Girl’s phobia baffles doctors

Press, 19 December 1989, Page 8

Girl’s phobia baffles doctors

NZPA-PA Birmingham Emma Beasley, aged eight, has doctors baffled; she has a phobia which makes her terrified of travelling backwards. Her mother, Mrs Shirley Beasley, has appealed to parents throughout Britain to try to find a cause for the rare condition. The principal clinical child psychologist at Birmingham’s Dudley Road Hospital, Jennifer Adams, said Emma’s case was very unusual. “I have never heard of a little girl with a phobia like this, but you can have a phobia about anything, and it can be almost anything that triggers it,” she said. “You only have to be in a situation where you are frightened.” Mrs Beasley first realised something was wrong two months ago when Emma was returning from a swimming lesson to her home in nearby Evesham — “She went haywire on the coach (bus) and started screaming that it was going to crash.” The headmaster had to stop her jumping off. “A few days later, she started screaming when we reversed in the van and now she flatly refuses to go in coaches and will not be left alone in any vehicle because she is frightened it will roll backwards and crash," Mrs Beasley added.