What is the difference between a fear and a phobia?

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We all experience Fears and that is because a Fear is a natural reaction when faced with possibility of real danger. For example the fear of heights when walking dangerously close to a cliffs edge….Fear is your survival instinct to keep you safe and away from danger..

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A phobia can be considered similar to a fear because it would have originated from a natural fear.

Often situations that present little or no danger can greatly affect an individual with a PHOBIA

“80% of people have a phobia of spiders”

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What is a Phobia?

A persistent irrational fear of a specific object, activity or situation that leads to a compelling desire to avoid.

Humans are NOT born with phobias. However, babies are born with two instinctive fears. The fear of loud noises and the fear of falling. These fears often just stay that, a natural fear. However sometimes the fear of falling can develop into the fear of heights or the fear of flying.

But generally all phobias stem from childhood and are learnt behaviours from our parents or other people. For example; if you have a fear of spiders you were not born like that. When you were a toddler you might have found a spider intriguing rather than scary.

 

However, a phobia can develop in a split second when we experience a parent panicking in the presence of a spider. We learn most of our subconscious behaviours from our parent’s behaviours from an early age.

A Phobia is an internal reaction to something external. Essentially the subconscious mind protects its owner from a threat, thus protecting its owner. Sometimes though this can make people feel irrational and out of control. 

Usually, Phobia's can be treated very successfully with Hypnotherapy.

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There are many types of Fears and phobias and Lynn has successfully helped people with many different types

https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/phobias/overview/