Phobias

I am bothered by a phobia

Everyone feels fear at some point, but a phobia is an intense fear of something. Often the fear is disproportionate to the object of fear, but to the person experiencing it, it can be paralysing.

Phobias may be a fear of objects, animals, places, situations or medical situations.  You may have heard of needle phobias, a phobia of spiders, fear of flying, or a phobia of public speaking.

With these fears the person may have a had a bad experience of the thing they are frightened of, although this is not always the case.

The phobia may become worse over time because the person often tries to avoid, at all costs, the object of their fear.  This means that they don’t learn to trust that they can deal with the fear.

Counselling can help you get to the root of the phobia and begin to learn ways of dealing with it.  Some phobias can be helped by very gradually exposing you to what you are scared of.