The 36-year-old is 1 of the 10 ‘celebrity’ contestants who flew to an Australian jungle this week to take part in the outdoor survival-style challenge.

The programme is infamous for putting its fame-hungry contestants through a series of gruesome or frightening trials, such as sky-diving, wading through various soups of creepy-crawlies, eating strange body parts or swimming in shark infested waters.

This year’s line-up includes comedian Freddie Starr, US actress Stefanie Powers, McFly bassist Dougie Poynter and The Only Way is Essex’s Mark Wright.

Cotton, who plays Sean Tully in Coronation Street, has said: “I have a morbid fear of flying, I don’t like heights and I am claustrophobic. I have had hypnotherapy and I have also been to therapy to face my fears.”

To find out more about how hypnotherapy can help cure fears and phobias, please visit our Phobia factsheet.  

‘Bathmophobia’ is the official name used to describe a fear of steep slopes or steps. Louise Wilson suffered from this phobia for 38 long years and told the Daily Mail that she turned down various jobs simply because she would be expected to climb stairs inside the offices.

Louise has suffered from bathmophobia since she was five years old and has spent many years struggling to even get to the first floor of her own house, which she can only do by clinging onto the wall.

After she found that she could no longer even bring herself to take her son on day trips because she may encounter stairs, Louise decided it was time to seek help.

‘I would get panicky and full of adrenaline – I didn’t know what it’s like to not be frightened. It was a true phobia – I would just freeze when faced with stairs, specially open-slatted and open sided staircases.’ She said.

‘I’d feel dizzy and sick, and just want to grip the floor or the walls.’

Bathmophobia can be triggered by a variety of factors but specialists believe the most common cause is a previous negative experience involving either stairs or a steep hill.

Louise decided to seek help from a hypnotherapist in a bid to cure her phobia, where she discovered that an early suppressed memory of falling off the top of a slide as a child was likely to be the underlying cause.

‘Her parents told her the incident had happened, and we believe that is where her fear stems from.’ Said her hypnotherapist.

Louise’s hypnotherapist used a combination of both hypnotherapy and a specialist technique known as Neuro Linguistic Programming – a psychotherapy approach which looks at how the way we think influences our behaviours. A few months on and thought Louise still doesn’t feel 100% comfortable around stairs, she is able to control her phobia enough to walk up and down them.

‘It just goes to show that however long you have been suffering with phobias for, it’s never too late to get help.’ Said Louise’s hypnotherapist.

To find out more about how hypnotherapy could help you to overcome any phobias, visit our fact-sheet to find out more.

View and comment on the original Daily Mail article.

Autumn 2011 has seen the biggest influx of spiders creeping about UK houses in recent years. This is due to the particularly warm spring that encouraged an influx of pollen, and in turn encouraged an influx of insects- or in other words, spider food.

With all the extra grubs to gorge themselves on, spider numbers have increased. The females start to wonder into our homes when the weather gets colder and they need a warm dark crevice to huddle up in. They find refuge in our cupboards, behind furniture and under floorboards.

Males appear soon after, following a pheromone trail in order to locate the lurking females. This is why we often find large spiders scuttling around in the open.

Once the male has mated with the female, usually by the end of October, the female spider will eat him. If she doesn’t, the male will tend to lose interest in food and slowly starve to death. This is due to the idea that male spiders are solely programmed to reproduce.

UK house spiders can be very big, with some reaching a 5inch leg-span. According to a recent study, the biggest phobia in the UK is arachnophobia- the fear of spiders.  For many Britons, autumn can be a hair-raising period.

Spider expert Steve Dickie puts the fear down to their strange appearance and unpredictable nature: “Spiders can move very quickly and some spiders jump, so some people start panicking because it is so alien to them.”

If you find a spider in your house, it is advisable to capture it with a glass and a card, and release it outside. UK spiders cannot seriously hurt humans as their jaws are not strong enough to bite through our relatively tough skin.

If you have arachnophobia and would like to do something about it, you may wish to consider hypnotherapy. To find out more about what hypnotherapy can do for phobias, or to locate a hypnotherapist near you, please visit the Hypnotherapy Directory.

View original article at Yorkshire Evening Post.

Fear of the dentist has had many an individual suffering in silences with tooth ache or poor dental hygiene but what is it that dentists themselves recommend as a treatment for this phobia?

Dr Jennifer Pinder, a dentist working in London, has been treating patients who have a phobia of getting into the dentists chair for over 30 years. Over the years she has seen individuals with anything from a fear of the drill, right through to a fear or gagging.

Dr Pinder stresses that the first and most vital step is to find out exactly what someones phobia is, before dealing with it in a sympathetic and sensitive manner.

Unfortunately it is not uncommon for phobics to suffer for long periods of time, often to the point where their teeth are disintegrating, until they finally realise that a visit to the dentist is unavoidable, says Pinder.

However, what dentists such as Pinder and many others are trying to do is reassure patients and potential patients that if they do have a phobia their problem will be dealt with in a sympathetic manner.

Pinder helps her patients overcome any embarrassment by making time for them to discuss their fears and she also encourages them to email her their thoughts and feelings before the appointment.

After this the next step is managing a patients anxiety and offering a range of pain free treatments.

Dr Pinder uses a new implement which is known as The Wand, which covers the needle and controls the speech at which the anaesthetic is given to the patient. She also encourages her patients to bring along a personal music player so they can listen to their favourite tunes, helping to distract them from whats happening.

Lastly Pinder also offers hypnotherapy and counselling, both of which will help to eliminate the underlying cause of the phobia over time.

View out fact-sheet on hypnotherapy for phobias.

Original article here

The results of the study showed that 19 per cent of women are struck by extreme anxiety when waiting to get into the dentists chair in comparison to just 10 per cent of men in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The overall results of the dental health survey also found that one in 10 Welsh adults, one in 14 Irish adults and one in 17 British adults have no natural teeth, figures which highlight the importance of good dental care and hygiene.

Fear of the dentist is not uncommon, in fact there are countless individuals who are suffering from severe dental pain because they are too afraid to visit their dentist. If this sounds like you then hypnotherapy for dental phobia is an avenue which could help you to overcome your fear and allow you to maintain good dental health in the future.

The basis of hypnotherapy treatment revolves around the practitioner helping their patient into a deeply relaxed state which allows the unconscious mind to be accessed so the fear can be eliminated from within.

If you would like to find out more about how the process of hypnotherapy can help to reduce phobias then you can view our online fact-sheet here.

The refusal is not simply a ploy to get out of maths but a genuine condition which has been named ‘school phobia’ and is currently estimated to affect between one and five children in 100.

Unfortunately the condition is little known and has only recently been highlighted in the press when a judge ordered Suffolk County Council to apologise to parents of a 16 year old boy for prosecuting them for keeping their son off school, despite evidence from his GP and psychologist that he had a genuine phobia of school.

Parents of children who have been diagnosed usually try various treatment options such as counselling, behavioural therapy, home schooling and hypnotherapy.

For many years hypnotherapy has been used to tackle a myriad of phobias ranging in severity. Hypnotherapy works through accessing the subconscious mind where the practitioner will be able to establish the underlying causes of the phobia. In doing this they will then be able to reprogramme the mind to react to any stimuli in a different way. For example, if a child’s morning alarm clock and the thought of getting dressed and going to school would usually start a panic attack, a hypnotherapist will help the sufferer to respond the the stimuli in a different way, for instance taking deep breaths and drinking water upon hearing the alarm.

Other techniques may also be implemented, such as positive suggestion and visualisation, which will see the child envisaging themselves enjoying their school day etc. For more information on phobias, their causes and their treatment please visit the hypnotherapy areas of this site. Alternatively if you would like to contact a hypnotherapist who deals with phobias directly then please use the search tool and filter feature to locate a qualified professional in your local area.

View additional information about school phobia and its treatment here.

Original article featured in You magazine (29/08/10)

The DGZH has said dental hypnosis works through helping the patient into a relaxed trance like state ready for the procedure. This allows the patient to block out any sensations which would usually upset them or cause pain and can even result in the procedure feeling good due to the calm heart rate, low blood pressure, deep abdominal respiration and relaxed muscles cause by the trance like state.

To contact a hypnotherapist in your local area regarding this or any other issue please use the search tool located on the homepage of this site.

Read more here

Often little everyday niggles can quickly escalate to fears and phobias if help is not sought at the right time. Holt explains how some drivers avoid certain roads, motorway driving and going over bridges and through tunnels.

Hypnotherapy can help to eliminate these fears by sending individuals into a deeply relaxed state which enables the practitioner to access the parts of the brain that cause nervous disorders, fears and phobias.

Holt actually retired from his job as a European Studies lecturer at Oldham College and retrained as a hypnotherapist after taking a special interest in the subject.

Already he has helped drivers overcome fears of driving on the motorway, going through tunnels and driving up hills.

He says: “People come to me wanting help with their issues so they are interested in what I have to say. I take an holistic approach which includes confidence building, dealing with the particular issue and teaching the client techniques for dealing with stress.”

Read the full article here.

In a short interview with a Daily Mirror journalist, Andre admitted that roller-coaster rides petrifying him, from huge high speed backwards twisters right through to the teacup ride, he can’t go near them.

“I’m absolutely petrified of them!” he told The Mirror.

In an attempt to try and overcome this fear Andre has turned to hypnotherapy which he hopes will tackle the root of the problem. Hypnotherapy works through tackling the subconscious where the fear resides.

After several sessions Andre says he will be tackling the phobia head on by visiting Thorpe Park.

A rollercoaster with 10 inversions – and Stealth, a rollercoaster which hits 130km/h in around 1.8 seconds.

Throughout April 16% of the searches performed were for ‘weight loss’ 8% for ‘smoking’ 7% for ‘anxiety’ 6% for ‘phobias’ and 5% for ‘low self confidence’. Of course there were many other searches performed but the above are the five most searched for terms and give a good idea of the types of issues people believe can benefit from hypnotherapy.

By taking a look at the keyword searches we are able to see which areas of Hypnotherapy are most in demand and we can therefor make sure the right information is easily accessible and readily available to anyone visiting the site.