Phobias

When Fear Becomes Limiting

Fear serves an important purpose - it keeps us safe from genuine danger. But sometimes fear attaches itself to things that pose little or no real threat, growing out of proportion until it starts to restrict your life.

Understanding Phobias

A phobia is an intense, persistent fear that triggers significant anxiety and avoidance. You might know logically that the fear is excessive, but that knowledge doesn’t stop the emotional and physical response.

Common experiences include:

Immediate anxiety when encountering (or anticipating) the feared object or situation
Physical symptoms: racing heart, sweating, trembling, nausea, difficulty breathing
Strong urge to escape or avoid
Anxiety that feels disproportionate to any actual danger
Impact on daily decisions and activities

Types of Phobias We Treat

Specific phobias focus on particular triggers:

Animals (spiders, dogs, snakes, insects)
Medical and dental procedures
Blood, injury, or needles
Heights
Flying
Enclosed spaces (claustrophobia)
Weather phenomena (storms, lightning)
Specific situations (bridges, tunnels, lifts)

Situational phobias involve particular contexts:

Public transport
Driving
Being far from home
Crowds or open spaces (agoraphobia)

How Phobias Develop

Phobias can emerge from:

A frightening experience (being bitten by a dog, a turbulent flight)
Witnessing someone else’s fear or distress
Gradual learning through warnings or cultural messages
Sometimes there’s no obvious origin - the fear seems to have always been there

However your phobia started, it’s maintained by avoidance. Each time you escape or avoid the feared thing, your brain learns that avoidance equals safety - reinforcing the belief that the trigger is dangerous.

Effective Treatment

The good news: phobias are among the most treatable psychological difficulties. Many people see significant improvement in relatively few sessions.

Graded exposure is the gold standard for phobia treatment. Working together, we create a gradual hierarchy - starting with situations that feel manageable and progressively building toward the feared trigger. This teaches your nervous system that it can cope.

Cognitive work addresses the thoughts and predictions that maintain fear, helping you develop a more realistic appraisal of actual risk.

Relaxation and grounding techniques give you tools to manage anxiety during exposure.

EMDR can be helpful when a phobia originated from a specific traumatic event.

Reclaiming Freedom

Phobias often lead people to build their lives around what they’re avoiding - turning down opportunities, limiting travel, or spending enormous energy managing fear. Treatment offers the possibility of choice: doing things because you want to, not because fear allows it.

Get in touch to discuss overcoming your phobia.