Woman Battles Frog Phobia

A mum-of-two is battling to beat her frog phobia.

Ruth Reynolds,43,was so petrified at the sight of the frogs that congregated regularly in her garden that she would panic and feel physically sick.

She was even afraid to hang out her washing in case one hopped towards her,and paid someone to do her gardening for her.

Now she hopes she's been cured of her froggie fear after she attended a workshop on the Emotional Freedom Technique.

EFT works in a similar way to acupuncture but does not use needles.Instead the treatment involves tapping with the fingers on certain points of the body.

Ruth said "I had always been sceptical about some complimentary therapies but this has definitely worked."

Once people with the phobias learn the technique they can then treat themselves.

Ruth said "I often use it to unwind if I'm feeling a bit stressed. You can even do it on a train or a bus by just tapping on certain parts of your fingers."

Christine Elvin,who runs the workshops,became interested in the treatment after being involved in a traumatic car crash and developing a fear of driving.

The treatment helped Christine,now a practising consultant therapist,to get back behind the wheel in six months.

She also went on to cure her fear of spiders.Christine,50,said "I have treated a lot of people that are afraid of things like spiders or flying but frogs was definitely the strangest."