All About The fear of Being Stared At & How To Overcome it with CBT Therapy & Counselling in Wolverhampton & West Midlands

About the Fear of Being Stared At

The Fear of Being Stared At is Technically Known as Scopophobia. This phobia may either be related to Social Anxiety or also Paranoia.

During the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, people often felt that going out in public during social distancing measures might result in them being negatively judged by others leading to guilty or negative feelings about being ‘seen’ which could migrate into scopophobia.

All phobias, regardless of what the feared object or circumstances are, produce feelings of Anxiety and Stress for the sufferer, and the Fear of Being Stared At is no different.

Whilst the feared object or situation may seem, to other people, to be ‘ridiculous’ or ‘silly’, the person who suffers from Scopophobia knows only too well that the Anxiety that they experience is real enough.

You can read more about phobias in general here.

We completely understand this here at TranceForm Psychology and will treat you and your Fear of Being Stared At seriously and with ‘unconditional positive regard’.

This phobic ‘reaction’ itself is not ‘faulty’ – the problem isn’t the Anxiety that is experienced, but the ‘idea’ or ‘thoughts’ that go into creating this reaction!

The greater majority of people who suffer with the Fear of Being Stared At readily accept that their fear is “irrational” but continue to experience it regardless of this knowledge.

It is important to understand, therefore, that despite the severity and strength of the negative emotional experience that the Fear of Being Stared At might produce inside you, that it is 100% created by your thinking and not by the external object or environment itself.

Fear of Being Stared At Symptoms

The symptoms of the Fear of Being Stared At are very similar to other specific phobias and will often include:

• Avoiding going out in public
• Avoiding people’s gaze
• Panic attacks
• Inability to Relax
• Problems Concentrating
• Being quick tempered
• Feelings of dizziness
• Palpitations
• Aches & Pains
• Fatigue
• Dry and Sticky mouth
• Sweating Excessively
• Breathlessness
• Migraines and Headaches

Scopophobia Symptoms are generally automatic and uncontrollable and can seem to take over a person’s thoughts which frequently leads to extreme measures being taken to avoid the feared object or situation, what are known as “Safety” or “Avoidance” behaviours.

Unfortunately, for the sufferer, these safety behaviours have a paradoxical effect and actually reinforce the Fear of Being Stared At rather than solve it!

Your Fear of Being Stared At may be the result of negative experiences that can be either directly or indirectly linked to the object or situational fear.

Over time, these symptoms can become “normalised” and “accepted” as limiting beliefs in that person’s life – “you have learnt to live with it.”

In just as many cases, Scopophobia may have become worse over time as more and more sophisticated avoidance behaviours and routines are developed.

The good news is that the vast majority of people who suffer with a Fear of Being Stared At will find that a course of Psychological Therapy will help enormously by helping to change the fundamental thinking contributing to the problem in the first place!

Therapy & Counselling for the Fear of Being Stared At

Tranceform offer a range of psychological therapy and counselling solutions for Scopophobia which you can read about below.

Psychological Therapy for the Fear of Being Stared At

If you’re determined to overcome your Fear of Being Stared At then we highly recommend following our Advanced Tranceformental CBT programme with Paul which is available as an Online Therapy as well as a self-directed programme.

The Tranceformental programme is a highly successful & pragmatic psychotherapy course, run over 10 sessions, that will teach you everything you need to know to understand your problem, identify how unhelpful thinking and limiting beliefs might be reinforcing the issue, and then show you how to make any changes to your unhelpful thinking styles or maladaptive safety behaviours that you may have developed as part of your coping strategies.

Our Tranceformental CBT programme is an empirically supported approach used by mental health practitioners around the World.

Alternative Therapy Options for the Fear of Being Stared At

Although our preferred form of psychotherapy for the Fear of Being Stared At is our Tranceformental CBT programme, we also offer alternative psychotherapies for those who might prefer a different approach.

These include:

• Psychodynamic therapy which focuses more on emotional problems and relies on the Therapeutic Relationship to bring about change. Available with Paul.
• General Counselling which is less structured but still provides a safe and non-judgmental environment to discuss issues which is therapeutic in its own right.
• Hypnotherapy is an alternative form of therapy that can be applied to a very wide range of problems and is available with Joan.

Free Initial Consultations for the Fear of Being Stared At

We offer all prospective clients a FREE initial consultation to discuss your Fear of Being Stared At prior to commencing any treatment plans.

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

Initial consultations are also available online using Zoom by prior arrangement.

At Tranceform Psychology we recognise the importance of the therapeutic relationship in helping people to bring about effective change, so its important to be able to ‘meet’ to discuss our change programmes BEFORE proceeding.

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