What is a phobia and where do they come from? Distinguishing Harmless Fears from Phobias:
Not all fears are harmful, in fact, many are even useful. For example, a four year old who has not been conditioned to fear traffic may stroll in front of a two tonne truck with the same ease with which he crosses the path of the family cat. In this case, fear is useful and beneficial for personal safety.
If a fear is useless, that does not necessarily indicate that it is harmful, either, in fact, there are useless fears that nearly all people seem to manifest from birth, such as a fear of snakes, spiders and excessive heights. A person with a useless fear that is magnified into a single simple phobia can most often function quite well by avoiding the one object, animal or situation that stimulates the fear. It is easy, for example for a person to live with, pteronophobia, aulophobia, or batrachophobia. One simply stays away from feathers, flutes and frogs! In other words, if the phobia does not interfere with a person’s emotional, social or work life, then it may not require treatment.
To gauge the degree to which your fear is affecting you, ask yourself the following:
- Is the fear taking up a lot of my time? Do I think about it obsessively?
- Is my fear forcing me to do things the hard way? Do I drive to work using a route that takes me five km’s out of my way, rather than panic going over that bridge?
- Is my fear affecting other relationships in my life? Do I avoid going to bed at the same time as my wife because I am extremely afraid of being impotent?
- Is my fear affecting my physical condition? Do my hands shake frequently? Is my pulse often rapid? Do I get lots of headaches? Do I often feel nauseated or do I feel sad or depressed?
If you have answered yes to any of these questions, you are a likely candidate for treatment.
A phobia may have established such a firm hold on your life that is seems impossible to unlock, or even understand and perhaps is even manifesting into something else.
The majority of phobias generally stem from one of the following:
- Product of severe stress;
- A series of experiences over a period of years, which has built up to excessive anxiety;
- It may be a product of a fear of fear;
- It may have been transmitted to you by someone else; or
- It may have been the result of severe past trauma.
Through the use of guidance and hypnotherapy Karen will be able to assist you with ways of overcoming those fears and phobias that stop you from making the most of your life and allow you to feel better about yourself, which will benefit you in so many ways
For further information contact us on (03) 5223 2370 or via email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.