‘I used to be so petrified of fish that I could not even watch Discovering Nemo with my son’. Lynsey is among the hundreds of thousands who suffers from unusual phobias – however now medical specialists are trialling a radical new 3-step remedy to remedy even probably the most extreme anxieties

For a lot of her life, Lynsey Chalmers, 30, could not bear to be beside the seaside. Aquariums, too, had been off limits, as had been ponds. A goldfish bowl would set off chilly sweats.

Even strolling down a grocery store seafood aisle left her shaking and breathless – and she or he may overlook a fish and chip supper.

For, as unusual because it sounds, Lynsey suffers from ichthyophobia – a worry of fish.

She believes it began when she was about three, when she virtually choked on a fish bone.

‘I do know it is humorous to folks, however to me, fish are my worst nightmare,’ she instructed The Mail on Sunday. ‘No matter kind, lifeless or alive, in a tank or on a plate, even toys, scare me.

‘If I see a fish I really feel instantaneous panic, like I will be sick – I can not eat or drink for hours afterwards.

‘It might appear odd but it surely’s modified a lot about my day-to-day life. I could not even watch Discovering Nemo with my son.’

Lynsey Chalmers, 30 – on the  seaside with two-year-old son Leo – would scream and run when she noticed a fish, till she underwent a radical new remedy in Amsterdam

‘I’ve even been in a position to sit down with my son and watch Discovering Nemo! I by no means may have imagined how far I’ve come’, says Lynsey

Lynsey is among the many greater than 10million folks within the UK that suffer from a phobia – an excessive type of worry that interferes with their every day functioning. However present process a pioneering remedy within the Netherlands has remodeled the mother-of-one’s life.

Now, the Paisley-based clerical assistant can swim within the ocean, take her two-year-old son Leo to the aquarium and even cook dinner fish fingers – although she stops in need of consuming them herself.

‘I would tried so many issues through the years to attempt to shake off the phobia on my own – from watching fish in a tank to making an attempt to sit down in a restaurant as my household ate seafood – however this was the primary time it truly labored,’ she says.

‘The progress I’ve made has been unbelievable.’ Lynsey’s story can be featured in Channel 4’s new six-part collection The Worry Clinic, which begins on Tuesday. It follows sufferers with debilitating phobias being provided a radical phobia remedy developed by Professor Merel Kindt – a Dutch neuroscientist who has studied the psychology of worry for greater than 20 years.

Since 2018, Professor Kindt’s workforce has handled greater than 2,000 sufferers affected by excessive worry issues starting from a phobia of spiders, mice and enclosed areas to bogs, eye contact and even sausage canine.

Their brutal remedy, referred to as Memrec, entails three steps. First the affected person should be uncovered to their phobia in a roundabout way – briefly eliciting their nervousness response to activate all mind connections related to it.

Then, they’re given a drug referred to as a beta blocker. Generally used to deal with hypertension in addition to nervousness, the treatment blocks the results of the stress hormone adrenaline – inflicting the guts to beat extra slowly and with much less pressure.

Lastly, the affected person returns the subsequent day for a check the place they face their worry as soon as extra, to see if the remedy was profitable.

In 85 per cent of circumstances, Professor Kindt says, only one spherical of remedy is ample to completely alleviate even probably the most extreme fears.

In the meantime, the normal remedy for phobias, which entails sufferers repeatedly being uncovered to their worry till their nervousness diminishes, has a relapse fee of round 60 per cent.

‘This excessive fee of relapse is what impressed me to develop a remedy that targets the worry reminiscence itself somewhat than forming new recollections,’ Professor Kindt says.

‘Once you set off the worry reminiscence and provides the affected person a medicine that interferes with the saving of that reminiscence, then that feeling of worry is weakened.’

Within the documentary, viewers see Lynsey offered with plates of uncooked seafood – which leaves her in tears. However, arms shaking, she was finally guided over to the touch the plates. ‘I knew I needed to do it for my son,’ she says. ‘I do not need to cross my phobia on to him, and I believe will probably be good for him as he will get older to know his mum conquered her worst worry.’

The following day, having taken a beta blocker and had a superb evening’s sleep, Lynsey says that she was ready for one more traumatic session. But to her shock, she was in a position to enter the room virtually effortlessly – and even dipped her arms in a tank filled with fish.

‘I could not imagine the distinction 24 hours made,’ she says. ‘It was virtually simple to face my worry once more.’

Now, greater than a yr later, Lynsey says her dad and mom and husband Scott are cheered by the progress she’s made.

‘I have been in a position to stand within the sea with fish swimming round my legs. I’ve even been in a position to sit down with my son and watch Discovering Nemo! I by no means may have imagined how far I’ve come.’

Different astonishing tales featured on The Worry Clinic embody Ollie who has a worry of balloons. The phobia got here on in childhood after Ollie grew to become trapped right into a room crammed with the inflatable social gathering decorations.

One other affected person who seems on the present, Nina, suffers from amaxophobia – the worry of being a passenger in a automotive.

There’s additionally Jamaican-born Devreaux, who found he had a phobia of sausage canine when he moved to the UK. In the meantime Gary confronts his phobia of frogs, which has left him struggling to go about his job as a gardener.

The Worry Clinic airs on Tuesday at 8pm on Channel 4.