Agoraphobia has a complex structure unlike most phobias, and can respond well to very deliberate, step-by-step working over a lengthy period of time.  The numerous cases of phobia of thunder and lightening which I have treated over the years have all been the result of learning to have the phobia as a child from a parent, or other trusted carer who has the problem.

With those exceptions, all phobias appear to be the result of one single fearful experience, which led to an exaggerated fear response. In a phobia this is triggered again every time a person encounters a similar situation. This fear is one example of the fight/flight response.

Since the experience that has led to the phobia is often consciously forgotten, sufferers are often puzzled and confused about why they respond so illogically to something which they know well is very unlikely to be dangerous or harmful.

There are techniques within NLP which can often lead to elimination of phobia symptoms very quickly. My experience is that, while these sometimes work alone, the prognosis and success rate when treating phobias is dramatically improved if these techniques are combined with stress management techniques using hypnosis, and for some years this has been my normal approach to the treatment of phobias.

If you, the reader, are suffering from a phobia, you may be relieved to hear that, even though the phobia is distressing and debilitating, it is commonplace for phobias to be completely relieved, by therapy here.