All About The Fear of Being Alone & How To Overcome it with CBT, Therapy & Counselling in Wolverhampton & West Midlands

About The Fear of Being Alone

The Fear of Being Alone is also known as Autophobia and is most common in more elderly people.

It has almost certainly been made worse by the social isolation rules imposed during the 2020/21 Coronavirus pandemic.

This phobia may also be experienced by people who worry about things happening to them if they are left alone, for example in the case of burglary during the night.

In general, it is widely recognised in psychology that people NEED a certain degree of social interaction in order to remain mentally healthy, so having concerns about being alone is completely understandable.

Fear is the emotional experience that we have when we perceive there to be some sort of threat in our immediate location or context, or even that a threat may present itself in the future (anticipatory anxiety) and this is certainly true for somebody who has a fear of Being Alone.

Fear of Being Alone Symptoms

The symptoms associated with the fear of Being Alone have much in common with other fears and phobias and may include:

• Anger problems
• Generalised Anxiety
• Social anxiety
• Control issues
• Feelings of depression
• Insomnia & sleeping problems
• Low Self-Esteem
• Low Self-Confidence
• Panic attacks
• Overthinking things
• Paranoia
• Stress

Often the symptoms of Autophobia can seem to occur without the object of fear even being present indicating that the fear of Being Alone has become normalised into everyday life.

This normalisation process often results in the development and use of safety behaviours in an attempt to prevent exposure to triggering events which, paradoxically, may cause the problem to get worse.

In other words, safety behaviours tend to reinforce the fear of Being Alone rather than diminish it!

Autophobia may be the result of earlier traumatic experiences that can be directly (or indirectly) linked to a specific object or situation, but this is not always the case because fears can also be inherited as learned behaviours from the social context in which a person is brought up.

The good news is that the majority of people who suffer with a fear of Being Alone will find a course of psychotherapy highly beneficial.

Therapy & Counselling for the Fear of Being Alone

You can read more about the different types of psychological therapy for the fear of Being Alone below.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for the Fear of Being Alone

If you’re determined to overcome your fear of Being Alone then we highly recommend following our 10 session Tranceformental CBT programme with Paul.

T-CBT is a clinically proven psychotherapy course that will teach you everything you need to know to understand your problem, identify any limiting beliefs and unhelpful thinking styles that you might have developed in order to cope, and then provide guidance on how to make changes to your thinking and behaviours to irradicate the problems.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy has an excellent track-record with problems based on anxiety and fearful cognitions (thoughts) which are key factors in the fear of Being Alone.

Alternative Psychotherapies for the Fear of Being Alone

Although we generally recommend CBT for Autophobia, we also offer alternative psychotherapies for people preferring a different approach.

These include:

Psychodynamic therapy which focuses on understanding why the problem has arisen and relies on the therapy relationship to bring about change.

Counselling which is less formally structured than CBT but still provides a safe and non-judgmental environment in which to discuss issues. Talking problems through with a skilled counsellor is often therapeutic in its own right.

Hypnotherapy is an alternative form of psychotherapy that can be applied to a very wide range of problems and is available with Joan.

Free Initial Consultations for the Fear of Being Alone

We offer all prospective clients FREE initial consultations to discuss your Autophobia problems prior to commencing any psychotherapy programmes.

The consultation and lasts around 50 minutes.

During this consultation we will discuss the various solutions that are available to you and make a considered recommendation based on your individual personal circumstances.

Initial consultations are also available online.

We recognise the importance of the therapy relationship in helping people to bring about effective change, so it is important to meet (either face-to-face or online) before deciding to follow a course of psychotherapy.

Our policy is to help people make a fully balanced & considered decision about undertaking work with us, including both the financial and personal implications.