Part 4 Primal Fears - 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.

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• snakes
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[hstera]

Everyone is at least a LITTLE frightned of normal things, such as being trapped in small rooms, hights etc.

[mastergx1]

Some people are lucky not to have any phobias and that can be a big problem because they do not understand irrational fear. I personally suffer from arachnophobia & hemophobia and i simply cannot get my dad (a lucky, phobia-less dad) to understand it. e.g When i see a spider: my pulse races, my pupils dialate and I freeze. I know the spider can't hurt me but my reaction is uncontrollable and beyond reason. To this end I understand this poor womans phobia, strange as it may be.

[TotalSH]

I suffer from Selachophobia (Fear of sharks). Even looking at a picture, or touching it, I have deep anxiety and a fear that I will be harmed by the image.

This occurred because during childhood, my father showed me many shark films, then tried the "Flooding" technique when he discovered my fear of them. He forced me to stare at a shark in an aquarium until I fainted.

I wont even go to the beach.

No phobia should be laughed at, no matter how small or how irrational.

[Jeorney]

Reminds me of a nightmare I had recently. An owl was following and staring at me no matter where I looked. I went into a house and there it was outside the window, staring at me. I drew one curtain and and it just flew to the next, and it continued staring. I had to shut both curtains to block it out.

[conorhaugh1]

The first line of your intro should read 'Trevor's' or 'Trevor is', not 'Trevors'. You lost all credibility immediately

[MrThereisnogo]

this was hilarious

[UnitedEuropa]

Sometimes people don't even know that they are scared of something until it happens because it is in our subconscience and our subconscience tries to keep us away from those things.

[MrPinaka]

play the feather in her nipples!

[FemmeBaer]

I guess I should try to face my phobia too, but it is always so easy just to run away or close your eyes. Im really affraid of big windmills, and Ive always thought that if I get used to one, will I get used to all of them? There are so many kinds of windmills and places they can be in.... hmm.

[annamariaxoxo]

@OculiUbique To be fair, her real fear are the birds. The feather is a generalised fear she got from her fear of birds. So it would be easier to extinguish compared to the overall fear of birds. I think once they start working on the bird fear, it'll take much, much more sessions.

And I completely agree with your point about the lifestyle shows discussing mental illness'. It is always biased and doesn't explain things as accurately as possible. I always refer to these shows as 'pop psychology'