Phobias
Troubled by Phobias? Our psychologists are trained in CBT, an effective treatment to help you overcome your fears.
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Phobias are the most common type of anxiety disorder. It’s estimated that around 10 million people in the UK have a phobia.
A phobia is an overwhelming and debilitating fear of an object, place, situation, feeling or animal.
Phobias are more pronounced than fears. They develop when a person has an exaggerated or unrealistic sense of danger about a situation or object.
If a phobia becomes very severe, a person may organise their life around avoiding the thing that’s causing them anxiety. As well as restricting their day-to-day life, it can also cause them considerable anguish.
Symptoms may include:
- unsteadiness, dizziness and lightheadedness
- nausea
- sweating
- increased heart rate or palpitations
- shortness of breath
- trembling or shaking
- an upset stomach
If you don’t come into contact with the source of your phobia very often, it may not affect your everyday life. However, if you have a complex phobia such as agoraphobia, leading a normal life may be very difficult.
What causes phobias?
Phobias do not have a single cause, but there are a number of associated factors. For example:
- a phobia may be associated with a particular incident or trauma
- a phobia may be a learned response that a person develops early in life from a parent or sibling (brother or sister)
- genetics may play a role – there’s evidence to suggest some people are born with a tendency to be more anxious than others
Diagnosing phobias
Phobias aren’t usually formally diagnosed. Most people with a phobia are fully aware of the problem.
A person will sometimes choose to live with a phobia, taking great care to avoid the object or situation they’re afraid of. However, if you have a phobia, continually trying to avoid what you’re afraid of will make the situation worse.
What’s The Solution?
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)is an effective treatment to help with phobias. Feelings such as worry, anxiousness, fear or panic can be mild, moderate or severe. The emotions of anxiety can be constant, long-term and can affect people’s daily life.
When clients come to us with an idea of what they need, we always recommend that we discuss the options first so we can reach a joint decision about what would be most effective.
With therapy for phobias, it is important that the client realises there is a problem or – more than one problem.
Some issues are more severe than others. And some are more complex than they seem at first. We are flexible and will recommend changes to any agreed programme if we think that would be better for you.
We always work collaboratively with our clients to provide the best results to therapy. Our service is confidential and we aim to foster a safe environment where you can feel positive and empowered.
If you think that you may have a phobia and would like an appointment to discuss this with a psychologist please feel free to get in touch. We will be happy to help and PTSD is one of our specialisms.
a Travel Phobia Case Study
What Clients Say
“I sought treatment for travel phobia after my car accident. I was given homework and tasks to do and it really gave me courage to start driving again”
This is made up case to give you an indication of how we treat
phobias.
Jacob developed a driving phobia after a car crash.
He had been predicting that if he drove again he would be so anxious
that he would be a danger to himself and others. He predicted that he
would have an anxiety attack and not be able to be keep control of the
car. Despite the fact the accident was not his fault he felt that he
was not a competent driver and that now there was an elevated
probability that he would cause an accident. We wrote a list of
driving experiences to work on. He listed them in order of least to
the most risky and anxiety provoking. We started at the least ‘risky
and anxiety provoking’ and tested his predictions. He drove his car
to his local shops in the evening when there was least traffic around.
There were no major roads involved in this journey but he still was
very anxious. He managed this journey without losing control and
having an accident. We moved on to driving situations that were rated
more concerning and tested his predictions. Jacob quickly realised
that there was not a greater risk of having an accident and that his
anxiety was manageable. He exposed himself to the feared situations
and with each experiment testing his predictions and reinforcing the
idea he is safe. He regained his driving confidence over an eight week
period.
Jacob’s symptoms are very common in those who have experienced
accidents. He worked hard and managed to reduce his driving phobia.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy was the therapeutic framework used and
is recommended by the NICE guidelines for these conditions.
If YOU feel you are experiencing a phobia that needs treatment,
please contact us.