Help for Phobias in the UK: Where to Start

The NHS lists symptoms including severe anxiety and worry, feeling dizzy or lightheaded, palpitations, tightness in your chest, feeling or being sick, trembling, and an intense fear that you may faint, lose control or die.

Some phobias are only triggered when you meet the thing you fear: animals such as dogs, insects or snakes; situations such as flying, heights or small spaces; or bodily fluids such as blood or vomit. Others can have more impact on your life, such as agoraphobia (going outside) and social anxiety (talking to and being with other people). Phobias usually develop in childhood, the teenage years or young adulthood, and can be linked to a frightening event. Source: NHS: phobias.

The NHS suggests breathing exercises, talking to someone you trust, joining a self-help group online or in person, being careful about looking up triggering images online, and checking whether places such as zoos and airlines run sessions for people with phobias. It also suggests avoiding caffeine and energy drinks after 3pm, because they can affect sleep and make anxiety worse.

The NHS lists talking therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) among the treatments for phobias, along with some medicines, and says you can refer yourself directly to an NHS talking therapies service without a GP referral. In England, if you're registered with a GP and aged 18 or over (16 or over in some areas), you can refer yourself to NHS Talking Therapies without seeing a GP. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, a GP is usually the first step. For under-18s, see NHS: mental health support for children and young people. See a GP if you think you have a phobia and it is affecting your life.

CBT for phobias usually involves gradually and safely facing what you fear, at a pace you agree with your therapist. Ask practitioners about their experience with your kind of phobia. Professions that may help include:

• Counsellors and psychotherapists, on accredited registers such as BACP, UKCP and NCPS.
• Practitioner psychologists, such as clinical and counselling psychologists, on the HCPC register.
• CBT therapists, often accredited by BABCP.
• Arts therapists (art, music and drama) and dance movement psychotherapists, if putting feelings into words is hard.
• Occupational therapists, who can help you build back everyday activities, such as travel, shopping or work, that a phobia has made hard.
• Psychiatrists, medical doctors who can assess, diagnose and prescribe.

Whoever you choose, check their register and ask about fees, session length and how you will review progress together. See questions to ask before you book and how much therapy costs. On Therapist Circle, each practitioner's registration is checked when they join, and their profile shows the register and number so you can check it yourself.