Then you may progress to pictures or videos. Then perhaps go to a place where spiders may be, such as a basement or wooded area. Your doctor may recommend certain anxiety-reducing medications that can help you through exposure therapy.
Medications that may help reduce uncomfortable feelings of anxiety, fear, and panic include beta-blockers and benzodiazepines. Phobias are a persistent, intense, and unrealistic fear of a certain object or situation. Specific phobias are related to certain objects and situations. They typically involve fears related to animals, natural environments, medical issues, or specific situations.
While phobias can be extremely uncomfortable and challenging, therapy and medication can help. If you have aquaphobia, or the fear of water, you live with a persistent and abnormal amount of fear that prevents you from getting close to water.
Does the sight of blood make you anxious or cause you to faint? You may have hemophobia. Trypanophobia is defined as an extreme fear of medical procedures involving injections or hypodermic needles. People seek help from professional psychologists for many different challenges. Find out more about these issues, from death to stress to family and….
Don't face mental health challenges alone. Instead, learn how to get the support you need to thrive. Emetophobia or fear of vomit can make daily tasks, including eating and cooking, distressing. We'll go over symptoms and potential causes before…. But the fear of being judged can prevent you from being your true self. The truth is, some people will judge you harshly no matter what. But trusting that you're mentally strong enough to live according to your values is key to living your best life.
Another fear shared by many people is the feeling of not being good enough. If you feel like you don't measure up, you might become an underachiever. Or you might become a perfectionist in an effort to try and prove your worth. The fear of inadequacy can be deep-rooted. And while it's hard to face it head-on, you'll never succeed until you feel worthy of your success. A certain amount of this fear can be healthy, but it becomes a problem when it holds you back in life.
For many people, the fear of the loss of freedom becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, someone who wants to live a free life might avoid getting a job with a steady income. Consequently, they might miss out on the freedom that comes with financial stability. You may also avoid cars, airplanes, subways, and other forms of travel.
In more severe cases, you might only feel safe at home. The symptoms of a phobia can range from mild feelings of apprehension and anxiety to a full-blown panic attack. Your fear will also be higher if getting away is difficult.
The symptoms of blood-injection-injury phobia are slightly different from other phobias. When confronted with the sight of blood or a needle, you experience not only fear, but also disgust. Like other phobias, you initially feel anxious as your heart speeds up. However, unlike other phobias, this acceleration is followed by a quick drop in blood pressure, which leads to nausea, dizziness, and fainting. Although a fear of fainting is common in all specific phobias, blood-injection-injury phobia is the only phobia where fainting can actually occur.
Read: Overcoming a Fear of Needles. On the other hand, if you have a severe phobia of crowded spaces, living in a big city would pose a problem. Self-help strategies and therapy can both be effective at treating a phobia. As a general rule, self-help is always worth a try. However, if your phobia is so severe that it triggers panic attacks or uncontrollable anxiety, you may want to seek additional support. Therapy for phobias has a great track record.
Not only does it work extremely well, but you tend to see results very quickly—sometimes in as a little as one to four sessions. Just having someone to hold your hand or stand by your side as you face your fears can be extremely helpful. But when it comes to conquering phobias, facing your fears is the key. While avoidance may make you feel better in the short-term, it prevents you from learning that your phobia may not be as frightening or overwhelming as you think.
You never get the chance to learn how to cope with your fears and experience control over the situation. As a result, the phobia becomes increasingly scarier and more daunting in your mind. The most effective way to overcome a phobia is by gradually and repeatedly exposing yourself to what you fear in a safe and controlled way. The phobia begins to lose its power. Make a list.
Make a list of the frightening situations related to your phobia. Build your fear ladder. Arrange the items on your list from the least scary to the most scary. When creating the ladder, it can be helpful to think about your end goal for example, to be able to be near dogs without panicking and then break down the steps needed to reach that goal.
Work your way up the ladder. If possible, stay in the situation long enough for your anxiety to decrease. If a step is too hard, break it down into smaller steps or go slower. The more often you practice, the quicker your progress will be. Go at a pace that you can manage without feeling overwhelmed. And remember: you will feel uncomfortable and anxious as you face your fears, but the feelings are only temporary.
If you stick with it, the anxiety will fade. These physical sensations can be frightening themselves—and a large part of what makes your phobia so distressing. However, by learning how to calm yourself down quickly, you can become more confident in your ability to tolerate uncomfortable sensations and face your fears.
Perform a simple deep breathing exercise. By breathing deeply from the abdomen, you can reverse these physical sensations and feel less tense, less short of breath, and less anxious.
Fortunately, safe and effective treatments are available which may include psychotherapy , medication, or a combination of both. The appropriate treatment depends upon a variety of factors including the symptoms and severity of the phobia, so it is always best to consult with your doctor or therapist in order to develop a treatment plan that works for your specific situation.
Ever wonder what your personality type means? Sign up to find out more in our Healthy Mind newsletter. National Institute of Mental Health. Specific Phobia.
The cross-national epidemiology of specific phobia in the World Mental Health Surveys. Psychol Med. Spiders are special: fear and disgust evoked by pictures of arthropods.
Evolution and Human Behavior. Phobias: the Psychology of Irrational Fear. Visual height intolerance and acrophobia: distressing partners for life. J Neurol. Fear of flying treatment programs for passengers: an international update. Travel Med Infect Dis.
Front Psychol. The fear of needles: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Adv Nurs. Leicester: British Psychological Society; Cleveland Clinic. Updated May 8, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
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Ophidiophobia Ophidiophobia is the fear of snakes. Cynophobia Cynophobia , or the fear of dogs, is often associated with specific personal experiences such as being bitten by a dog during childhood. Astraphobia Astraphobia is a fear of thunder and lightning.
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