Phobias
- A symbolic
representation of an internal anxiety
Although some Phobias appear to serve an obvious purpose (fear of fire,
drowning etc.) others seem to make no sense at all but as strange as
some phobias seem they are all serving a particular purpose.
The purpose of
therapy is to 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 snakes,: how many people do you know who have
been harmed by a snake? None? It is an interesting fact that per capita
there are just as many snake phobics in Ireland as in any country in the
world. However there are no snakes native to Ireland - so in effect apart
from zoos there are no snakes in Ireland! So Question: Where did all those
people go to get frightened of snakes? Answer : They didn't go anywhere!
their fear doesn't have anything to do with snakes, they have a fear/strong
emotional reaction to being out of
control - which their mind symbolises and then projects onto snakes and
associations to snakes.
Top ten phobias
and fears treated with Hypnotherapy
Arachnophobia (fear of spiders)
social phobia
(people evaluate themselves in social situations)
Aerophobia (fear of flying)
Agoraphobia (fear or avoidance of any situation where escape might be
difficult)
Claustrophobia (fear of being trapped in confined spaces)
Acrophobia (fear of heights)
Emetophobia ( fear
of vomiting)
Carcinophobia (fear of cancer)
Brotophobia (fear of thunder and storms)
Necrophobia (fear of death)
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),
Thanatophobia (death or dying).
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').
EMETOPHOBIA or EMETEPHOBIA - a fear of being sick , 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 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 association between eating and being sick, the
sufferer often feels a little obsessive about what and where they will eat.
A lot of sufferers tend to view being sick as 'horrible, dirty, 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 , or the
inability to urinate in front of others (shy bladder).
COPROPHOBIA or CORPOROPHOBIA
- fear of going to the toilet (passing faeces)
,toilet phobia
A fear of anything related to passing faeces, 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 toilet. 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
toilet.
Sometimes people with coprophobia/coporophobia use laxatives to avoid the
feeling of going to the loo, and sometimes they might even 'auto-disempact'
SOCIAL PHOBIA (SCOPOPHOBIA)-
a fear of embarrassing, or humiliating 'on the spot'
type situations (in public) ,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',
embarrassed, humiliated or judged - for example; dinner parties, public
speaking, interviews, appearing in court, singing, stuttering etc Associated
symptoms: sensitivity to criticism, negative 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 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 embarrassing.
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 unachievable 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 twitches 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 persistent fear of failure, or 'not making the grade'
Basically any situation in life where you might feel embarrassed, on the
spot, judged, silly or out of control etc.
SHY BLADDER
- the inability to urinate in front of others
; paruresis,
stage fright, toilet anxiety, toilet phobia
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 embarrassing 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.
