What is the difference between a fear and a Phobia?

Common forms of phobias that Hypnotherapy helps with

How does Hypnosis and hypnotherapy help with phobias?

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Irrational Fears are called phobias because the term phobia comes from Late Latin, from Greek from “phobos” meaning fear. A phobia can be of anything or any situation and over the years as a Hypnotherapist I have met clients with phobias ranging form agoraphobia to animal phobias(spiders, dogs, mice, cats, snakes) to fear of heights( fear of flying, fear of high buildings, escalators, mountain climbing etc…), fear of water(swimming, diving,), fear of being sick or seeing sickness in public, fear of losing control(expressing itself in fear of flying, fear of driving, fear of speed, fear of presentations, metro, underground transport), phobia of needles, hospitals, blood, foods, food poisoning….

Other ways people describe phobias they are living with are: anxiety, apprehension, dread, fear, neurosis, obsession, aversion, avoidance, awe, detestation, disgust, dislike. Often people find ways around to live with their fear/phobia for example staying fit so that they do not have to step into the hospital, or else refusing a promotion for fear that it will imply flying to other locations. But when that fear becomes dysfunctional to the extent that it is blocking their personal or professional lives, for example, the family cannot go on holidays because of one parent’s fear of flying; or mother’s fear of spiders is catching up with the children as well and she does not want her children to develop her phobia as well, that is when people with phobias seek help. Hypnotherapy is very effective with phobias for just three major reasons which are explained further down.

The person who is living with a phobia will be the first one to agree that there’s no logic to their fear as their logical and rational brain knows they are okay with a tiny needle or in an escalator where thirty other people are walking in anyway! But as soon as they decide to face their fear and walk into that escalator or step into the garden to see if they see any spiders, their brain goes into an alarm state and triggers the “flight or fight” response, which then triggers their whole physiological state into a life-threatening mode where all their body and mind is saying is “run, run you are in danger”. They cannot hear, see or even feel any logic for all they can understand from their body’s reactions is that they are in danger and they need to get out of there.

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The ten most common phobias are:

1. Arachnophobia
 Fear of Spiders. Half of women and 10 per cent of men have a fear of spiders. It is a daily fear that Hypnotherapists around UK  meet in their Hypnosis Practices.

2. Social Phobia
 Social phobia is the fear of being evaluated negatively in social situations. Social phobia is a very common phenomenon, which is usually characterized by frequent cases of anxiety and depression. Then the person is usually escaping and saying “no” to invitations, parties etc but feeling very lonely and miserable inside. But at least it is safer to be miserable than feel the fear and pain of a social phobia. Clients come to Hypnotherapy when they get really fed up with that fear or when it becomes even more dysfunctional e.g. they develop a food binging or depression or panic attacks as a reason of their social fears.

3. Aerophobia
Fear of flying. Fear of flying is generally developed after an individual watches incidents of plane crashes on the news, suddenly loses a relative due to an unfortunate plane crash or watches movies in which the story centres on a deadly event of an air accident.  But a lot of clients also develop Flying Phobia after having successfully been on planes as children and adolescents. Usually it is linked to a fear of losing control or feelings of being out of safety/comfort zone.

4. Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia involves intense fear and avoidance of any place or situation where escape might be difficult or help unavailable in the event of developing sudden panic-like symptoms e.g. crowds, escalators, meetings, high buildings...  

5. Claustrophobia
Fear of being trapped in small confined spaces.  If you are a victim of claustrophobia you will probably suffer from several panic attacks especially when you are in an elevator or when you are travelling in a train or aircraft.

Being in such situations, you always feel that something might go wrong and you would never be able to escape the situation and ultimately die out of suffocation. If you are a chronic sufferer of this type of phobia, you may find it exceedingly difficult to breathe in closed auditoriums, theatres and elevators.

Similar to other phobic varieties this particular form of fear may also is the result of a traumatic situation in the childhood. Claustrophobic tendencies can effectively be treated utilizing a wide range of treatments including cognitive behaviour therapy in association with several anti-anxiety medications as well as Hypnotherapy is very effective within three to five sessions.

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The common and usual symptoms of claustrophobia are:

• Sweating
• Accelerated heart rate
• Hyperventilation or ‘over-breathing’
• Shaking
• Light-headedness
• Nausea
• Fainting
• Fear of genuine harm or illness

An individual with claustrophobia develop certain peculiar and unusual tendencies. The symptoms and behaviours are like:

• If you are claustrophobic you would start looking for exist points as soon as you enter a room. You usually stand or settle down close to the exits and feel uncomfortable when all the doors and windows of the room are closed
• You would definitely avoid driving or entering into a car especially during those hours when the traffic remains tight or congested
• If you are claustrophobic as soon as you enter a building, your tendency is always to use stairs instead of elevators or lifts.
• When you go to attend a party with lots of people standing all around, you tend to stand close to the door even if the room is large and spacious.

6. Acrophobia
 Better known as fear of height it has caused immense distress to countless people down the years. You feel as if your head is tossing as you look down from great heights, which cause the fear of anything that may imply heights e.g. flying, mountains, and tall buildings.

7. Emetophobia
A dreadful fear of vomit or seeing vomit that stops the person from socialising, going on dates, even going to invitations for dinner in the family or friend circle. You may be afraid to vomit or you may also feel awkward to see others vomiting.  

8. Carcinophobia
Carcinophobia is an extreme form of fear from the condition called cancer. This phobic condition is quite unnatural as it makes the individual afraid of all sorts of negative bodily symptoms. One minor physical discomfiture and the person start believing that he/she has cancer. Cancer is not contagious, still victims of carcinophobia believe that if they come in touch with people suffering from cancer they too will become a part of this suffering.

Thus, after meeting a cancer patient they feel as if they do not feel like eating and that they need to wash themselves frequently. They behave in a way as if the germs of cancer like pollen grains have been distributed well throughout their body.

Headache is one of the most common symptoms of carcinophobia and some may even consider this form of headache a sign of brain tumour. Quite surprisingly, this particular form of irrational health related fear makes people suffer all the more.

9. Brontophobia
Brontophobia known as Astraphobia as well is generally the fear of lightning and thunder that especially affects children. However, the symptoms of this specific phobic condition are also quite apparent in adults and teenagers.

An individual suffering from this type of phobia tends to hate summer. This is because summers are seasons of occasional thunderstorms and lightning. Such individuals stay tight from May to September and feel relieved once the winter’s months are at the doorstep. Such thunderstorm obsessions can make you panic and prevent you from enjoying the rest of the months.

Some common symptoms of brontophobia

• Panic attacks
• Difficulty in breathing
• A rapid heart beat
• Sweaty palms

The apprehensions associated with brontophobia at times can overwhelm you making you feel sick and restless.

If you are a victim of brontophobia, you may try to combat the condition in your own way by trying to hide yourself. Small children who are extremely afraid of thunder and lightning tend to hide in places like inside the cupboards, under the stairs and under the bed.

They look for places from where they will not be able to see or hear the storm.

Brontophobia can make you dive for foxholes. You may run and shut the blinds, turn the radio off, turn off the lights and television, lie flat on the floor far away from the window or curl yourself up in the bed.

Some usual characteristics of individuals suffering from brontophobia

• People who suffer from brontophobia keep on changing the television channels and stop where they could hear a news bulletin stating the weather of the day. This they do to ensure any chances of thunder and lightning.
• What is most pathetic is that such individuals know that their fear is irrational but cannot think of ways to get rid of the situation. If there is a chance of lightning, they keep on worrying who would be that first unfortunate one to receive a blow of light and thunder.
• A person suffering from brontophobia tends to be extra vigilant and have the habit of taking normal precautions more than what is required.  

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10. Necrophobia
Necrophobia or the fear of the dead is a psychological status when you feel afraid of death or may be you are afraid of dead things. Imagine yourself standing in a museum room with dead things around. The mummy with skeletal features and several carcasses of extinct animals of the world – all are looking as if ready to catch a prey when no one is around. Necrophobia can make you feel tremendously nervous.

Symptoms of necrophobia

• Shortness of breath
• Rapid heartbeat
• Infrequent and asymmetrical heart beat
• Sweating
• Dry mouth and shaking
• Feeling sick and queasy
• Psychological instability
• An altogether feeling of dread and trepidation

Let’s use Hypnosis to understand what is going in the brain of the person with a phobia:

Over a certain period the situation becomes a vicious circle: the more you avoids the phobic object(spiders) situation(social gatherings) the more you fear them and the more the fear grows the more inhibited you become to face them and the more you convince yourself that the situation has more control over you rather that trying the vice versa.

Over time so much of your energy is spent planning about how to stay away from the phobic situation that the person becomes less functional, fells tired and drained and does not have much time for healthy activities; the phobia also has its toll on our self-esteem as we know that we are not being “reasonable” and we feel ashamed of our family and friend circle. You are often judged as weak and coward but do know that phobias are valid feelings and the moment you realise that around ten percent of the population is undergoing the same problem you will more confident in seeking solutions to you problem.

Hypnotherapy works with the unconscious mind as we’ve already seen before; sine phobias seem to be controlled by our feelings more than from our brain what better alternative than hypnotherapy where the conscious mind is made to “sleep” so that the unconscious mind can be accessed. Two areas of the unconscious mind can be accessed here: the part that knows how the phobia came about and retain the memories about it all; and the part of the unconscious where you have stored potentials and skills that you do not even know you possess but that you have used unconsciously.

Hypnotherapy will help you neutralise and desensitize you to the phobic object/situation; give you the control over your mind and emotions so that you can look on the phobic object/situation as any other normal person feels; help you learn to be more relaxed and raise your self-esteem and self-confidence that you have the tools within yourself to take care of yourself.   

Via hypnotherapy that works directly with the right brain ( where we store our unconscious habits of responding to the world: healthy responses are driving, dancing or singing that after a while have become unconscious with us; but unhealthy responses are responses that are defences against stress, anxiety or even anger e.g. nail biting, eczema, skin diseases, insomnia, anger bouts or tics and stammering), we can help clients  let go of those alarming triggers that create even more alarm bells and set the body into a state of "fear and flight" (as if their life is in danger and they need to escape)with Hypnosis techniques that works directly with the right brain in a state of deep relaxation.