There's more than one thing about phobias, of course. 

But one very important thing about phobias is the dollop of extra feelings that pile in on top of the basic fear-to-terror feeling...  and which can range from feeling rather stupid and embarrassed to self-blame and scalding shame.  Ouch.

Every client says something along the lines of “It’s silly, really, but…” and it’s then that I am glad I can share how I used to be petrified of the dark, being certain that it would get up my nose and stop me breathing; how I never went anywhere without a torch, or stayed overnight without one of those plug-in nightlights; how it began when I was little and used to sleepwalk, waking suddenly in a space made utterly unfamiliar by darkness, groping my way towards a wall and trying to make sense of what I touched as the panic rose and further addled my sleepy wits. 

Birdworld, a bird park near Farnham in Surrey, have recently launched sessions for sufferers of Bird Phobia to conquer their fears with NLP techniques. 

The sessions were prompted by an email to the Education Department at Birdworld from a woman whose fears were so extreme that she could not bear to be near even a feather.  Birdworld contacted me and...

...the full story of how she got on when we worked together is here.