Simple Phobias

The language of the psychological and psychiatric communities is fantastic. A "Simple Phobia" is in fact no such thing, it can complicate a life beyond belief. Of course what they mean is a phobia related to one object or situation, as opposed to a more general phobia such as agoraphobia where both the causes and treatment may be more complicated.
I saw a video of a woman who had a phobia of feathers (it was on a BBC programme about phobias some time ago). Although it might seem like an easy phobia to deal with in fact it was life crushing. She feared birds of all shapes and sizes and they are pretty hard to escape. Once she left her two year old on a beach in Tenerife because a Seagull looked at her. It sounds almost comic but in fact it severely disabled her, like so many phobias do.
The cure came from a very mainstream source. Firstly she tried hypnotic regression and did indeed recall a time when a bird had become trapped in her grandmothers kitchen and had scared her as a child. The recollection of this event did not appear to change her phobia, for when she went outside the site of a pigeon affected her just as before.
Eventually she went to a clinical psychologist who pointed out to her that she had become scared of her fear, of the physical symptoms and it was that association with the feathers that was causing the response of a panic attack. He asked her what she thought would happen if she were to go near a feather and she replied that she would faint or die.
They went through graded exposure during which re -assured her that whatever she felt would pass and was not a sign if imminent death. A few hours later she was happily holding the feather, and her phobia was permanently removed.
Did the regression help this at all? Make the exposure easier? We will never know. But obviously you are not over a phobia or a fear until you face the situation and do it. Panic Attacks don't kill.