Fears and Phobias

A phobia is a specific and intense fear of a particular situation or object. A Phobia can arise in one of several ways. It can develop from a particular unpleasant or traumatic incident (say a phobia of dogs having been previously bitten or attacked) or can be triggered by association. The brain works by making links and associations – for instance the famous Pavlov’s Dogs experiments where Pavlov trained the dogs to salivate on cue from a ring of a bell by ringing the bell as they were given food. Our brain can link one situation or stimulus with another and can therefore “generalise” or extend a fear of a specific incident or object to other more neutral situations. Claustrophobia is an example, where a sufferer may have initially had an unpleasant experience in a train or plane or lift, and then the fear can become ‘generalised’ to many more enclosed spaces, where the person might perceive themselves to be ‘trapped’.

While we, and our brains, are far more complex than dogs in our behaviour and our psychological and emotional functioning, our reactions and behaviour can still show some similarities with these behavioural patterns of responding.

Here are some common phobias that  have had experience of working successfully with – or can offer therapy for:

Achluophobia – fear of darkness

Acrophobia – fear of heights

Aerophobia-  fear of flying

Agorophobia – fear of open spaces

Aichmophobia – fear of needles or pointed objects

Anthrophobia – fear of flowers

Arachnophobia – fear of spiders

Astraphobia – fear of thunder and lightening   (also known as Brontophobia, Ceraunophobia, or Tonitrophobia)

Bacteriophobia – fear of bacteria

Batrachophobia – fear of amphibians

Basophobia, Basiphobia – fear of falling

Carcinophobia – fear of cancer

Claustrophobia – fear of confined spaces.

Coulrophobia – fear of clowns

Cynophobia – fear of dogs

Dentophobia – fear of dentists

Driving phobia – fear of driving

Emetophobia – Fear of being sick

Enochlophobia – fear of crowds

Entomophobia – fear of insects

Equinophobia – fear of horses

Glossophobia – fear of speaking in public

Hemophobia – fear of blood.

Herpetophobia – fear of reptiles.

Hydrophobia – fear of water

Iatrophobia – fear of doctors  (White Coat Syndrome)

Insectophobia – fear of insects

Lockiophobia – fear of childbirth

Mysophobia – fear of dirt and germs

Necrophobia – fear of death or dead things

Noctiphobia –  fear of the night

Nyctophobia – fear of the dark

Opthidiophobia – fear of snakes.

Ornithophobia – fear of birds

Scolionophobia – Fear of school

Sociophobia – Fear of social evaluation

Somniphobia – Fear of sleep

Sociophobia – Social Phobia – Fear of being evaluated/judged negatively in social situations

Thanatophobia – fear of death or dying

Xenophobia – Fear of strangers or foreigners.

Zoophobia – Fear of animals

If you don’t see your phobia listed, or wish to overcome your phobia contact me now.

 

Fears

We can also have strong fears that, whilst not a phobia, can impact on our life, our relationships and our happiness. These often come from our previous experiences, or as a result of experiences in previous relationships and include:

Fear of Failure

Fear of Commitment

Fear of Intimacy

Fear of Rejection

Fear of Abandonment

Fear of Being Alone

Fear of Being Touched

Fear of Men (or Women)

Fear of Change

Fear of Imperfection

Fear of Marriage

Whist fears like these can have a distressing impact on the life of sufferers, they can nevertheless be overcome with therapy.To find out how you can overcome your fear  or phobia contact me now.