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Nothing to fear but fear itself: 7 tips for conquering phobias

18 September 2017

Dry mouth, sweating palms, rising panic and a desperate need to escape: phobias can be a serious blight on people’s lives.

Richard Reid, psychologist and author of Cure Your Phobia In 24 Hours, has seven simple but effective ways we can all fight our phobias and regain control of our lives:-

  1. Be accepting of setbacks – not everything will go perfectly first time
  2. Break tasks down into smaller more manageable chunks
  3. Focus on the positive outcome at the end of it all
  4. Practice breathing techniques to help with panic attacks
  5. Reflect on what you have done and learn from the experience
  6. Remind yourself of your successes and celebrate them
  7. Repeat the experience to reinforce what you have achieved

  • Paula suffered for years with anxiety and multiple phobias – including a terror of water. In an attempt to conquer them, she intends to swim the coastline of Britain.

David’s story: a fear of flying

Dating back to a tense and terrifying trip to New York as a teenager, David Munro’s crippling fear of flying negatively affected his professional career and made foreign holidays a virtual impossibility.

Working in the telecoms industry in Inverness, David found attending conferences and meetings an ordeal.

His social life also suffered and an expensive stag do with buddies depressingly turned into a stag don’t as his phobia kicked in. ‘I paid lots of money to go to Portugal, got to security and... bottled it.’

With the intimidating prospect of a flight to attend friends’ wedding in Northern Ireland, David sought the help of the team and psychologist Richard Reid.

Armed with Richard’s phobia-fighting techniques – and a large Scotch at the bar! – David made it on to the plane, into the air, and successfully over to Ireland for the wedding.

‘I didn’t like the take-off,’ he confessed. ‘I’m not going to lie!’

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