Some of the most common phobias teenagers suffer from include:

Fear of dating
This includes fear of meeting people, and/or asking for a date. It can also include fear of telling other personal information which can affect the development of a relationship.

Fear of dealing with authority figures
These include teachers, other professional people such as doctors, bosses and even parents.

Fear of public speaking
This is the most common social phobia both in teenagers and adults. It can seriously affect people who need to make presentations at school, university, other study courses, at work and in all social situations that require participation in group discussions, especially if they have to make spontaneous responses and become the centre of attention.

Fear of sitting exams
Some people become so anxious in the lead-up to an exam they become physically ill. It is even more frustrating to know that you know the material but just cannot get it out in the exam. People’s fear of sitting exams comes from all sorts of origins. They usually are the result of one or a number of bad exam experiences. Lots of people come back to study after some time and find the old anxiety around exams returns. For some people this can be devastating.

Performance anxiety/stage fright
These are very common. There is nothing wrong with having a few ‘butterflies’ before a performance as long as things do not get so bad that performance is negatively affected. This can affect performing artists and athletes, especially on big occasions. Many famous actors and sports people have experienced ‘stage fright’ at some time in their careers. Some have needed professional help to overcome their performance-affecting anxiety. There is a difference between positive stress, which is stimulating and motivating, and negative stress, which can ‘stop you in your tracks’.

Fear of writing in public
This is another phobia which is more common than realised. It affects people who have to write frequently in front of people because of their job, whether it is writing on paper or on a white board in front of an audience.

Fear of urinating in public
This is much more common in men. It is estimated that just under 10% of men suffer from paruresis. Some have to go into a private cubicle to urinate and some cannot even urinate there. They have to wait until they get home. It is a very distressing condition and many people who suffer from it avoid going to lots of public events because of it.

Some other very common phobias include:

Fear of spiders (arachnophobia)
Approximately 50% of women and 10% of men suffer from this phobia to some extent. I have treated one young person who wouldn’t go to the toilet by herself if there was a spider’s web there.

Social phobias
These are concerned with being worried about being evaluated negatively by other people in social situations. These concerns can lead to anxiety, depression and, in extreme cases, social isolation.

Fear of flying (aerophobia)
This is very common. It can stop people travelling and doing lots of things they would love to do and going to places they would love to go to. I have recently worked with two different people whose children were getting married overseas. I helped them overcome their fear of flying and they had the time of their lives. One of them now enjoys it so much they want to travel everywhere overseas. The world has opened up to them.

Fear of being in a place where escape is difficult. (agoraphobia)
This phobia leads to people avoiding going into many places. This can include the supermarket and having to wait in a long queue at the checkout. Every day supermarket workers spend some time putting the contents of a shopping trolley back on the shelves because someone has panicked in the queue and fled to the safety of the outside.

Fear of being trapped in a small place (Claustrophobia)
This is different from agoraphobia. Claustrophobics will not go into a small space such as a lift, a small room or any other small enclosed space. Some people with a fear of flying actually are suffering from claustrophobia. It is not the flying they are afraid of, it is being in the enclosed space of the plane.

Fear of heights
Is very, very common. As you become more fearful the higher up you get, the more tense and disorientated you become and so become more at risk. One client I worked with drove round a corner to be meet unexpectedly with a high, steep drop to one side of the road. He froze. This is not a good reaction when you are driving on a winding, narrow road! This experience helped him realise that his phobia was actually putting him and his family at risk.

Fear of lightening and thunder (brotophobia)
It is not just children who suffer from this. Some adults are so affected they have to hide in a cupboard during a thunder storm.

Common symptoms of phobias include:

• breathlessness
• dizziness
• excessive sweating
• nausea
• dry mouth
• feeling sick
• heart palpitations
• inability to speak
• muddled thinking
• fear of dying
• blushing
• shaking
• confusion
• tightness in stomach
• queasiness
• hyperventilation
• light-headedness
• fainting
• muscle tension
• apprehension
• disorientation

For a full list of phobias go to www.phobialist.com

You do not need to have your life affected, even ruled, by your phobia. Hypnotherapy can help many people overcome their phobias. For some phobias it is the most effective help.

If you are suffering from a phobia which is stopping you from living your life to the full give me a ring today.

Helpline 09 438 5367