Insight: Nov 5

If you have a phobia of some kind, you might want to check out Insight this week.

Host Jenny Brockie brings together people with different phobias and hears from experts about the different treatments including exposure therapy, hypnotherapy and even a new pill.

When Kristina Duke sees a bird, she bursts into tears and has a panic attack. Sometimes she cowers under the table.

It’s no laughing matter. Experts tell Insight that about 8 per cent of Australians suffer from a phobia of specific things like spiders, injections and vomit.

Other people have social phobias, meaning they have acute anxiety about being criticised, embarrassed or humiliated, even in the most ordinary situations.

It’s much more than simply a fear or a dislike. Phobias can be debilitating. But we still don’t know exactly what causes them.

Guests include:

Kristina Duke
When she was eight years old, Kristina Duke’s brother put bird seeds in her hair while they were at an aviary. Kristina says that event started her phobia of birds. Kristina can’t bear the thought of the birds swooping, and just being near birds causes her to hyperventilate and have panic attacks. She’s worried that she’ll pass her phobia onto her children.

Christine Shipp
Christine Shipp can’t even say or write the word ‘spider’, let alone be in the same room as one. She once jumped out of a moving car because she saw a spider. Christine says she’s had a phobia of spiders for as long as she can remember and it has become worse over time. She says she knows her feelings are irrational.

Catherine
Catherine has a fear of vomiting. She thinks her phobia worsened at age 21, when a friend choked on her vomit and died. Since then, Catherine has feared the same will happen to her. She says she has tried a range of treatments including hypnotherapy but nothing has worked.

John Malouff
Professor John Malouff is a psychologist and lectures at the University of New England. John’s always had an interest in phobias because his father suffered from claustrophobia which stemmed from a childhood experience of being trapped in a cave. John believes most phobias are caused by a traumatic experience and that the best way to cure them is by gradual exposure therapy. He says there is no evidence for hypnotherapy.

Gordon Young
Gordon Young is a hypnotherapist who believes that hypnotherapy can cure phobias. He claims that it’s possible to cure some people in as little as four minutes. Gordon says that phobias are nearly always related to a deeper anxiety issue.

Lara Farrell
Dr Lara Farrell is a psychologist and is part of a Griffith University research group working with children who have phobias. She says more time and effort should be put into childhood phobias because she believes they are a gateway to adult mental health problems. She says parents can sometimes unknowingly pass on their own phobias to their children.

Tuesday at 8.30pm on SBS ONE.