Overcome Fears, Phobias & Anxiety with Hypnosis

Many people around the world experience a variety of fears, which can lead to anxiety, stress, or even panic. (See our full list of phobias further below.)

Fears come in many forms and cover the full spectrum of life.

These include fears rooted in nature (spiders, heights, etc.), man-made technology (flying, elevators), and environmental or social situations (public speaking, intimacy, crowded spaces).

Some fears may have no apparent trigger or reason, such as fear of death.

Such issues can intensify over time and become phobias - unconscious habits we carry throughout our lives, over which we often have no conscious control.

Fears are deeply personal and emotional, affecting health, relationships, careers, and overall quality of life.

Feeling scared is actually a natural self-defense mechanism designed to protect us from perceived danger.

How Fears Can Become Over-Sensitive

When triggered by trauma, this self-defense mechanism can become over-sensitive, causing repeated anxiety symptoms even when no real danger exists. It functions like a mental “program” running on autopilot.

Your mind triggers these symptoms, but physically, the anxiety is real - even if support or understanding isn’t available.

Often, those who don’t experience these fears have little empathy, and their indifference can heighten the sufferer’s anxiety.

Fears and phobias are involuntary. No matter how hard you try consciously, your “default settings” don’t allow you to override them.

The harder we try to control fear, the stronger it can become. It essentially becomes an automatic response, signaling danger whenever we encounter a triggering situation.

Many people suffer physical and mental symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, shaking, dizziness, dry mouth, extreme worry, impaired thinking, and more.

The most effective treatment targets the source: the subconscious mind - the place where fears reside.

Relaxation and hypnosis are effective in reprogramming the mind, reducing both mental and physical symptoms until they significantly diminish or disappear.

Additional helpful strategies include:

Mental Techniques for Fears and Phobias

1. Mantras
Focus away from the fear by repeating a positive phrase or words silently, 100–200 times. Examples: “Calm and relaxed.”

2. Relaxation Techniques
Close your eyes, take deep breaths, and either:
a) Visualize a calm place or sanctuary.
b) Create an inner cave with a protective, calming figure.
c) Focus on your breath, counting each outbreath until you feel in control.

3. Distractions
Redirect attention to something neutral, such as reading, crosswords, or focusing on a small object.

4. Sensory Deprivation
Use eye masks or ear plugs to reduce sensory input in stressful situations.

5. Hypnosis
Hypnosis targets the subconscious directly and has excellent results for fears and phobias.

While mantras, relaxation, and distractions can ease symptoms, hypnosis addresses the core subconscious fears, allowing automatic responses to be changed or eliminated.

My personal experience: I struggled with a fear of flying during takeoff and landing. Through hypnotherapy and customized hypnosis recordings, the fear was permanently removed.

While nothing is guaranteed, addressing the issue at its source - the subconscious mind - is the most reliable approach.

Attempting to overcome fears at the conscious level often fails, as the root cause resides in the subconscious.

List of Common Fears and Phobias
(Technical name followed by description)

Acrophobia - heights
Agoraphobia - open or crowded spaces
Arachnophobia - spiders
Aviophobia - flying
Claustrophobia - enclosed spaces
Glossophobia - public speaking
Nyctophobia - darkness
Phobophobia - fear of phobias themselves

Phronemophobia - thinking

Pnigophobia - choking

Podophobia - feet or walking

Porphyrophobia - the color purple

Potamophobia - rivers or running water

Pteromerhanophobia - flying Pyrophobia - fire

Radiophobia - radiation or X-rays

Rhytiphobia - getting wrinkles

Samhainophobia - Halloween

Sanguivoriphobia - vampires

Scolionophobia - school

Sciophobia - shadows

Scopophobia - being looked at or stared at

Selachophobia - sharks

Seplophobia - decaying matter

Siderodromophobia - trains

Sinistrophobia - things on the left side of the body

Sitophobia - food or eating

Social anxiety disorder - social situations and being judged by others

Sociophobia - social situations or people

Somniphobia - sleep

Sophophobia - learning or knowledge

Spectrophobia - ghosts or mirrors

Spheksophobia - wasps

Stasibasiphobia - standing or walking

Stenophobia - narrow spaces

Stereophobia - stereotypes

Stigmatophobia - being criticized

Stygiophobia - hell

Syngenesophobia - relatives

Tachophobia - speed

Taphephobia - being buried alive

Technophobia - technology

Trypanophobia - injections or needles

Telephonophobia - telephones

Teratophobia - deformed people or monsters

Tetraphobia - the number four

Thalassophobia - the ocean or sea

Thanatophobia - death

Theophobia - God or religion

Thermophobia - heat

Tocophobia - pregnancy or childbirth

Tomophobia - surgical operations

Topophobia - certain places or situations

Toxophobia - poison

Traumatophobia - injury or wounds

Triskaidekaphobia - the number 13

Trypanophobia - needles or injections

Tuberculophobia - tuberculosis

Turophobia - cheese

Uranophobia - heaven

Urophobia - Fear

Vaccinophobia - vaccines

Venustraphobia - beautiful women

Verminophobia - vermin, such as rats or cockroaches

Vestiphobia - clothing

Virophobia - viruses

Vitricophobia - stepfathers

Wiccaphobia - witchcraft or witches

Xenoglossophobia - foreign languages

Xenophobia - strangers or foreigners

Xerophobia - dryness

Xylophobia - forests

Zoophobia - animals

Zelophobia - jealousy

Zenophobia - feeling homesick

Zephyrophobia - wind

Zeusophobia - God or gods

Zelotypophobia - jealousy

Zoanthophobia - animals

Zoonophobia - animals

Zoophobia - animals

Zophophobia - animals

Zuclopenthixol - antipsychotic medication

Zymmophobia - fermenting or fermentation

🎯 Need Something More Personalized?

For specific anxiety triggers (public speaking, flying, social situations), a custom recording targeting your exact fear response may provide faster relief. Our custom hypnosis recordings are created just for you, addressing your specific goals and challenges.

Or for a serious dive into deep meditation, check out my Deep Meditation program - using audio technology allowing you to access relaxation levels once accessible only to those who meditated for decades, such as zen monks.

About Your Author: Craig Townsend
Clinical Hypnotherapist | Mental Trainer | Founder of NeuroFrequency Programming