Facing up to Phobias

A phobia is a form of acute anxiety related to an intense, exaggerated & irrational fear of something that you believe will cause you harm.
You believe this will cause you so much harm that you avoid it as much as you can. Just the thought of it will cause you to feel sick, dizzy, extremely anxious & panicky. Some common phobias are fears of heights, flying, heights, enclosed places, crowds/being in public, spiders, needles, dogs/cats and water.

Having a phobia is more common than you think, around 10% of the population have a phobia. This can range from a mild fear to an overwhelming & debilitating fear which can stop you having a healthy functioning life.

So how can you deal with a Phobia? Some people believe that the best way is to avoid what causes them the fear in the first place, this can work if say you fear heights, so you just ensure you never climb anything higher than your head, but not so great if you fear being out in public and you need to go to work, you just can’t avoid going out forever. The best way to help a phobia and overcome it is wusing talking therapies.

Psychotherapy & CBT will help you get to the root cause of why you hold this fear, which could be from a trauma you’ve experienced, or is perhaps from a learned behaviour from childhood. You will then learn techniques in being able to build your confidence to challenge & rationalise your thinking around the phobia. Over time you will be able to face up to the phobia without fear, so that it may even disappear altogether. You can then begin to enjoy a more happier & healthier life that you’ve been missing out on.