The following are examples of possible fears or phobias; however anything can become a fear or a phobia:
- Natural environment type (e.g. forests, water, snow, heights, thunderstorms).
- Animals and insects (e.g. dogs, wasps, cats, snakes, spiders).
- Phobic avoidance (e.g. vomiting, choking, illness).
- Injections and fear of blood or injury.
- Situation focused (e.g. flying, enclosed spaces, lifts).
Phobias may be described as fears that are excessive or unreasonable. Specific phobias are triggered by the anticipation or actual presence of the object or situation of the phobia, for example: the sight of blood, requiring an injection, discovering a spider etc.
I had a variety of fears and phobias, some beginning when I was quite young, which sometimes grew more intense as I became older. A major fear was heights, which began when I was approximately five years old. Another fear was putting my head underwater, which also began from the age of about six years old. My fear of heights began when I fell ‘out of control’ down a steep hillside. My fear of going underwater began as a result of being in a dinghy in the sea when it turned over. Both these fears definitely grew over the years into phobias, where they remained until I began training as a clinical hypnotherapist and EFT advanced practitioner and NLP coach. Interestingly, I only worked on removing one of my phobias directly; the remainder seemed to vanish as I worked with clients on theirs!
The person experiencing the phobia recognises that the fear is excessive or unreasonable. The response provoked is one of anxiety, possibly with one or more symptoms of a panic attack – hence phobic situations are avoided or only endured with intense anxiety. The trauma of a phobia can cause disruption in a person’s life due to a need to change their normal or preferred routine.
Children are not immune to phobias and may of course not recognise that their fear is excessive or unreasonable. They are particularly prone to fear of loud sounds, heights, unusual faces or appearances (characters in costume or masks). I remember my son at the age of about four being terrified of Noddy when we went to see him at an open-air event. He found the huge masked image so upsetting. Another fear he had was of hand dryers in public toilets.
A child’s outward expression of a fear or a phobia may take the form of a temper tantrum, inertia, and excessive crying.
I have in my ‘toolkit’ a wide variety of techniques for achieving rapid positive change. I am confident that in most circumstances the use of one or more or a combination of these techniques will achieve a satisfactory outcome. As with all treatment methods we begin with an initial consultation, and through this we will learn the detail and all the elements involved in your fear or phobia. This is necessary to establish this detail to achieve a positive result and discover the most beneficial interventions for you.
If you would like to discuss your situation in more detail please don’t hesitate to contact me. We can then arrange a mutually convenient time for a telephone conversation.
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