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What are phobias?
Phobias are an extreme or irrational fear of an object or situation and can cause a lot of distress. They can restrict day-to-day life and in severe cases, an individual may organise their life around avoiding the thing they’re afraid of. If the phobia can’t be avoided entirely, intense anxiety will result.
Phobias are often developed in early childhood, teenage years, or even as late as early twenties. Within those early years, negative experiences can snowball in a child’s mind and lead to a very specific phobia. If you, or someone you care about is suffering from a phobic disorder, then you are most certainly not alone.
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“The temptation is often to avoid the things that make us fearful. However, this often compounds our anxieties. Our therapies help you to find constructive and supportive ways to confront your phobias one step at a time; meaning that you find a pace which is appropriate to your individual situation, and which allows your brain to develop a new outlook to those situations or triggers.” Therapist, coaching psychologist and founder of Pinnacle Wellbeing, Richard Reid
Different kinds of phobia include:
Phobias can be split into three main categories:
- Specific phobias: A phobia that relates to a specific object or situation; for example, the fear of dogs, spiders, or flying.
- Social phobias: An excessive or unreasonable fear of social situations such as fear of public speaking or social anxiety.
- Agoraphobia: The fear of being alone in a public place or a fear of open or public places.
Common phobia symptoms
- Excess sweating
- Hot and cold flushes
- A feeling of dizziness or light headaches
- A pounding heart or palpitations
- Trembling or shaking
- Stomach upset or nausea
- Shortness of breath or not being able to breathe properly
- Discomfort in the chest or chest pain
How we help
The use of therapy can help you overcome your phobia as well as its symptoms and triggers. We’ll build a tailor-made program that works for you with psychotherapy treatments such exposure therapy.
Here, understanding the cause of a phobia is less important than focusing on how to treat the avoidance behaviour that has developed over time. As you learn how to better manage and relate to your reactions, thoughts and feelings, you’ll find that your anxiety and fear are reduced, and you are no longer in control of your life. Treatment is usually directed at one specific phobia at a time.
Along with exposure therapy we typically use a combination of therapies to treat phobias; these include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and hypnotherapy alongside talking therapies such as counselling and psychotherapy.
Client success stories
A phobias case study
This female client had recently become pregnant and needed to have regular blood tests due to the risk of her baby having Down’s Syndrome. However, she had suffered from a phobia of blood and needles since the age of 10; she regularly fainted at the sight of blood.
We suggested four hypnotherapy sessions focused on reprocessing her experience of the original trauma that caused her phobia. It involved teaching NLP-style coping techniques for emotional state management and self-hypnosis for relaxation.
Whilst she was open to the idea of hypnotherapy, she was nervous about the prospect of having to confront her fear. Much of the first session involved metaphorical hand-holding – pacing the session and leading her according to her level of comfort. After the four sessions, she was able to take the required blood tests without any adverse effect.
She later returned for further help in physically and mentally preparing herself for the birth of her child using hypnobirthing techniques. She is now the proud mother of a healthy baby girl.
How we provide it
We offer therapy & counselling sessions in person at our London offices, over the telephone and online. The sessions usually last from 30 minutes to an hour; and our courses usually consist of around 6 to 12 sessions.
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