A Dunfermline hypnotherapist is on the lookout for people with unusual phobias.
Ian Ferguson said he has encountered many strange hang-ups, such as motorists who cannot drive over the Forth Road Bridge and a man who cannot face going to the barbers.
He plans to create a database to investigate whether there are any geographical trends.
Mr Ferguson (49) is looking for people with odd phobias to contact him as he continues his research with 20 fellow hypnotherapists.
He said, “The first phobia that I encountered was a man I knew who had been offered a job in Livingston but said he couldn’t take it as it meant driving over the Forth Road Bridge.
“I said to him that he had been coming over to Edinburgh from Fife but he told me had had been travelling via the Kincardine Bridge as he felt the Forth Road Bridge was too high for comfort.”
He added, “I then met a lady from Rosyth who was fine if someone drove her over the Forth Road Bridge but couldn’t actually drive over it herself.
“Then I met a woman from Edinburgh who visits a friend in Perthshire but can’t drive over the Friarton Bridge as it’s too high.”Neuro-linguisticMr Ferguson set up a business, Well Now, after qualifying in neuro-linguistic programming and hypnotism.
He said, “I’ve seen someone who’s scared of swings, a man who has a block about going to the barbers and someone who had an issue with the stringy bits you sometimes get when you peel a banana.
“Anyone who Googles ‘weird phobias’ will see that there’s no shortage of people who have difficulties with the most unlikely things.”
Explaining his database idea, he said, “There may well be other localised phobias. Is anyone in Dunfermline afraid of peacocks, for example?
“Does anyone think that East End Park (home of Dunfermline FC) is a particularly claustrophobic stadium?
“Or is there something about the Kingsgate centre that freaks people out?”Bizarre phobiasMr Ferguson said, “On a more general level, I’d like to find out, for example, if some phobias are more common in some parts of the country than in in others.”
Tracking down bizarre phobias may in itself seem like a bizarre thing to do, but Mr Ferguson says his mission is borne out of his determination to show people that there is nothing to be ashamed of.
He said, “They are all triggered by something and it is every bit as possible for someone to be frightened of, say, a rubber band as it is to have a problem with flying.
“We can’t control these things, but they are all treatable.”
Mr Ferguson said most ‘phobics’ had relatively ordinary fears, such as a dread of flying or of confined spaces.
He said, “No phobics, whatever their fear, should be ashamed or embarrassed.
“Phobias are just part of being human and all it can take is some hypnotism to release people from their fears.”