Phobias & Fears

What is a phobia?

This particularly intense and uncontrollable fear produces physical and hysterical symptoms. For example, you may have been stuck in a lift as a child – but have no conscious memory of the experience. As an adult, this experience could create Claustrophobia (a fear of enclosed spaces) - preventing you from using lifts and other similar enclosures.

The underlying feeling with all phobias is being 'out of control'.

Some phobias are specific e.g. fear of spiders, of heights, of flying, of thunderstorms, and so on. There are over 500 phobias.

Why is hypnotherapy effective?

Phobias are symbolic reactions i.e. symptoms created by an experience, often an “early year’s” experience.

The actual event was emotionally charged and then forgotten by the conscious mind, but stored in the subconscious. With hypnoanalysis, we uncover the cause of the phobia and release the ‘bottled-up’ feelings attached to it.

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Social Phobia

According to research carried out in the United States, social anxiety disorder is the third most common debilitating condition after depression and alcoholism.

Social anxiety (also known as social phobia) is a type of anxiety disorder. People who have social anxiety experience extreme and persistent anxiety associated with social or performance situations.

Put another way, social anxiety is the fear and anxiety of being judged and evaluated negatively by other people, leading to feelings of inadequacy, embarrassment, humiliation and depression.

If a person usually becomes anxious in social situations, but seems fine when they are alone, then 'social anxiety' may be the problem.

Most people feel shy or nervous in certain situations. Public speaking or entering a room full of strangers for example, can cause anxiety in many people. However this kind of common apprehension doesn't indicate a social phobia. It becomes a social phobia when it:

• Causes the person to avoid the feared situation
• Means the person endures the situation with intense distress
• Interferes significantly with work, education, family and social life

What are the main situations people fear with social anxiety?

The most common situations that are feared by people who have social anxiety include the following:

• Speaking in public
• Eating and drinking in public
• Writing in front of others
• Meeting new people
• Being the centre of attention
• Meeting or talking to members of the opposite sex
• Being watched doing something
• Meeting or talking with people in positions of authority
• Being criticised
• Using the telephone
• Going around the room (table) in a circle and having to say something

This is not a complete list of symptoms, other feelings are also associated with social anxiety.

What are the main symptoms of social anxiety?

When the person who has social anxiety is confronted by the feared situation, or even just thinks about the feared situation, extreme symptoms of anxiety result. The symptoms of social anxiety may include any or all of the following:

• High levels of anxiety when exposed to the fearful situation (palpitations, trembling, sweating, tense muscles, dry throat, blushing, dizziness, sinking feeling in the stomach)
• An overwhelming fear of wanting to escape
• Feeling of self consciousness and inadequacy
• Avoidance of the feared situation, which can often lead to isolation from friends, family and society
• Reliance on drugs or alcohol to get the person through the feared situation

Treating social anxiety

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