From Fears to Freedom: How to Overcome Your Worst Phobias & Anxiety

Part of the problem is that those dont experience these fears or phobias,, often have no empathy or understanding of people who are afflicted by it, and their indifference often only heightens the anxiety that the sufferer is experiencing.

In fact, often the harder we try, the worse the fear response can become - simply because it is beyond your conscious control.

It basically becomes an auto-pilot, automatic response which sends out warning signals every time you encounter that particular situation which triggers the fear.

Many people around the world suffer from a wide range of physical and mental symptoms from these - which can include difficulty breathing, shaking, heart palpitations, perspiring, dizziness, dry mouth, extreme worrying, impaired thinking, and many others.

The most common and effective treatment for symptoms of fear is by dealing with the issue right at the very source - the subconscious mind - the place where all fears reside within the mind. 

Relaxation and hypnosis are most effective of dealing with issues within the subconscious,as they help to 're-program' our mind and continually reduce the mental and physical symptoms, until they reduce greatly or disappear completely.

Otherwise, here are some additional things that can be of help:

Mental Techniques for Fears / Phobias:

1. Mantra

- taking your attention away from the stressor, and replacing fearful thoughts by repeating a few words or short phrase over and over again - about 100-200 times, silently in your mind.

This is often called a mantra, and prevents the mind from thinking anything else, and blocks negative thoughts. The words could be anything that you choose to repeat, but a positive phrase would probably be better - eg. Calm and relaxed.

2. Relaxation

- as fear is a reaction caused by negative and fearful thoughts, you can shut down all the negative chatter by closing your eyes, taking two deep breaths, in and out, then either:

a) Calm Place / Sanctuary

- go to a calm place in your mind, where you feel safe and protected, no matter whether the place is real, or imagined.

b) Inner Cave - imagine taking yourself to a protective inner cave, with a warm crackling fire, lying down on a soft bed, and imagine you are talking to a wise soul who is calming you with their sage advice (eg. Yoda etc).

c) Focus on Your Breath

- focus your attention upon your breath, and then count each outbreath - 1..2..3..4..and then go back to 1 and start again - and keep going until you feel relaxed and in control.

3. Distractions

- can be of help to focus your mind's attention on something else other than the stressor.    eg. reading a book, doing a crossword, or fixing your gaze onto a tiny spot on a wall, and don’t take your focus off it, even for a second. Just keep staring at that spot, and it will calm your mind down quickly (it’s a meditation technique).

4. Sensory Deprivation

- in some cases, some sensory deprivation can calm yourself down further, while using any of these techniques. eg. on a plane - using eye mask and ear plugs.

5.

Hypnosis

- has been shown to have excellent results with fears and phobias.

This was my own experience, as before I became a hypnotherapist, I had first-hand experience of fear of flying, which I experienced during taking off, and landing, of flights. However once I addressed the fear with hypnotherapy (using the reinforcement of my own customized hypnosis recordings), the issue never returned.

While nothing can be regarded as a sure thing when it comes to addressing fears, the most reliable means has always been to tackle the issue at the very source.

As the source of fears and phobias is located at the subconscious level, this is why trying to overcome these issues at the 'conscious' level is generally doomed to failure - as the issues simply continue to return until they are properly attended to at their root cause.

List of Common Fears / Phobias

(Technical name, followed by brief description).

• Acrophobia - heights

• Agoraphobia - open or crowded spaces

• Arachnophobia - spiders

• Aquaphobia - water

• Aviophobia - flying

• Achluophobia - darkness

• Aichmophobia - sharp objects

• Algophobia - pain

• Atelophobia - imperfection or not being good enough

• Automatonophobia - human-like figures, such as mannequins or robots

• Balloons - balloons

• Batrachophobia - amphibians

• Bibliophobia - books or reading

• Chiroptophobia - bats

• Claustrophobia - enclosed spaces

• Chromophobia - colors

• Chronophobia - time or the passing of time

• Coprophobia - feces

• Coulrophobia - clowns

• Cryophobia - cold or cold things

• Cynophobia - dogs

• Decidophobia - making decisions

• Dendrophobia - trees

• Domatophobia - houses or being inside a house

• Dystychiphobia - accidents or being in accidents

• Dentophobia - dentists

• Emetophobia - vomiting

• Ecophobia - the environment or natural disasters

• Entomophobia - insects

• Ephebiphobia - teenagers or young people

• Equinophobia - horses

• Eremophobia - being alone or being isolated

• Erythrophobia - blushing or the color red

• Gamophobia - marriage or commitment

• Genuphobia - knees

• Gerascophobia - aging

• Glossophobia - public speaking

• Hemophobia - blood

• Haphephobia - being touched

• Hemophobia - blood

• Herpetophobia - reptiles

• Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia - long words

• Histiophobia - history

• Hydrophobia - water

• Iatrophobia - doctors or medical procedures

• Ichthyophobia - fish

• Insectophobia - insects

• Katsaridaphobia - cockroaches

• Keraunophobia - thunder and lightning

• Kinemortophobia - zombies

• Koinoniphobia - rooms filled with people

• Kolpophobia - genitals or sexual intercourse

• Koumpounophobia - buttons

• Lachanophobia - vegetables

• Leukophobia - the color white

• Lilapsophobia - tornadoes and hurricanes

• Limnophobia - lakes or large bodies of water

• Logophobia - words or speaking

• Macrophobia - long waits

• Melanophobia - the color black

• Meningitophobia - meningitis

• Microphobia - small things

• Misophobia - germs or dirt

• Monophobia - being alone or isolated

• Musophobia - mice

• Myrmecophobia - ants

• Mysophobia - germs or dirt

• Necrophobia - death or dead things

• Necrophobia - death or dead things

• Neophobia - new things or change

• Nomophobia - being without a mobile phone

• Nosocomephobia - hospitals

• Nyctophobia - darkness

• Nosophobia - contracting a disease

• Nucleomituphobia - nuclear weapons

• Nyctophobia - the dark

• Ochlophobia - crowds

• Oikophobia - one's own home or household objects

• Ombrophobia - rain

• Ophidiophobia - snakes

• Onomatophobia - certain words or names

• Ophidiophobia - snakes

• Optophobia - opening one's eyes

• Ornithophobia - birds

• Panphobia - everything

• Papyrophobia - paper

• Pedophobia - children

• Pediophobia - dolls

• Peladophobia - bald people

• Peniaphobia - poverty

• Penteraphobia - mother-in-law

• Phagophobia - swallowing or eating

• Phasmophobia - ghosts

• Pharmacophobia - taking medicine

• Phengophobia - daylight or sunlight

• Philophobia - love or falling in love

• Phonophobia - loud noises

• Photophobia - light

• 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