Phobias

Our specialist psychologists provide services in relation to phobias for children and young people.

What are phobias?

Phobias are a type of anxiety disorder, and lead to an irrational level of fear in relation to a situation, event or object which significantly impacts an individual’s life. When a fear has lasted for more than six months, is out of proportion to danger and affecting daily life it may be classed as a phobia. Phobias are defined as specific or complex. Specific phobias relate to an isolated situation, event or object. Complex phobias are more common in adults than children and young people, have a greater impact on daily life and include social phobia and agoraphobia. We provide services in relation to specific phobias, complex phobias and social phobias or social anxiety.

Phobias don't have a single cause, but there are a number of associated factors. For example:

a phobia may be associated with a particular incident or trauma
a phobia may be a learned response that a person develops early in life from a parent or sibling (brother or sister)
genetics may play a role – there's evidence to suggest that some people are born with a tendency to be more anxious than others

NHS, Phobias (2016)

A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder. It is an extreme form of fear or anxiety triggered by a particular situation (such as going outside) or object (such as spiders), even when there is no danger….

Someone with a phobia may even feel this extreme anxiety just by thinking or talking about the particular situation or object.

Mind, What is a phobia? (2017)

How are phobias assessed?

Young people are often aware that a fear is irrational and impacting on daily life so an assessment to identify the presence of a phobia is not usually necessary. Children are not usually aware that a fear is irrational. An assessment relating to how the phobia is impacting daily life and mental health may be required.

Hide all

Show all

Our process

At HSR Psychology we ensure that we meet the needs of children and young people. To achieve this we ensure that any specific assessments, intervention, or direct work, is only carried out following an initial discussion.

An initial discussion allows us to understand the background and your expectations of our involvement. Having an initial discussion ensures any services we provide appropriately identify or address needs.

Our process for any specific assessments, intervention, or direct work is as follows:

Step 1: Contact us

We will usually be contacted by the child or young person, parent or carer, or another professional (eg education or health).

You can contact us or complete a referral

Step 2: Arrange an initial discussion

An initial discussion allows us to understand the background and your expectations of our involvement. Arrange an initial discussion

Step 3: Review our recommendations

Following an initial discussion we will send you an email that includes:

Next steps recommendations - to provide a bespoke package of support. For example:

Assessments
Reports
Information gathering
Meeting
Interventions
Consultancy
Reviews

Costing - we will provide costings for any services recommended.

Step 4: Let's get started

On receipt of the next steps recommendations and costing you can decide how to proceed. Once you have decided contact us to arrange the chosen services.

What interventions do we provide for phobias?

Phobias can relate to almost anything which is why interventions are bespoke according to the individual, the phobia and the impact it’s having on daily life. The most common interventions for phobias are:

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
Exposure therapy
Narrative therapy
Parent training

A bespoke package may include elements of the above interventions to suit individuals and their needs. During an initial discussion any assessments or interventions which may be necessary will be discussed and agreed on in order to provide an accurate quote for services relating to phobias.

Arrange an initial discussion

Arrange an initial discussion to find out how we can benefit your education setting. The initial discussion lasts 2 hours and is a starting point to identify needs. The cost is £160.

No waiting lists
Experienced psychologists
Includes recommendation summary

Find out more

only

£160

Contact us

Ready to get started? The next step is to speak to our team to find out more about the services we provide and how we can help. Call us on 0161 820 9229 or email office@hsrpsychology.co.uk