Part 1 Primal Fear - BBC Explorations

Jackie is petrified of feathers, Ryan cant fly, and Trevors scared of heights. Irrational phobias are damaging their lives. Will the latest treatments help like dropping them in at the deep end?

When fear goes wrong it can turn into a phobia an irrational fear so strong it sometimes ruins lives.

Jacqueline Kelly is petrified of feathers. Just seeing a bird can send her into a state of hysteria, so she cant even take her daughter to the park to feed the ducks.

But then she finds the courage to visit a psychologist. Using a treatment called cognitive behaviour therapy he gradually forces her to confront her worst fear. Her first 45-minute session is painful - but the results are dramatic.

Ryan Hackett loves roller coasters but is terrified of flying. He lives in Great Britain, so how will he get to the USA to ride one of the worlds largest roller coasters?

With just days to find a cure he tries to force himself to fly in a small private aircraft. But at the last moment he pulls out hes just too scared. Then he contacts a hypnotherapist

Trevor Swales is a builder. But because hes terrified of heights he can only work on buildings, which are no taller than one storey high.

His phobia is such a handicap he decides to visit a clinic in Germany, which specialises in a radical therapy called flooding. Flooding involves hitting phobics with a massive dose of their worst fear. And theres no chance of escape.

The next three days are like a horror movie for Trevor. First hes forced to climb to the top of a church spire, then a huge tower with glass sides.

Just when he thinks things cant get any worse, they do. Hes raised into the air on a fire engines ladder.

There are tears and foul language. But like Jacqueline and Ryan, Trevor shows remarkable courage and an incredible result.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Fear
• phobias
• spiders
• snakes
• BBC
• BBC Documentary
• Discovery documentaries
• science
• special effects
• educational
• Storyteller Media
• BBC science
• Explorations
• Broadcast Marketing
• video about phobias
• video about spiders
• video about snakes
• video about fear
• video about being scared

[Boaal]

You guys are condemning a phobia as though it were a rational thing. It's not. There no thought there, there is only instinct, there is no world outside the fear, there is nothing but the fear.

You should take that into account before laughing or pointing the finger. I'm sure that none of you are saints.

[obglobgablob]

I lol'd a little, too.

[ZeppelinFloydRoses]

I'm scared of tuning up guitar strings just after I put them on.

[MyBurntPancakes]

I'm 20 and in New Zealand we have an underwater world called Kelly Tarltons. There's a fake orca whale there that pops out of the water during the snow cat ride. I have been scared of it my whole life. The thought of being stuck in the room, or falling in the water with it makes me want to throw up. I can't explain it but everytime we got to Kelly Tarltons I try to look at it, and I'm left petrified. Irrational? Yes. But we're only human!

[hotwhire]

Vegeta: "Does a Android ever experience fear?"

[hotwhire]

I hope we never find eternal youth or celebrities wont die...

[Mystro1989]

phobia's are terrible but the treatment for them are very successful. if you are damned to a life of a mental illness hope it is a phobia for the prognosis for recovery is very high compaired to any other mental illness.

[Cinedragon]

2:48 Well, that's a pretty crappy doctor then. Of all people in the world, doctors should know there are such things as irrational fear.

Still, if she's afraid of birds. I can understand that. I know someone who's afraid of them as well. But being afraid of a feather is......well...pretty weird.

[MrPinaka]

A FUCKING FEATHER?! SERIOUSLY?!A FUCKING FEATHER?!

[MrPinaka]

CHICKEN SHITS!

[DRichW]

Oh man I completely feel for all these people. I suffer from Acrophobia really badly - I can be halfway up a stepladder and feel dizzy.

As others have said, it's completey irrational, but no less terrifying. Generally I have a normal life but there are times when I wish it could be more so.

[spartacandream]

I used to be terrified of ants, and since I live in a part of the world where being distant from them is impossible, I overcame that fear by eating them on a dish my uncle made for me. Ants on a banana. Live ants. Let's just say, my brain now associates ants with salty delicious foods instead of fear now.