I have a major phobia of animals. All animals. Cats, Dogs, mice, fish, birds etc. It is becoming a bit of an issue. I have begun to avoid going to anyone's house that has pets and this is definitely affecting my life. This weekend we were walking home across the park and my sister kept pointing out the bats flying above us. then, as per usual, we got into an argument about it. She always tells me to just get over it, but i can't. I get shaky and feel sick, my hands go clammy. at worst i freeze and can't physically move. so we were walking across the park and then she said 'whats it going to do? fly into you? or...' then she grabbed me and shook me and shouted its going to get you! i burst in to tears and snatched my arm away from her. this obviously shook her too and then we argued all the way home. i explained how i feel but when she asked me why i feel this way and what i expect the animal to do i couldn't answer her. I just don't know what to do. i don't know why i am like this. i don't know how to cope. another issue i had recently was my BF and i were invited to a BBQ, the first thing i asked him was do they have any pets? we found out they had a dog and i said we would go. then i was walking to work that day and started thinking about it and i started crying. The thought of going to their house scared the crap out of me. I ended up telling my BF i didnt think i could do it. he's very understanding but i feel so mean that i'm stopping him from doing things he wants to do.
I do feel like its getting worse. I'm 29 and i dont want to be like this (or worse) for the rest of my life. I have tried hypnotherapy, but as i couldn't tell them what about animals i was afraid of they couldn't help me. I have tried just going to friends houses but i can't sit and be comfortable. i end up just watching the pet and not joining in the conversations.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Any tips I would be really grateful.
xx