however, many people who also find that their fear of phobia plays havoc with their lives preventing them from getting on with things, or perhaps “forcing” them to miss some great opportunity in life.</p>
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<p>For example, many people feel a bit “uncomfortable” about flying in a plane, but nevertheless, still fly and enjoy the benefits of whatever lies at the end of the plane journey, but for those who have developed a more “severe” phobia of flying they may be so phobic that they never take a foreign holiday, or turn down a promotion because it might entail inter-continental travel.</p>
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<p>People suffering from severe Agoraphobia may never leave their homes becoming socially withdrawn and fearful.</p>
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<p>So in all cases, it is important to recognise that Phobias may be mild or severe and that no two people suffer phobias in the same way.</p>
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<p>Phobias bring people to Hypnotherapy more frequently than any other condition, and we have a wide variety of therapeutic interventions that can be of positive benefit to the sufferer.</p>
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<p>The most common Phobias that we are consulted for are:</p>
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<ul><li>Spiders</li><li>Fear of Flying</li><li>Fear of Being Judged by other people</li><li>Fear of Public Speaking</li><li>Fear of Dentists</li><li>Fear of Needles or Injections</li><li>Death or Dying</li><li>Urinating in public (toilets)</li><li>Intimacy</li><li>Birds</li></ul>
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<p>In fact, the list of Phobias is without end as people can actually have fears about ANYTHING.</p>
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<h3>Why are there so many Phobias?</h3>
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<p>That’s a good question!</p>
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<p>From our point of view we recognise that the object or experience that produces the phobic response is almost always a “substitute” for some other fear or worry that we “carry” around with us.</p>
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<p>In other words we are not actually frightened of the thing itself, but having something definitive for us to “label” as the thing that causes the fear helps us to make sense of the “hidden” fear within us.</p>
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<p>For example, people who have a Fear of Flying are, in 98% of the cases, actually afraid of being “out of control”.</p>
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<p>It’s just a lot easier to call it “Fear of Flying” than to face the fact that you have a “control” issue in your life!</p>
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<p>So, if you regard fears and phobias from this point of view, it is relatively easy to see how almost any object or experience could feel “phobic”.</p>
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<p>Please do not misunderstand what we are saying here, the “fear” and “anxiety” that you experience when confronted with your “phobia trigger” is REAL, it’s just that the cause of it is something else.</p>
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<p>There are THREE possible causes of phobias from our perspective:</p>
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<p>1. You have actually had a very negative experience of one of the things you are phobic about and this has been “engrained” in your mind as a perfectly reasonable response. (For example, you’ve actually been involved in an aircraft crash, or bitten badly by a spider)</p>
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<p>2. You have some “repressed” or “buried” emotional trauma or experience in your past and this anxiety seeks some way of being expressed, so your mind finds and outlet in a fear or phobia.</p>
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<p>3. You have developed a certain thinking “style” known as “anticipatory anxiety” and it is in fact this “pre-worrying” that causes the anxiety NOT the thing you believe you’re afraid of!</p>
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