A 49-year-old grandma who was once a clinical hypnotherapist specialising in phobias has a fear of baths overflowing, causing her to have severe panic attacks. Mother-of-four Darcey Croft has had the fear since she was four – when she saw her mum lie in the bath as the ceiling came down, causing the water to overflow.
No one was hurt and barely any water was on the floor, but young Darcey thought her house was going to flood and her mum was going to die. Anything involving water overflowing, including a blocked toilet or film about floods, now prompts panic attack-like symptoms.
Darcey, a specialist mental health midwife from Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, also has an unexplained fear of cinnamon, despite loving the taste. If she smells the aromatic spice, she has an anxiety attack.
