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.