Fears and Phobias Fear is an emotion that is based on an impending event that holds a reasonable degree of danger to your well-being or that of your family, friends or possessions... And that is good! If fear is founded on a genuine threat, it prepares you to respond in an appropriate way and enhances the likelihood of avoiding the danger or loss. However, when fear is based on an imagined threat, it is called a phobia, and that is bad.
A phobia is a fear that is centered on an irrational response to something that holds little, if any, danger to your safety or security. Imagined fear inhibits one from engaging in activities that could otherwise bring convenience and pleasure. For example, the fear of elevators (claustrophobia) creates an obvious inconvenience, the fear of heights (vertigo) keeps a person from enjoying a view of the Grand Canyon and a fear of flying keeps a person from going places quickly and safely.
Irrational fears and phobias are simply the consequence of false perception--perceiving a threat to be real when it isn't real.
It is rational for a soldier going into battle to experience fear, but it is not rational to be afraid of a mouse. A soldier's fear of going to war is based on a real threat; going into hysterics over seeing a mouse is a phobia — a conditioned response to the sight of a mouse.... More accurately put: Going into hysterics at the sight of a mouse is based on a false perception — the perception that mice harm people, or at least intend to cause people discomfort.
I have helped hundreds of people get over fears and phobias such as:
- Fear of flying
- Fear of heights
- Anxieties about speaking or performing in public
- Claustrophobia
- Agoraphobia
- Fear of driving
- Fear of mice and insects
- Fear of death
- Anxieties associated with health conditions
- Fear of the dark
If you have any questions, or want to make an appointment, contact me by phone (480-966-8571) or email me by clicking on Hypnotherapist@lbrady.com. I will be happy to answer all of your questions.