Health & Wellbeing Scared of flying, or maybe you faint at the

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Health & Wellbeing
Scared of flying, or maybe you faint at the
sight of blood? Many of us suffer from a
debilitating phobia, but there is hope...
(laurasteventon.com). “For some of us,
to prevent complete overwhelm, our
minds create a representation of this
difficult emotion in the form of a phobia.”
There’s an easy way to find out if 
you’ve simply got a fear, or if it is a full-
blown phobia, as Garry Coles MSc, a 
clinical hypnotherapist, international 
trainer and author of 
The Hypnotherapists’ 
Hypnotherapist
(releasehypnotherapy.com) 
explains: “Look at whether it is debilitating 
and stopping you doing things that you 
would normally do. For example, if you
are frightened by spiders but can still deal 
with it, that would be a fear. Someone
I worked with recently had slept in a
sleeping bag in the kitchen for a week 
because she’d seen a spider in the 
bedroom. That’s a phobia!”
 
WHEN DO YOU KNOW
A PHOBIA HAS GOT
OUT OF HAND?
Having a phobia of something you don’t 
have to experience regularly is one thing, 
but if it’s having a major impact on your 
life, it’s time to take charge. “The biggest 
warning sign that a phobia is taking over 
is if you modify your life on a regular basis 
in case the phobia trigger is present,” says 
Richard. “If you have a fear of motorways 
and end up taking a route that adds on 
60 miles to your journey to avoid them, 
this is a warning sign that the phobia is 
escalating. The problem is starting to
be the fear of fear rather than the thing
you had a phobia of.”
Tess Leigh Phillips, counsellor at The 
Mind Map (themindmap.co.uk) agrees, 
Can you overcome a 
Phobia?
WORDS |
Vicky Warrell