What is Phobia?

Phobia is an intense and unrealistic fear that hinders your social, work and family life. So, whilst a fear of sharks may be a problem to a diver working in the Red Sea, it need not hold you back if you live and work in the UK. However, if you need to commute and have a fear of trains, then this phobia can cause serious day to day problems.

These specific phobias (fear of flying, spiders, being sick etc.) differ from general (or complex) phobias such as social phobia which causes the sufferer to fear social situations and avoid them. You might also like to look at anxiety disorders.

What Causes Phobias?

There is a mounting body of evidence that suggest some people are more genetically disposed towards anxiety, but at the same time you may have learned your phobia when you were young. If you saw a parent exhibiting phobic behaviour or talking about how they couldn’t bear to be near a spider, you mind may have absorbed this as a legitimate reaction to the “threat”.

Alternatively, a past traumatic event could cause you to perceive the focus of that event as an ongoing threat. For example fear of dogs after being knocked to the ground by a dog, as a child.

Once you have this fear, you may avoid situations in which you may encounter the “threat”. As you move forwards, you may get temporary relief from the anxiety but are also reinforcing the idea that the threat was real.

Be free from Phobia.

Phobia is a common reason for people to seek Hypnotherapy. We can develop new techniques for you to approach those situations that you were once scared of. Indeed, use of Hypnosis can be very effective in helping you rewrite the way your mind perceives situations that are threatening. If your phobia presents as part of a wider anxiety, then Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy alongside Counselling feature a broad range of techniques to help you move forward with your life.

In hypnosis, visualising yourself performing the feared task or encountering the feared object, fools the brain into thinking that the event has happened. By repeating this, the exposure desensitises you and the fear melts away.

General or Complex Phobias such as Agoraphobia or Social Phobia are deeper and more disruptive. In this circumstance, we will look at the root cause of the phobia to help you achieve fundamental and lasting change.

What is Therapy & Counselling?

Many people have an idea of what therapy is like because they have seen it depicted on television or in films. You make have seen someone lying on a couch or talking to an “Expert Therapist” who nods knowingly. This can be a reality for some people, but the truth is that the only expert on how to be you, is you. Your therapy at Assisi Therapy in Salisbury can include Hypnotherapy, Psychotherapy or Counselling and the only thing that influences the balance of these approaches, is what is best for you.