When a phobic person encounters, or even anticipates being in the presence of their fear, they experience immediate anxiety. The physical symptoms of anxiety may include a racing heart, shortness of breath, sweating, trembling, etc. and the emotional symptoms involve intense fear - of losing control, embarrassment, or passing out.  Commonly people try to escape, and then to avoid their phobia wherever possible. This may be fairly easy if the feared object/situation is not encountered very often and avoidance will not therefore restrict the person's life very much.  At other times (e.g. agoraphobia) avoiding a phobia can limit life severely. Is your life being limited by a phobia?

Hypnotherapy can help.  It can break the unconscious link between the object or situation you fear and the anxiety/panic response you suffer each time.  By breaking this link the intense fear can be reduced and although you may not ever like spiders etc. you can gain more control over the situation and your ability to deal with it.