Radio 4 programme talking about phobias

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This Friday at 11:00 am, Radio 4 will air 'I'm Suzy and I'm a Phobic', featuring Anxiety UK.

Suzy Klein is highly phobic and she wants it to stop. She won't go in lifts, no matter how many steps she has to climb, and she hasn't been on the underground for twenty years. Suzy has been phobic of spiders (now recovered) and didn't go on a plane for three years (but now flies). Yet every time she beats a phobia, another one takes hold.

At the moment she has claustrophobia and, in this programme, Suzy attempts to conquer her fear, culminating in a trip on the London Underground. Along the way she'll meet fellow phobics and discover the impact the fear has on their everyday lives and behaviour.

As a fly on the wall in her therapy sessions, we hear Professor Paul Salkovskis attempt to help Suzy overcome her claustrophobia through Cognitive Behavioural Therapy - or CBT.

Other contributors include Dr James Lefanu of the Daily Telegraph, who warns Suzy that CBT is only successful in around 30% of cases and she will have to be "desensitised" by confronting her fear. Suzy also meets up with arachnophobic Phill Jupitus to discuss where fears come from.

You can listen online at bbc.co.uk/radio4/.

If you enjoy the programme, please post a comment below. And if you've found it useful and want to take steps to conquer your own phobia, Anxiety UK is able to provide quick, reduced cost access to CBT, either face to face or over the phone. Visit anxietyuk.org.uk for more information or ring our helpline on 08444 775 774.

Enjoy!

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Hi

I listened to the programm and it was a very good one!!i could totally relate with the woman who was going on the train or in the tube.I was panicking just listening to the programm.for 20 years this lady didn t get the tube and she managed to do one stop.this is amazing.and her reaction was exactly like mine when I get on the train again:a sense of happiness,relief and proud.I don t know if I will never go back on the tube but it would brilliant,I would probably feel normal again!;-)In the meanwhile I will keep going on trains every weekend and try to reach far destinations.agorophobia and fear of enclosed space is a quite bad mix.but I will keep trying and we will see my progresses day by day.I know it s a long journey.