WHAT WE TREAT
WHAT WE TREAT
What we treat at the Virtual Reality Phobia Clinic
Research suggests that if you have one phobia, you are also more likely to have another. For example, someone with a phobia related to closed spaces often has a phobia related to flying. Phobias also commonly co-occur with other anxiety disorders, such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) or Panic Disorder, and some research indicates that the onset of a phobia precedes the anxiety disorder. Within the clinic, we have found the use of virtual reality and a ’gamified’ approach can really help engage children and adolescents in therapy and for clients of all ages to build their confidence facing a wide range of fears.
Agoraphobia is the fear of being in places in which escape maybe difficult, such as crowded areas. People with this fear tend to avoid places like shopping centers, festivals, and markets because they feel panicked, trapped, and helpless. This discomfort then creates avoidance behaviours and a preference for staying home to reduce such feelings. Over time, the increased isolation and lack of connectedness can lead to low self-esteem and loneliness. If untreated, Agoraphobia can escalate over time so early intervention is advised. Please get in touch with our reception team to discuss treatment options.
Anxiety before any type of assessment is expected and normal. However, when that anxiety starts to disrupt your concentration or ability to attend an exam, we call this exam/assessment anxiety. People with a high level of anxiety in these situations tend to “freeze” and find it difficult to recall prior learning. This type of anxiety can therefore impact your educational attainment and inadvertently disadvantage you as the results are not a true reflection of your potential. This can lead to feelings of frustration, disempowerment and low self-esteem If you think this anxiety is getting in the way of your ability to perform at your best, please contact us.
Research indicates that animal and insect phobias impact 7% of the population and are one of the most common types of phobia. Snakes, birds, cockroaches, dogs and spiders are some of the most common phobia we see at the Virtual Reality Phobia Clinic. Many of us dislike certain animals but that does not make it a phobia. Animal and insect phobias result in excessive avoidance of the feared animal and can cause impairment in day to day living. The Majority of people seeking help for this type of phobia are doing so because their avoidance behaviour is causing significant disruption to the life they want to live.
Blood Needle Phobia is an intense and irrational fear of blood. People with phobias go to extraordinary lengths to avoid their phobia. For those with blood needle phobia, they may avoid doctor’s visits, situations involving blood (e.g., going to a rugby match), blood tests, recommended surgeries. Television shows depicting blood, even though fictitious, can create the same fear response. At the heart of this phobia is the fear that the person will faint if they see blood.
It is common for children to have a fear of the dark, in fact about one-third of all children are afraid of the dark. In most cases, it is not so much the darkness, but rather the perceived unknown dangers hidden in the darkness. As with most development stages, most grow out of it by adulthood. However, the 3% that have this phobia often report symptoms of the following: reluctance to go out at night, avoidance of dark rooms and/or compulsively staying indoors at night. Naturally, this phobia can go hand in hand with sleep difficulties.
People with Dentaphobia avoid seeing the dentist even when medically necessary. This is the key distinction between dental anxiety and Dentaphobia as people with dental anxiety will stress about the dentist but will likely still see their dentists for treatment. Symptoms of Dentaphobia can include a fear of getting an anaesthetic, fear of gagging, or fear of choking when the dentist numbs their mouth.
The fear of driving is common and symptoms wide ranging. Some people with this phobia are fine to drive by themselves but cannot tolerate others behind the wheel. Some people are fine to take public transportation as long as the route stays the same. Whereas others feel immense panic by just looking at a vehicle. Other factors such as speed, distance from home, how heavy the traffic is, how many lanes of traffic or the presence of tunnels or bridges can all impact individuals with Amaxophobia. Every trip does not have to be uncomfortable, please get in touch with the clinic if you would like some support overcoming this fear.
The fear of flying or Aerophobia is very common,almost 20 percent of the population report that this fear interferes with their work and social lives. The common fear underlying Aerophobia is that they will become overwhelmed with anxiety during the flight. However, we can use Virtual Reality to help you face your fear in a gradual way to get you ready to take your next holiday. It is important to understand your triggers or reasons for the phobia. Often, the fear of flying has underlying causes, such as fear of enclosed spaces (claustrophobia), fear of crowds (agoraphobia), fear of heights (acrophobia), or the anxiety of not being in control. The latter reason, loss of control can sometimes explain why panic attacks typically emerge around the time of a significant life change such as a birth, death, marriage, divorce, or graduation. That is why people with flying phobias often wonder why they had once been able to fly so comfortably. At the Virtual Reality Phobia Clinic, we can use VR to help you face your fear in a gradual way to get you ready to take your next flight.
People with acrophobia experience intense and unreasonable fear when they’re faced with heights and can include going up stairs, being on a ladder, using a multilevel parking garage, crossing bridges, being in tall buildings, or standing on a balcony. Acrophobia is one of the so-called natural environment phobias, which also include a fear of thunder and lightning (astraphobia) or water (aquaphobia). Research shows that a certain amount of reluctance around heights is normal, however people with this type of phobia tend to dread situations that will cause them to spend time in high places. This can interfere significantly with an individual’s life as the avoidance of situations involving heights can be far reaching. Contact the clinic today to discuss your treatment needs.
A fear of needles is very common, however can prevent someone from accessing necessary tests and medical procedures. Some people with this phobia may avoid things like vaccinations and blood tests or going to the dentist. This phobia often comes with high levels of anxiety both before and during the appointment, which can include panic attacks, nausea, dizziness, or fainting. We can help you to overcome this fear so please get in touch today if you would like support.
The fear of public speaking is common, with the main theme undermining this phobia relating to a fear of negative evaluation from others. Glossophobia is often comorbid with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). The key distinction between the two is that with Glossophobia the anxiety is restricted to public speaking situations whereas with SAD the anxiety is related to a broader range of social interactions.
Astraphobia is an extreme fear of thunder and lightning. Many children who have this fear will eventually outgrow it, but others will continue to experience the phobia into adulthood. Research suggests that storm phobias, effect 2-3% of people and astraphobia is among the more common phobias in children because it relates to their fear of loud noises, which we are evolutionary predisposed to fear. Triggers can include a weather report, conversations about weather, bad weather on television shows as well as loud noises which sound like thunder. We can support you to overcome this fear and welcome you to contact our friendly reception team for more information.
Most people don’t like vomiting, but for some, just the thought of it is enough to cause extreme distress. Emetophobia or vomit phobia can develop spontaneously or following a traumatic vomiting experience. Symptoms include avoiding certain foods, compulsively checking foods, excessively avoiding sick people or settings that could cause sickness and monitoring your body for signs of illness. Emetophobia is closely associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), as it shares some of the same OCD symptoms. Almost 50% of children with fear of vomiting have symptoms of OCD. Worrying and stressing about vomiting impacts your mental and physical health as stress and anxiety can cause you to feel nauseous, which then intensifies your anxiety. CBT can help you to challenge the thoughts around vomiting and VR can be used to learn coping skills to face your fears in a graduated way.
It is appropriate to feel some degree of anxiety in anticipation of a medical procedure. However, for some people, that fear can become excessive and lead to avoidance of certain medical procedures, which itself can be life threatening. Tomophobia is the fear of surgical procedures or medical intervention. A person with Tomophobia will typically experience panic when they are required to have a medical procedure and/or avoid the procedure. Other similar cross over fears includes the fear of hospitals, the fear of needles and the fear of blood. is condition. We can help you prepare for this and address your anxiety at our clinic.
Misophonia means “hatred of sound,” but not all sounds are a problem for people with sound sensitivity. For example, breathing, chewing, stepping, lip smacking, tapping, and speaking. Misophonia presents differently in everyone but is characterized by extreme anger, frustration, and distress in response to the above sounds. Symptomatology of misophonia intersects to some extent with that of several other disorders including but not limited to specific phobia, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), sensory processing disorder (SPD), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Misophonia usually appears around age 12 years, and likely affects more people than we realize.
One of the most common phobias is Claustrophobia which is the fear of being trapped within a confined or enclosed space. People with Claustrophobia tend to avoid situations or places that make them feel uncomfortable e.g. flying, tunnels, lifts, and crowded rooms. For example, many people with Claustrophobia are often late as they must drive longer routes to get to places or avoid tunnels. Many family vacations and work are impacted as they are unable to fly. We know that most people with claustrophobia fear three objects or situations, so the impact of this phobia is immense. If you are ready to free yourself from this fear, contact our friendly reception team today.