Fears & Phobias
So what's the difference between a fear and a phobia?
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A fear can be a perfectly normal emotional response when faced with imminent danger activated by our fight or flight response to keep us safe. It only becomes a problem when that fear paralyses us from getting on with every day life. This is when a fear really becomes a phobia.
Phobias are an excessive fear or anxiety related to specific situations out of proportion to the actual danger and can be so strong that it interferes with our quality of life and/or our ability to function. The most common phobias are: spiders, heights, flying, environments with no easy way to escape (outside, underground, small spaces etc), dogs, snakes, injections/needles, dentists, blood or even clowns.
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Whether you have a strong fear or a phobia they can be difficult to live with. They are real, uncomfortable and upsetting especially when others around you think you are acting irrationally or being silly. Some have far-reaching consequences, many of which affect our life on a regular, or even daily, basis.
What does it feel like, look like?
If you have a fear or phobia you know exactly what this looks like and feels like far better than I can ever describe because you are experiencing it and everyone is different.
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However, for those lucky enough not to have any fears or phobias, the person will often present with sweating, heart palpitations, quickening breathing, shortening of breath and will generally either freeze through their fear or have an overwhelming need to get themselves as far away as possible from the object of their fear/phobia, even if they know logically there is little or no danger attached.
How can we help?
Having had my own fear of birds 'cured' with hypnotherapy I can testify it works, but let me explain that a little more.
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The issue is that you have an oversensitivity in your mind to that object, situation or action and using hypnotherapy we will work together to find when this first developed and find coping strategies to control symptoms.
We will also work through how we can lessen this sensitivity and/or rid you of it altogether.
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Don't get me wrong, I still don't particularly like birds but I no longer stop dead and close my eyes when a pigeon flies within 3 feet of me. I am now in control and so can you be.