SPECialist phobia clinic · London & Amsterdam
A therapist-guided, focused CBT treatment that helps your brain unlearn your fear – often within 2 sessions.
3,500+
patients treated
95%
SIGNIFICANT FEAR REDUCTION
in our clinic*
< 1 week
until first contact
* Results based on routine clinical data from 3,500+ patients treated since 2018. 82% remission, 13% clinically significant improvement at 2–5 month follow-up.
Our team
Our CLINIC
the effect on your daily life
Intense fear
Rapid heartbeat
Sweating
Feeling unsteady
Avoiding open water
Urge to escape
WHAt’s happening in your brain
what we do about it
I avoided situations for years and kept adjusting my life around the fear. Now I just get on with things without thinking about it.
I couldn't even look at the sea, and now, after the treatment, I am still not a big fan of swimming, but I really enjoy playing with my kids in the water, and that means the world to me.
Our Memrec approach builds on research by Prof. dr. Merel Kindt (University of Amsterdam), who discovered that adding a single dose of medication to a specific CBT-based approach can accelerate the process – enabling most phobias to be treated in just two sessions.
A psychologist guides you through the process from start to finish.
01
Online diagnostic assessment
Intake
We talk through your fear in depth – what it is, how it affects you, and what would help most. You leave with a clear picture and a treatment recommendation, whether that’s Memrec or something else.
02
at the clinic
Treatment session
At our clinic, a psychologist guides you through a single session designed around your specific fear. You then take a single dose of a beta blocker, which prevents the fear from being re-stored in the same way.
03
at the clinic
Test the effect
You return the next day. Most patients are surprised by what they notice – the automatic fear that was always there is much weaker or no longer there. Together we practise real-life situations to experience that for yourself.
Phobias are learned, not something we are born with. They are irrational fears – intense, automatic, and treated by the brain as if the danger were real. Research published in Nature in 2000 showed that under specific conditions, these fear networks in the brain can become open to change.
Professor Merel Kindt translated this finding into clinical practice. Through her research at the University of Amsterdam, she developed Memrec – a specific form of CBT with the addition of a single medication to target the reconsolidation process.
Kindt Clinics is the first specialist clinic to apply this method outside of academic research. Featured in the Channel 4 documentary The Fear Clinic (2024).
Kindt, M., Soeter, M., & Vervliet, B. (2009). Beyond extinction: erasing human fear responses and preventing the return of fear. Nature Neuroscience, 12, 256–258.
Prof. dr. Merel Kindt
Founder of Kindt Clinics · Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam
Fear of open water (thalassophobia) is a specific phobia involving intense fear of deep water, oceans, lakes or the unknown beneath the water’s surface.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with exposure is the recommended treatment for fear of open water. In exposure therapy you practise step by step with deep or dark water, for example in a pool, lake or the sea, guided by a psychologist. A newer form of CBT is Memrec, developed at the University of Amsterdam. Memrec targets the fear memory itself: the fear is briefly activated once, after which you take a single dose of a beta blocker. During your assessment we discuss which approach suits you best.
That depends on the treatment. Every treatment starts with an online diagnostic assessment. With Memrec, you then usually need two sessions at our clinic, on consecutive days: the treatment session and a follow-up the next day to test the effect. Regular CBT or exposure therapy usually takes 3 to 8 sessions after the assessment. Before you start, you can book a free 15-minute call with one of our psychologists.
The beta blocker is a widely used medication that normally temporarily reduces the physical stress response. It is taken as a single dose and does not cause sedation. Your psychologist will discuss any contraindications during the assessment.
The complete Memrec programme costs £1,595. We also offer exposure therapy and one-to-one consultations or CBT, online or hybrid, starting from £250 per session. The introductory call is free.
Where is Kindt Clinics located?
Speak directly to one of our psychologists.
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