The Fear Trap: Simplifying work with Fear and Anxiety using Emotion Science (19 May 2026)

Fear is a commonly experienced emotion for all human beings. Problems with fear and anxiety make up a sizeable proportion of presentations seen in clinical practice, and are indicated in many of the difficulties seen in education, social care, work and across society.

Fear is also a primitive emotion; it has an impact that is fairly easy to understand that links primarily with escape and avoidance behaviour. Clinical work with fear, however, has been dominated by an obsession with the categorisation of different anxiety disorders based on the object of the fear. This has resulted in a complex landscape of intervention, particularly in cognitive behavioural therapy, with a plethora of different models and protocols each designed to work with a specific type of fear or anxiety presentation. This highlights the differences between the presentations at the neglect of their similarities.

This workshop uses emotion science to outline an understanding of fear, its cause, impact and function. This understanding is used to illustrate what happens when people experience difficulties responding to fear. The fear trap is outlined, which is a simple maintenance cycle that can be used to make sense of any difficulty with fear. There is a focus on the core aspects of the model, and then the minor variations and considerations for certain types of fear will be outlined (e.g. bodily fears, social fears, obsessive-compulsive fears etc.). The session will highlight the clear links between the fear trap and intervention. Participants will leave the session with an understanding of how to use the fear trap to work with difficulties with fears, regardless of the object of the fear.

The workshop has an emphasis on the practical ‘how to’, with demonstrations, practices, examples and Q&A throughout.

Following this session, participants will have a better understanding of how to use emotion science to make sense of and work with difficulties with fear and anxiety. They will understand the fear trap and know how to use it to work with all fear-based problems. It will help them to focus on the main targets for intervention whether people present with one fear-based difficulty or multiple over-lapping ones.

Please note, participants should have:

• attended the 2-hour introduction on “Understanding Emotions as an Alternative to Diagnosis: Emotionally-Focused Interventions for Young People and Adults”. 
• a working knowledge and understanding of cognitive behavioural therapy

Learning outcomes

Delegates of the workshop will:

·         Understand fear, its causes, impact and function

·         Apply this understanding to situations where people experience difficulties with fear

·         Use the fear trap to formulate difficulties with fear, making necessary variations

·         Develop intervention plans in light of the fear traps developed.

·         Compare this approach to their usual clinical practice and consider the adaptations they might make in light of it.

Is this course right for me? 

The workshop will be of interest to those working with fear and anxiety presentations in a variety of fields. It will interest, in particular, those uncomfortable with using the diagnostic model in their work and looking for alternative approaches, whether entering the profession or seasoned professionals.

The workshop will walk through the concepts from first principles, but is focused on the detail of how to work with fear and anxiety presentations, so experience of applied psychological work and familiarity with existing approaches, particularly those used in CBT, would be helpful.

Workshop Presenter

Dr Lawrence Howells Ma(Oxon) PGDip DClinPsy CPsychol AfBPsS

Lawrence has been using emotion science as a foundation to clinical work for over 10 years, and has written two books and many papers on the subject. He has worked clinically with young people and working-aged adults for many years and all of the skills and ideas presented are tried and tested in clinical settings. 

He has also delivered lectures and skills sessions online and in-person to trainee CBT therapists, trainee clinical associate psychologists and trainee clinical psychologists for many years. As a result, he is able to deliver online content in an interactive and engaging manner. He worked as a clinical associate professor at the University of East Anglia and has presented workshops for the BPS and the BABCP.