What We Treat
Evidence-based, individualized treatment for specific phobias from licensed clinicians, in person in San Pedro or online.
A specific phobia is an intense, out-of-proportion fear of a particular object or situation. You may recognize that the fear is larger than the actual danger and still feel it take over the moment the trigger appears. To keep the fear at bay, many people go to great lengths to avoid the object or situation, and that avoidance can quietly reshape daily routines, travel, work, and medical care.
Intense fear of a specific object or situation that outsizes the actual danger.
Steering around the trigger, or enduring it only with significant distress.
A racing heart, sweating, shaking, or a strong urge to escape when the trigger appears.
Dread that builds beforehand, sometimes long before the trigger is near.
Phobias can attach to many things. Common types include heights, flying, driving, enclosed spaces, needles and blood, spiders or other animals, vomiting, and the dentist or other medical procedures.
Phobias attach to many different triggers, and the fear behind them overlaps with related conditions. Our clinicians treat the whole picture rather than a single label. Each area below has a page that explains how we approach it.
The broader worry and tension that often surrounds a focused fear, treated with the same evidence-based tools.
The sudden surge of fear a phobia can trigger, and the fear-of-fear cycle that follows.
Intense fear of judgment in social and performance situations, a fear focused on people rather than objects.
Intrusive fears and avoidance, treated with a closely related form of exposure and response prevention.
Phobias rooted in a frightening past event, where the nervous system stays on alert around the trigger.
Low mood that can build when avoidance narrows travel, work, and daily life over time.
Specific phobias have a first-line, evidence-based treatment, and our clinicians are trained to deliver it. We build a plan with you and work at a pace you can manage.
The gold-standard treatment for specific phobias. You and your therapist build a ladder of situations and face them on purpose at a pace you set. This is gradual, systematic exposure, never being thrown into your worst fear.
Supports the work by teaching your body to settle. Phobias live in the nervous system as much as the mind, and calming the physical alarm makes each exposure more manageable.
Available as an option, and some clients find it a useful complement to exposure when building calm and focus around a specific trigger.
| Approach | Best suited for | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Exposure therapy (CBT) | Avoidance and out-of-proportion fear | Faces feared situations step by step so they lose their charge. |
| Somatic regulation | The body's alarm during exposure | Settles the nervous system so each step feels more manageable. |
| Hypnotherapy | Building calm and focus around a trigger | An optional complement that supports the exposure work. |
Starting therapy should feel clear, not overwhelming. Here is how it works at Coastwise.
We start with a short, private conversation to understand the fear you are dealing with and what you want from therapy.
We pair you with a licensed clinician trained in exposure therapy who fits what you are working through, not whoever happens to be free.
You and your clinician build a step-by-step ladder and start low, and you decide when to move up, so progress feels steady and in your control.
We work with adults and teens whose phobias range from a manageable nuisance to a fear that blocks travel, medical care, or daily activities. Because the panic a phobia triggers can overlap with panic attacks, our clinicians treat the whole picture rather than a single label.
See us in person at our San Pedro office or work with a clinician securely online anywhere in California. Exposure and somatic work translate well to telehealth, and practicing in your own environment is often an advantage.
The core treatment is gradual, structured exposure, a form of CBT in which you face the feared object or situation in small, planned steps while your therapist helps you stay regulated. Over time the fear response fades. We pair this with somatic skills to manage the body's alarm, and hypnotherapy is an option for some people. Your therapist sets the pace with you and you are always in control of the next step.
We work with the full range of specific phobias, including fears of flying, driving, heights, needles and medical procedures, animals and insects, vomiting, choking, enclosed spaces, and more. The approach is similar across them, even though the trigger differs.
No. Exposure is gradual and collaborative, never a matter of being thrown into your worst fear. You and your therapist build a step-by-step ladder and start low, and you decide when to move up. The point is to build confidence, not to overwhelm you.
Yes. Much of the work translates well to secure video, and some exposures are easier to practice in your own environment. We see clients in person in San Pedro and virtually across California.
We work with insurance, and many clients use their benefits toward therapy with us. Call (424) 536-3002 to learn how your insurance can help cover the cost of therapy.
Phobias respond to the right treatment. Call us for a free, confidential consultation and we will match you to a clinician who treats it.
Call (424) 536-3002 Get Started