Skip to content

Phobias

A phobia is an intense (usually excessive) fear that occurs in the presence of an animal, object, or situation. Phobias are very common and most people can manage in their lives without ever seeking treatment because when they are not in front of the feared stimulus, they are not thinking about it. This works so long as it does not seem to cause any significant disruptions in your life.

Phobias are very common and are generally fairly simple to treat. People generally only come to get treatment for phobias when they ‘have to’. For instance, if you fear snakes and live in the city, your phobia is unlikely to ever get triggered. 

However, phobias can cause problems when people do need to come into contact with the feared object / situation – like having a fear of flying (Or like Shane Warne’s phobia of spiders)! Having a fear of flying is a very common phobia, and can be problematic if you need to fly for work or pleasure. A quick-fix may be to take a sedative, but this may leave you feeling groggy, and this does not actually get rid of the Anxiety. Similarly, avoiding spiders – or having others ‘deal with’ the spider so you do not have to – may reduce your anxiety in the short term, but it does not actually eliminate your anxiety.

More debilitating phobias include:

Having an extreme fear of an activity, object or situation due to a past unresolved trauma that gets in the way of you being able to function or live a meaningful life. This is definitely something to seek professional help for because it is unlikely that the fear will resolve itself untreated, and worse – it may generalize to other situations that are not currently threatening. For instance, sometimes people who have had a serious car accident can develop fears about being in cars that can later generalize to being in any vehicle (bus, train, ferry, or even escalator or lift).

Other common phobias include: having a fear of driving over specific things such as bridges (fear of heights) or driving through tunnels (Claustrophobia). Or, a fear of leaving the house or being in open or public spaces (Agoraphobia). Note. A fear of having a Panic Attack is different to a specific phobia – but it is also treatable (see here).

Treatment Options

Although Medications may be helpful to reduce the amount of arousal we may experience (which may in turn lessen our anxiety and reduce the frequency of panic attacks), there is no medication that can ‘stop all anxiety’ or ‘end all phobias’. Medications also can have negative side-effects. Moreover, once you remove the medication because nothing new had been ‘learned’ the anxiety typically returns. Thus, the following adage is true of medication: “Skills are not in Pills”.

Because avoidance maintain anxiety, both Self-Help and therapist-led treatments exist. There are many Self-Help articles in my Resource Section. Therapist-led treatments for phobias, trauma and anxiety are also very effective and include Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Eye-Movement & Desensitization Therapy (EMDR Therapy), Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT). Read more about these treatments here

Regardless of which direction you take on your recovery journey, what is most helpful with anxiety is a combination of education (about how anxiety affects both the mind and the body), learning and practicing a combination of self-regulation skills to help you soothe and regulate your nervous system, and continuing to expose yourself to situations that challenge you in incremental ways (using skills that build your confidence) so that you can show yourself you can cope and that you are in fact safe. 

Therapy may ultimately be more helpful than Self-Help, because the treatment can be targeted to your own specific situation and needs. Paradoxically, often the more we expose ourselves to our anxieties (in incremental ways in conjunction with skills, as mentioned above), the more comfortable (and less anxious) we ultimately will feel.   

 

Resources

 

 

 Other Anxiety Disorders:

About Me: 

Dr Andreas Comninos, PhD Clinical Psychologist

I am a PhD Clinical Psychologist and EMDR Accredited Practitioner with over 15 years of psychotherapy experience. Whether you are seeking an assessment and diagnosis, or are searching for integrative research-backed ways to help you heal past wounds, break reactive-patterns and achieve long-lasting change, my aim is to provide a safe space for you to feel seen, understood, and empowered so you can make meaningful progress on your healing journey.


To learn more and to get in touch, please:

CONTACT ME

I endeavor to reply to all enquiries within 24 hrs.

About Me: 

Dr Andreas Comninos, PhD Clinical Psychologist

 

I am a PhD Clinical Psychologist and EMDR Accredited Practitioner with over 15 years of psychotherapy experience. Whether you are seeking an assessment and diagnosis, or are searching for integrative research-backed ways to help you heal past wounds, break reactive-patterns and achieve long-lasting change, my aim is to provide a safe space for you to feel seen, understood, and empowered so you can make meaningful progress on your healing journey.

To learn more and to get in touch, please:

CONTACT ME

I endeavor to reply to all enquiries within 24 hrs. 

Get in Touch.

    Mindfulness & 

    Clinical Psychology Solutions

     

    [email protected]
    Po Box 1028, Newtown NSW 2042