Welcome to Ashby Talking Therapies

I have been successfully helping people who suffer from phobias for several years and I can help you too. If you live outside the Midlands area and can’t attend my clinic at Ashby Holistic Centre in Ashby De La Zouch, Leicestershire then we can apply my proven techniques over the telephone or via Google Meet from anywhere across the UK or around the world. Contact me to arrange an appointment on 07551 846468, or email me at marionmcgeough@gmail.com

A phobia is an irrational fear of something. Most people realise that the feeling is irrational and this can actually make the phobia worse because the individual then begins to develop a fear of being ridiculed by others. This then creates an enormous amount of pressure and worry in the individual’s day to day life. This is especially so if the phobia is a fairly common one, or one that they may encounter whilst at work or in a social situation.

Whilst family and friends who are aware of the phobia mean well when they may tell the person that they are “being silly” or that it is “all in their mind”, this adds to the worry and the fear that the person is feeling. This places enormous pressure on the individual and is likely to affect their health. 

The good news is that phobias can be effectively treated. There is no need to live your live ruled by fear. Below is a list of common phobias, this list is not conclusive because a person can develop a phobia about anything.

• Fear of: 
• Flying
• Dogs
• Cats
• Heights
• Public speaking
• Blood
• Needles
• Germs
• Illness
• Snakes
• Being sick
• Bridges
• The dark
• Being alone
• Clowns
• Water
• Choking
• Thunder
• Buttons
• and so on…

Case Study: A Phobia
Individual names have been changed to protect the identity of the client.
Andrew was a HGV driver who had been involved in a road traffic accident which had resulted in a fatality that was not his fault. Andrew had not been physically injured during the accident, but he recalls becoming increasingly worried about driving.
Andrew stated that he began to feel “strange” when he sat in the car.
At first he thought that it would wear off, putting it all down to the accident; however, the feelings that he had began to get worse until he reached a point where he could not even go near his car without shaking, feeling dizzy and out of sorts.
Andrew then began to rely on lifts from family and friends. This worked for a while, but then he found he could not sit in the front passenger seat as his heightened awareness drew his attention to all hazards on the road.
Andrew said that his wife described him as a “nightmare passenger”, this led him to take the back seat in a car and, again, this worked for a few weeks until Andrew felt that he was unsafe in the car so he began to restrict his life, only going to places that he could physically walk to as he felt that he could not use public transport.

Treatment
I began by exploring Andrew’s “strange feelings”. These consisted of feelings of being out of his body and that he was simply an observer in the car that he was travelling in. These are feelings of dissociation: when a person feels that something is unreal. These feelings are caused by stress and a high degree of anxiety.
During the following session we discussed the accident and, when re-living the experience, Andrew was able to clearly come to terms with what had happened.
The following sessions concentrated on teaching Andrew how to relax, how to deal with his anxiety and, perhaps most importantly, an action plan was created so that step-by-step Andrew was able to regain his independence and drive once again.

Summary
Seven sessions of therapy were required and Andrew was highly motivated to achieve his goal. Therapy was difficult for him at times as he was not used to asking for help. Andrew said that he had always thought that therapy was for weak people; now he believed the opposite as it takes strength to change.