Phobia Therapy & Counselling

Online therapy has shown promising results for delivering CBT treatment.  Research demonstrates it is as effective as traditional face-to-face therapy for various mental health conditions, including phobias. The accessibility and convenience of online platforms allow patients to engage in therapy from the comfort of their homes, potentially increasing treatment adherence.

While online CBT offers many benefits, it’s important to consider potential limitations, such as the requirement for a private space, personal preferences and the need for reliable technology.

Sometimes phobias can emerge through a psychological mechanism known as classical conditioning. Consider this scenario: An individual repeatedly encounters aggressive dogs that either bite or bark menacingly; these frightening experiences trigger anxiety and fear responses. Consequently, the dog becomes associated with danger, and the aggressive behaviour serves as the fear’s catalyst. Over time, even non-threatening dogs elicit a fear response in this person. 

Other times phobias can result from a mechanism the brain uses to displace fear away from a frightening situation where the person has no ability to control or change it.  For example, the child of an alcoholic parent may unconsciously displace fear of their parents’ unpredictable behaviour elsewhere, to feel some sense of safety.  So the brain might transfer some fear onto a different situation i.e, if I’m frightened of spiders, flying, tube travel etc. I can avoid these scenarios but it’s not dangerous to express that fear.  It doesn’t look logical but fear displacement is a mechanism the brain sometimes uses to manage uncontrollable fear.  A trained experienced therapist can help you understand if fear displacement is fueling your phobia and how to change it and get rid of or significantly reduce the phobia.