Hello and welcome to Jarnas Studio, Story Norrie's factual program where I talk to fascinating people about fascinating things.

In this episode we are looking into your mind.

Have you ever had a fear?

Are you afraid of the dark? Spiders? Meeting new people? Many of us have fears or anxieties that can make our palms sweat and our hearts beat faster. Sometimes they pass as quickly as they come over us. But some of us live with deeper fears called phobias.

If you have a phobia, which is particularly strong, it can prevent you from leading a normal life.

In a moment, I'm going to be talking to Andrew West, a psychiatrist who works with children and young people.

I'm going to be asking him about phobias and how we can overcome them.

This program will be especially interesting if you've heard my story called Fear.

Spoiler alert!

If you haven't heard the story already, listening on to this interview will give away some of the twists and turns of the plot.

So it might be a good idea if you go back and listen to the story now.

Anyway, here is a little extract from the story where our heroine Emily comes face to

face with her greatest fear in life. There were those times when Emily was younger that she had

tried to overcome her fear. She'd muster up the mental strength to venture out for a family walk and face her fear.

But it usually ended in tears and a feeling of dismay.

Daddy! Daddy, no! Quick! There's a dog coming, no! Help me!

She shrieked. Just hold my hand. It'll be fine.

Oh no!

It's off the lead. It's coming.

And then she'd hold on to her dad for dear life, heart beating fast, until the owner and perfectly nice dog passed her.

It had to be some distance away before she could let go of her

dad's hand and breathe a sigh of relief again. And that was Richard Scott, reading an extract from

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