What are they?
Phobia are a fear of a specific object or activity, such a spiders, dogs, flying, or driving.
What does it feel like?
This fear will have been there for over six months, with the reaction not matching those of others or not being relative to the danger posed. It will impact the way you live your day to day life, possibly meaning that you avoid the object of your fear or are constantly worried about coming face to face with it. Phobias are common, but when they have an undue impact on your life, they can be serious and problematic – common examples are fear of the dentist, fear of injections, or fear of flying which can stop people seeking important dental/medical treatment, or being able to go on holidays abroad with family.
Potential therapy options
Usually the best treatment options for this difficulty are based around increasing your knowledge of the problem, having a better understanding of your thinking, and making some changes to your behaviour. The evidence suggested cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is usually the most effective treatment. We have a number of interventions that use CBT to help people overcome this problem including SilverCloud online CBT, the Stress and Mood Management course, and some of our one-to-one CBT-based interventions.
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