In case you’re unfamiliar with the term ‘phobia’, it’s a debilitating and overwhelming fear of a feeling, animal, situation, place, or object. Now, phobia should not be confused with regular fear. While the former is a type of anxiety disorder, the latter is actually a healthy natural response to danger, and is a critical component of our ‘fight or flight’ response.

Phobias are more common than you may think, and tend to affect women more than men. 

How Are Phobias Created?

All types of phobias are essentially self-created when a person frightens themselves by repeatedly fantasizing about a negative outcome. They can be quite severe if the situation or object is common in the person’s daily life—so much so that it can cause them to form their life around their phobia.

If left uncontrolled, phobias can stop you reaching your potential as a person and hold you back in life. For instance, individuals with a fear of public speaking may avoid speaking in meetings and giving presentations, which can restrict the growth of their career.

The Different Types of Phobias

Generally, phobias are classified as either complex or specific. The latter typically focus on a situation, animal, activity, or an object. Some instances of specific phobias include:

• Environment i.e. germs or height
• Animal i.e. snakes or spiders
• Physical i.e. vomit or blood
• Situational i.e. dentist or flying
• Sexual i.e. infection or performance

Examples of complex phobias, on the other hand, include social phobias and agoraphobia. These often involve many interlinked phobias and can have a severe impact on a person’s quality of life. For instance, many people with complex phobias find it difficult to even leave their home.

How Hypnosis Can Help

Since phobias work on a subconscious level, hypnosis can serve as an effective treatment. So, how does it work? Well, it helps you connect with your subconscious feelings and thoughts and unlearn the emotional responses that are conditioned within you.

The world around you is a product of your imagination mostly. What you touch, hear, see, and smell is just a small part of our reality. It just requires the slightest of sensory stimuli to complete the perception of what we want to believe is real.

Hypnosis enables you to reshape and restructure your subconscious feelings and thoughts so that the contribution they make to your reality is a positive one.

If you want to treat your subconscious anxiety and are looking for ways to calm an anxious mind, it might be time to give hypnotherapy for social anxiety a try. Rekha Shrivastava works on building self-esteem among her clients, connecting them with their inner selves. Book your free consultation today at our office in Pittsford or avail our online sessions via Skype.