WHEN FEARS AND PHOBIAS TAKE OVER

Phobia – a very powerful type of fear

We all know people who can't bear spiders or snakes, but what do you do when your fears are so bad that you live your life around your phobia/fear? When you're terrified of snakes and live in Northamptonshire, that's not going to cause you too much trouble...... but what if you're afraid of being sick/vomiting, of meeting strangers, of flying, of water, of birds, being in a car on a motorway?

Sufferers often adapt their lifestyles to avoid the huge levels of stress and unhappiness triggered by their particular fear/phobia, meaning that everyday life can become an obstacle course, to be managed and endured, rather than enjoyed.

June Taylor, Hypnotherapist & Hypnoanalyst, says fears/phobias are far more common and widespread than realised. There are hundreds of them, and each has a name. The more common ones include

• social phobia (scopophobia);
• flying (aerophobia);
• heights & bridges (acrophobia);
• vomiting (emetophobia);
• spiders (arachnophobia);
• speaking in public (glossophobia);
• fear of driving/motion (ochophobia);
• fear of needles (belonephobia);
• darkness (nyctophobia);
• fear of birds (ornithophobia);
• closed spaces (claustrophobia);
• crowds (demophobia).

It is essential to feel fear in dangerous situations, necessary for our own self-preservation and survival. Without fear we would be reckless, irresponsible, threatening our own and the lives of others and, in the long term, the human race. However, when fear or panic is introduced unnecessarily, or over a prolonged period, then the lasting effects are to the detriment of the body and mind.

What is a “phobia”? – an external symptom of an internal and subconscious anxiety. This “anxiety” is projected onto an object or situation, i.e. flying. When the sufferer is faced with the thought or action of flying, the phobia is triggered, creating a very powerful type of fear, intense panic, even panic/anxiety attack, etc.

What causes the “phobia” - internal and subconscious anxiety? When someone finds themselves in a situation that creates intense emotions, the person’s (or child’s) mind has the ability to “bottle up” those emotions – sometimes described as “repressing” the emotions. By doing so it removes that emotion from the person’s conscious awareness, and “bottles it up” in the subconscious; once there, the mind creates a “phobia” – to warn the person not to get into that (or any similar) situation again. An easy example would be someone gets bitten by a dog……. they could develop a fear of dogs. The fear stops them going anywhere near dogs, and therefore prevents them from getting bitten again.

However, many phobias are not directly related to the cause of the emotion, they are symbolic of it. The most obvious example is the fear of flying. Research shows that millions of people in the UK suffer with a fear of flying – aerophobia, yet most will have never ever been in an air crash or even known any one that has suffered in an air crash. They (mostly) don’t have a fear of flying, or dying, or crashing, or being blown up; they have a fear of being “out of control” – which their brain symbolises and projects onto flying. How much more can you be “out of control” than being in a tin box, travelling at 400 mph, 2 miles up, operated by someone you do not know or cannot see!

Social phobia is probably the most common phobia there is. It is a type of fear of being “on the spot”, judged, humiliated, embarrassed, or worrying about how others “see” them. For the social phobic dinner parties, shopping, meeting people, presentations, even holidays can become a nightmare, and bring on real feelings of fear of rejection, inferiority, lack of confidence, stuttering, panic attacks, heart pounding, hot flushes, trembling, or shy bladder syndrome in men, can be common to the “social phobic”.

How to resolve your phobia and fears: help is at hand. June uses hypno-analysis, - sometimes called “insight therapy” – a special type of hypnotherapy. Phobias are almost always formed in childhood, even though the symptom may not appear for many years. The only way to cure a phobia, so that it no longer affects the person, is to find the originating cause (the unconscious anxiety) and release the “bottled up” emotion. Some other therapies just do a “cover up job” which is short lived. Hypno-analysis is very special and it will also greatly benefit other areas of a person’s life, so they will have a general reduction in stress levels, feel more resolved, calmer, more in control, etc.

Call June to arrange an initial consultation to discuss your feelings – it’s free,
and June will give you her recommendations – without obligation.
Call 01327 341140