Phobia
A phobia is an unrealised or irrational fear of something that is unlikely to happen or cause harm.
When someone has a phobia, they experience extreme panic and intense fear of a specific things or situations. Phobias are different from other types of anxiety because this type of anxiety is only experienced when the person thinks about or is exposed those specific things or situations.
Phobias can be extremely debilitating to live with and overtime can lead to depression if not treated.
According to the DSM, phobias typically fall within five general categories:
- fears related to animals (spiders, dogs, insects)
- fears related to the natural environment (heights, thunder, darkness)
- fears related to blood, injury, or medical issues (injections, broken bones, falls)
- fears related to specific situations (flying, riding an elevator, driving)
- other (choking, loud noises, drowning)
Symptoms of a phobia can included, sweating, chest pains, nausea, heart palpitation and the need to run.
The automatic fight, flight freeze response to danger is at its peak when someone has a phobia.
The rational part of the brain is not effective when the person has a phobia. Ie: a person with a spider phobia may going running out of a room or even a house at the sight of a spider. I used to have a spider phobia myself and open the door of a moving vehicle to try and escape from the spider ( this is definitely not recommended behaviour).
So what can be done to help?
I offer two types of treatment for phobias both are effective in there own way. Hypnotherapy and EMDR are both very effective treatments that can help the person feel more calm and deal with the presenting issues in a more rational way.
Click on the booking page to book your session or call Donna on 0424 300 678 to make your booking.
