A phobia is an irrational fear, a fear without good reason. People with phobias experience unwanted responses to animals, insects, objects, actions or places.

The physical response is known as a stress response. People often describe their reaction to something as being ‘paralysed with fear’ or ‘having butterflies in my stomach’ or ‘just wanting to run away’ from whatever is triggering the response. Those with phobias often know that their response is irrational, making it harder to understand or accept. People often manage their phobia on a day-to-day basis by avoiding the trigger and they only contact a hypnotherapist when it becomes a serious problem or significantly impacts on their life. Sometimes people are prompted to take action because they don’t want to pass on their phobia to their children.

The most common phobias are:
Fear of confined spaces
Fear of dentists
Fear of dogs
Fear of flying
Fear of heights
Fear of needles
Fear of pregnancy
Fear of sickness
Fear of spiders and other insects
Fear of water

How do people get phobias?

An irrational fear of something is a learned behaviour, either from a parent or a carer or through a traumatic experience such as a turbulent flight or a dog attack. As a young child we learn about fears from (consciously and unconsciously) how to live and relate to the world around us. If a parent is frightened of spiders the child’s instinctive response and the message hardwired in the brain may be that spiders are a threat. Over time, the message can become reinforced and repeated exposure is likely to compound the fear and make it worse.

How do you treat phobias?

I use a range of different therapeutic tools that is used to benefit clients with a fear or phobia. The approach I use may also depend on whether the root cause of the phobia is known, how it is viewed by the client and how receptive the client is to change. Phobias can often be resolved or reduced in just a few sessions.

What will a session be like?

In the session I will undertake a full consultation and I will evaluate the severity and impact of the phobia and then use a combination of hypnotherapy and other techniques to support resolving it. I will also seek to reduce your phobic response and increase your ability to stay calm when confronted with the trigger.
Hypnotherapy is extremely effective for phobia reduction and removal and can be resolved in just a few sessions.

The cost per session for all fears and phobias is £60.00.