Phobias

Fear can be a healthy emotion when it stops us from doing things that are dangerous and unnecessary.

But if we have a fear of something which is not dangerous and this impacts on our ability to function normally, we have developed a phobia.

ABOUT PHOBIAS

 ‘phobia’ is an unreasonable and overwhelming fear of an object or situation that doesn’t actually present much of a real life threat but may provoke strong anxiety and fear. A phobia can be developed towards any object or situation, however some phobias are more common than others. 

Common phobias include:

  • Fear of Spiders (also called Arachnophobia)
  • Fear of Snakes (also called Ophidiophobia)
  • Fear of heights (also called Acrophobia)
  • Fear of leaving the house, as well as open spaces and crowds (also called Agoraphobia)
  • Fear of dogs (also called Cynophobia)
  • Fear of lightning storms (also called Astraphobia)
  • Fear of injections and/or needles (also called Trypanophobia)
  • Fear of social situations (also called Social Anxiety Disorder)
  • Fear of flying (also called Pteromerhanophobia)
  • Fear of germs (also called Mysophobia) 
  • Fear of close spaces (also called Claustrophobia)
  • Fear of sharks (also called Galeophobia)

HOW WE HELP

Phobias can be treated using a combination of education about phobia, emotion regulation strategies (e.g. breathing techniques and mindfulness exercises) and very gradual exposure to the feared object or situation.

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) can also be used to assist in treatment of phobias. 

Virtual Reality therapy is also available to help with exposure therapy for a number of different phobias.

Next steps? 

Let’s make a start. During your first sessions we’ll work through your challenges and needs.

This is not an exercise of putting you in a box and sticking a label on it but rather helping you feel safe and opening up opportunities for healing and growth.

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