From Arachnophobia (the fear of spiders) and Hippophobia (the fear of horses) to Ophidiophobia (the fear of snakes), there are many things out there which cause a lot of us to suffer an irrational fear. 
But all is not lost. Hypnotherapy can help us beat these irrational fears and the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) has many trained and qualified therapists on its directory who have the skills and expertise to help.
It is not only animal or creepy-crawlies which cause these irrational fears. Some of us suffer from Glossaphobia which is the fear of public speaking or even Zelophobia which is the fear of jealousy. Other common phobias are Haemaphobia (the fear of blood), Nyctophobia (the fear of darkness) and Claustrophobia (the fear of confined spaces).
A phobia is a fear without good reason, or a fear of something that may not happen. People with phobias often experience unwanted responses to animals, objects, insects, actions or places.
This physical response is known as a stress response; people often describe their reaction to something as being ‘paralysed with fear’ or ‘having butterflies in my stomach’ and wanting to get away from or avoid whatever is triggering the response.
This irrational fear is a learned behaviour, sometimes from a parent, and it can be exaggerated fears of evolutionary memories.
An example is the fear of spiders where we all know there are poisonous spiders somewhere in the world (like Africa or Australia) but the house spider in the UK is completely harmless. A person with a phobia is unable to make this differentiation.
With hypnotherapy, the solution to these fears or phobias is to see that phobia in a different context starting from an objective perspective and then gradually building up exposure from a minimal to comfortable level.
Using hypnosis this can be done rapidly as the unconscious is able to process information more effectively without the interference of the critical mind. This is a known as desensitisation.
Each hypnotherapist may use a slightly different approach to treating phobias depending on whether you know when the phobia first started, how you view it and how receptive you are to change.
If you are tired of fighting or facing your phobias, find a hypnotherapist near you by using the NCH directory and soon you will face your fears easily.
