A phobia can be described as an intense and persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things or people. It is an abnormal reaction to a specific event. Phobias are characterised by a need to avoid the anxiety provoking situation; in some cases this interferes with everyday life as the person begins to organise their life around the phobia. Coming into contact with the phobic situation or object causes the person to become anxious and start to panic; sometimes causing full blown panic attacks. Phobias are almost always traced back to a particular triggering event which usually stems from a traumatic experience during childhood.

There are 530 listed types of phobia (visit www.phobialist.com for the full list);, the most common being a fear of clowns (coulrophobia), colours (chromophobia), bikes (cyclophobia), buttons (koumpounophobia), speaking in public (glossophobia) and spiders (arachnephobia). Phobias are a common type of anxiety disorder and some 10 million people in the UK alone suffer from them. Phobias can effect anyone regardless of their age, sex or social background.

Treatment of phobias in hypnotherapy is done using techniques such as systematic desensitisation, dissociation, future orientation and regression under hypnosis to reframe the phobia and ultimately help the person rid themselves of the irrational fear.

"In this situation hypnosis is the treatment of choice"