Fears and phobias - Rob Kelly FIAPH - Cambridge, Cambridgeshire

A Phobia is:

"an external symbolic interpretation of an internal anxiety."

What does that mean?
When a person finds themselves in a situation that creates intense emotions, the persons 'psyche' has the ability to repress/hide/disavow those emotions. Once those emotions have been bottled up, the psyche will create a phobia - to warn the person not to get into that (or any similar) situation again.

Makes sense doesn't it?
You get bitten by a dog......... you (can) develop a fear of dogs. The fear stops you going anywhere near dogs, and hence prevents you from getting bitten again..

What's the difference between a fear and a phobia?
The main difference is in the severity of the emotional reaction: a strong dislike of flying is a fear, whereas a pathological fear (an intense, uncontrollable, unendurable, physical fear) is considered to be a phobia.

Phobias - Symbolic
Although some Phobias seem to serve an obvious purpose (fear of fire, drowning etc.) some appear to make no sense at all! - rest assured though, all Phobias serve a purpose. In therapy, we can find the originating cause (the unconscious conflict) of the Phobia and release it - and when the emotions are released, the phobia disappears. Most Phobias are not directly related to the cause of the emotion, they are symbolic of it. The most obvious example is the fear of flying: how many people do you know who have lived through a plane crash? None? well where do the UK's 12 million aviatophobics come from then? They (mostly) don't have a fear of flying (or dying, or crashing, or being blown up), they have a fear of being out of control - which their brain symbolises and the projects onto flying.

Questions and answers

Can I do anything myself to help control the Phobia?
The best way to live with a phobia, is to ignore it. I know that is easier said than done, but the more you think about (say) your fear of being sick - the more fear and anxiety you create, the worse your phobia will become.

Is it not a good idea to read books about my Phobia then?
In the short-term you will feel a little bit better (because you understand a little about yourself - and this gives you a sense of control) but in the long term, all you are doing is spending more and more time thinking about your phobia - and hence dragging up more emotion.

How come different therapies have different success rates in tackling Phobias?
Some forms of therapy attempt to 'get around' the phobia, or make the sufferer feel better about 'living with it'. Others try to understand intellectually what may be causing it. Analytical Hypnotherapy can find the cause of the problem, and when it does, the phobia disappears - because there is nothing driving it anymore.

Why is Hypnoanalysis so successful in treating fears and phobias (as well as anxiety/depression etc.)
Phobias are almost always formed in the childhood (though the symptoms may not appear for many years) and are caused by the sufferer bottling up some strong emotions, and those emotions being projected onto an object/situation. (bitten by a dog = fear of dogs)
The only way to CURE a phobia (to get rid of it completely, so that it no longer effects the person) is to release the bottled up emotions that are causing it. Sounds easy?

The only difficulty is........most of the time, the bottled up emotions are completely locked away (hidden) in the depths of the persons subconscious mind. (some people call the process repression, or denial, or disavowal or even dissociation...but the effect is the same - the sufferer has no conscious awareness of the emotions or experiences that are bottled up)

Most other types of therapy cannot gain access to these 'locked away' emotions & experiences, whereas hypnoanalysis can - sometimes quite easily.

The process of Hypnoanalysis (sometimes referred to as analytical hypnotherapy) requires a strong bond of trust and rapport being created between the therapist, and the client.
Over a period of about eight sessions, at weekly intervals, we slowly link thoughts and memories back through time (by talking about them) until we come to the bottled up emotions. When we get to these emotions, we talk them through until they are resolved.

It doesn't take long to resolve a childhood hear of, say, Dr Who and the Daleks...........when you are a fifty year old company executive!

Hypnoanalysis usually takes 8 sessions (though it can take up to 12) at weekly intervals. The sessions cost £65 each.

Common phobias

The following are some of the more common Phobias that I have been consulted for:

Arachnophobia (spiders),
Aviatopophobia (flying),
Hydrophobia (water),
Acrophobia (heights),
Claustrophobia (enclosed spaces),
Agorophobia (open spaces),
Demophobia (crowds),
Nyctophobia (darkness),
Odontophobia (dentists),
Glossophobia (speaking in public),
Aichmophobia (needles),

The above Phobias are almost always indirect - this means that they are usually indirectly linked to an unresolved emotional conflict.

(All the other Phobias in this 'common phobia' section, are usually 'direct Phobias').

I've grouped the phobias above together, because they usually symbolise a situation where the sufferer feels 'out of control'. If you think about it, there are very few situations in life that could symbolise more a feeling of being 'out of control'...... ...flying in a tin can at 400 miles an hour, two miles up in the sky ...lying on a dentists couch, with him about to stick a needle in you ...in a completely dark room, can't even see your own hand in front of you ...caught up in a large crowd of people, being dragged along with them ......you get the picture!

EMETOPHOBIA or EMETEPHOBIA

a fear of being sick Aka: phagophobia, vomitophobia, vomit phobia, sickness phobia.

Associated fears; gagging, seeing others being sick, choking on food, pregnancy (due to possibility of morning sickness), drowning, and 'social Phobia'.

I have treated well over two hundred people with Emetophobia - so it must be a very common Phobia indeed!. This Phobia seems to effect more women than men, and tends to have a very disabling effect on the sufferer; quite often the person has to avoid all places where there is a possibility of themselves (or others) being sick; pubs, restaurants, clubbing, eating in front of others etc. Because of the link between eating and being sick, the sufferer tends to be a little obsessive about what and where they will eat. A lot of sufferers tend to view being sick as 'horrible, dirty, yukky' etc, and so it is quite common for emetophobics to also have fears of other situations where they might feel the same way; going to the toilet (number twos), or the inability to urinate in front of others (shy bladder), or even just being a little bit sweaty. Nearly all the sufferers I have helped, have also had 'Social Phobia' (see below) (Sometimes called emetophobia, emetephobia, sick phobia, sickness phobia, vomiting phobia, fear of vomiting, fear of gagging, fear of swallowing, fear of choking, globus hystericus)

COPROPHOBIA or CORPOROPHOBIA

fear of going to the loo (passing faeces) Aka: toilet phobia

A fear of anything related to shit/shitting, toilets, public toilets, being heard going to the toilet, feeling unclean or dirty generally. Another fairly common Phobia. Typically the sufferer would find it difficult (if not impossible) to use a public loo. A lot of the time the fear is specifically of losing bowel control - in public. Quite often the sufferer has very precise routines they have to adhere to - in order to be able to go to the loo.

Sometimes people with coprophobia/coporophobia use laxatives to avoid the feeling of going to the loo, and sometimes they might even 'auto-disempact' - which I hope is self explanitory!

SOCIAL PHOBIA (SCOPOPHOBIA)

a fear of embarassing, or humiliating 'on the spot' type situations (in public) Aka: social anxiety, social anxiety disorder, fear of being judged

SOCIAL PHOBIA is probably the most common phobia there is; a pervasive fear of any situation where the sufferer is likely to feel 'on the spot', embarassed, humiliated or judged - for example; dinner parties, public speaking, interviews, appearing in court, singing, stuttering etc Associated symptoms: sensitivity to criticism, neagtive self image, fear of rejection, difficulty in being assertive and feelings of inferiority . On a more general level, the social phobic worries continuously about how others 'see' them, and what others may think about them - it is not surprising then that the sufferer usually spends a lot of time creating the image they want others to see. Usually the social phobic is quite adept at concealing their anxiety from others, although there is quite often a difficulty in maintaining eye contact.

In a clinical setting (in the U.S.A.) somewhere between 3 and 13% of people had social phobia. Social phobia generally starts in the mid -teens (although it often follows on from just being 'shy') or can be triggered off by a particularly embarassing event. As with all phobias, stress (or the lack of it) will have a significant effect on the 'strength' of the anxiety created. In the D.S.M.4 (the Mental Health 'Bible') the main criteria for social phobia is listed as; A marked and persistent fear of one or more social or performance situations in which the person is exposed to unfamiliar people or to possible scrutiny by others. The individual fears that he/she will act in a way that will be humiliating or embarassing.

Some symptoms that may appear alongside (or be caused by) social phobia or social anxiety are.....

A fear of public speaking
A fear of talking on the telephone
A fear of writing in front of someone (even signing a cheque!)
Blushing, or a fear of blushing
Stuttering or stammering
A lack of confidence
Working too hard (to please others)
Setting unachieveably high standards (and feeling bad when they are not met)
A preoccupation with how you look: perfecting an image you want others to see (NOT vanity - this is about trying to 'blend in')
Certain twiches or 'tics'
Shy bladder (men) not being able to pee, when on the spot
Certain sexual inhibitions - due to 'performance anxiety'
Repeated failure of driving test - due to 'performance anxiety'
A persistant fear of failure, or 'not making the grade'
Basically any situation in life where you might feel embarrassed, on the spot, judged, silly out of control etc.

SHY BLADDER

the inability to urinate in front of others Aka: paruresis, stage fright, toilet anxiety, toilet phobia
Shy bladder is one of the most common symptoms that men consult me for. Men with shy bladder (and it is usually only men who get shy bladder - for obvious reasons) have a great difficulty peeing in front of other people, or in a place that they are unfamiliar with. As with all phobias, the severity of the symptoms can change from person to person, and also fluctuate depending on the persons stress level. i.e. some men find it a little difficult to pee in a crowded toilet, some can only pee in their own toilet (causing great difficulties - because the person has to come home from work, just to have a pee). Due to the embarassing nature of the symptom, it is rare that a man would consult his G.P. with the problem - and because of this, there is very little written on the subject.