For a list of phobia types (alphabetically) scroll down to the bottom of this page
A phobia is a persistent non rational fear of and a desire to avoid a specific object, activity or situation and this sense of fear is out of proportion to the real danger and yet it can happen not only in the presence of an object or situation but also when you think about them.
There are many different phobias, which can be divided into two main categories:-
Simple phobias
Simple phobias are fears about specific objects, animals, situations or activities such as spiders, snakes, dogs, dentists, flying, enclosed spaces, etc.
A phobia can affect different people in different ways, whereas some people only react with mild anxiety when confronted with the object of their fear others experience severe anxiety or have a severe panic attack.
Complex phobias
Complex phobias tend to be more disabling than simple phobias because they are often associated with a deep-rooted fear or anxiety about a particular circumstance or situation. Two common examples of complex phobias are agoraphobia and social phobia.
Agoraphobia is a fear of open spaces and can also involve a fear of being unable to escape immediately to a place of safety, usually the home.
Social phobia is a fear of social situations, such as cities, towns or performing in social situations such as public speaking.
A phobia is often an extremely intense negative feeling of fear which is triggered by a situation or object with doesn’t actually pose a real threat to your safety. You have heard of someone or something “pushing your buttons”, well this happens when your (wrongly in place) fear buttons are pressed and you react as if you were under threat of danger. What then happens is that the “Fight or Flight” response (faster heartbeat, sweaty palms, quickening of the breathing, palpitations, etc.) comes into effect when there really is no immediate threat.
Common with many phobias, is the feeling of loss of control in the given situation and this brings stress and anxiety and often full scale panic. You will then avoid the situation or object which brings these feelings and when you avoid it (and don’t get these feelings of anxiety) this serves to re-enforce the link between the object or situation, and the fear.
This is happening to more and more people nowadays than ever before because of the build up of “stresses due to modern day lifestyles”. Someone can become phobic/fearful of (for example) of driving when they have never had a problem before and this makes sense if there has been trauma involved due to an accident, however it also happens quite often when there has been other stresses in life building up and the driving (especially if you are tired, ill, or rushing to get to your destination) becomes the “straw which breaks the camel’s back” and from then on that becomes the trigger for the fear/phobia when it never used to be. All that has happened is that the natural defence and protection system that triggers the “Fight or Flight” response (which works very effectively when there is real danger) has now decided to “protect” you against what it now has decided is a threat and it will work very efficiently from that moment onwards to protect you whenever it comes up against (or perceives) an object, activity or situation that it has coded as a threat.
This explains why some people become scared of road works, traffic cones or just getting into a vehicle and also why some people become scared of the wind or a certain sound or even a piece of paper, because although it does not make sense logically (and a many people spend way too much time trying to understand it logically and rationally) it actually makes sense to your emotional/feeling protection system as it was the main thing at that time that connected with the negative feeling state.
Using Hypnosis, NLP and EFT you could find that your Fears and Phobias change in a short period of time because all that needs to happen is that the negative feelings linked to the memories need to be balanced to an appropriate level of wariness/apprehension for the situation.
Neither I nor any hypnotherapist cure phobias what really happens is that when you come to see me at my office in Warrington ( I also cover Widnes, Runcorn and St Helens) as a Clinical Hypnotherapist using Hypnosis, NLP, EFT, etc. I help your mind and body to heal itself.
Using Psychotherapy, Psychology and CBT It could take many years to make lasting changes but using well established techniques along with up to date techniques from the fields of Hypnotherapy, NLP, EFT, Timeline Therapy, EMDR, Tapas Acupressure, The Healing Codes, etc. Healing has been known to take place in a relatively short space of time and in some cases only a few sessions.
In fact many of the techniques that I am trained in have been used successfully to help in healing PTSD, fears and phobias in places and situations where time is of the essence and where it is not possible to spend months and years to effect a cure, these include the war zones, within certain NHS trusts and also at airports for flying phobias.
For hypnotherapy to help with a phobia or phobias with a qualified hypnotherapist serving Warrington, Widnes, Runcorn and St Helens
Phobia list
A
Agliophobia – Fear of pain.
Agoraphobia – Fear of open spaces.
Aichmophobia – Fear of needles or pointed objects.
Amaxophobia – Fear of riding in a car.
Androphobia – Fear of men.
Anginophobia – Fear of angina or choking.
Anthrophobia – Fear of flowers.
Anthropophobia – Fear of people or society.
Aphenphosmphobia – Fear of being touched.
Arachnophobia – Fear of spiders.
Arithmophobia – Fear of numbers.
Astraphobia – Fear of thunder and lightning.
Ataxophobia – Fear of disorder or untidiness.
Atelophobia – Fear of imperfection.
Atychiphobia – Fear of failure.
Autophobia – Fear of being alone.
b
Bacteriophobia – Fear of bacteria.
Barophobia – Fear of gravity.
Bathmophobia – Fear of stairs or steep slopes.
Batrachophobia – Fear of amphibians.
Belonephobia – Fear of pins and needles.
Bibliophobia – Fear of books.
Botanophobia – Fear of plants.
C
Cacophobia – Fear of ugliness.
Catagelophobia – Fear of being ridiculed.
Catoptrophobia – Fear of mirrors.
Chionophobia – Fear of snow.
Chromophobia – Fear of colours.
Chronomentrophobia – Fear of clocks.
Claustrophobia – Fear of confined spaces.
Coulrophobia – Fear of clowns.
Cyberphobia – Fear of computers.
Cynophobia – Fear of dogs.
D
Dendrophobia – Fear of trees.
Dentophobia – Fear of dentists.
Domatophobia – Fear of houses.
Dystychiphobia – Fear of accidents.
E
Ecophobia – Fear of the home.
Elurophobia – Fear of cats.
Entomophobia – Fear of insects.
Ephebiphobia – Fear of teenagers.
Equinophobia – Fear of horses.
G
Gamophobia – Fear of marriage.
Genuphobia – Fear of knees.
Glossophobia – Fear of speaking in public.
Gynophobia – Fear of women.
H
Heliophobia – Fear of the sun.
Hemophobia – Fear of blood.
Herpetophobia – Fear of reptiles.
Hydrophobia – Fear of water.
Hypochonria – Fear of illness.
I
Iatrophobia – Fear of doctors.
Insectophobia – Fear of insects.
K
Koinoniphobia – Fear of rooms.
L
Leukophobia – Fear of the colour white.
Lilapsophobia – Fear of tornadoes and hurricanes.
Lockiophobia – Fear of childbirth.
M
Mageirocophobia – Fear of cooking.
Megalophobia – Fear of large things.
Melanophobia – Fear of the colour black.
Microphobia – Fear of small things.
Mysophobia – Fear of dirt and germs.
N
Necrophobia – Fear of death or dead things.
Noctiphobia – Fear of the night.
Nosocomephobia – Fear of hospitals.
Nyctophobia – Fear of the dark.
O
Obesophobia – Fear of gaining weight.
Octophobia – Fear of the figure 8.
Ombrophobia – Fear of rain.
Ophidiophobia – Fear of snakes.
Ornithophobia – Fear of birds.
P
Papyrophobia – Fear of paper.
Pathophobia – Fear of disease.
Pedophobia – Fear of children.
Philophobia – Fear of love.
Phobophobia – Fear of phobias.
Podophobia – Fear of feet.
Porphyrophobia – Fear of the colour purple.
Pteridophobia – Fear of ferns.
Pteromerhanophobia – Fear of flying.
Pyrophobia – Fear of fire.
S
Scolionophobia – Fear of school.
Selenophobia – Fear of the moon.
Sociophobia – Fear of social evaluation.
Somniphobia – Fear of sleep.
T
Tachophobia – Fear of speed.
Technophobia – Fear of technology.
Tonitrophobia – Fear of thunder.
Trypanophobia – Fear of needles / injections.
V-Z
Venustraphobia – Fear of beautiful women.
Verminophobia – Fear of germs.
Wiccaphobia – Fear of witches and witchcraft.
Xenophobia – Fear of strangers or foreigners.
Zoophobia – Fear of animals.
