When fear becomes focused: Phobias & treatment options

Phobias: “focused” anxiety disorders! Phobias are fears that are focused on specific objects or situations.

Phobias: “focused” anxiety disorders - phobia - free initial session - claustrophobia - agoraphobia - arachnophobia - confrontation - exposure

These so-called phobic fears are usually not only focused on objects or situations, but are also very individual and personal. Well-known and widespread phobias include arachnophobia, agoraphobia (fear of public, maybe crowded places without an escape route) or claustrophobia (fear of confined, enclosed spaces). In addition to those well-known phobias, there are some more specific, less common ones, such as the fear of money, mirrors, chewing gum, being without a cell phone, belly buttons, beards, work, fresh air or the fear of forgetting something; with the “boss enemy” of all fears maybe being “phobophobia” (fear of phobias).

Phobias: the “focused” anxiety disorders! Phobias can be treated well using psychological treatment techniques such as confrontation and exposure therapy. In these treatment methods, the client is introduced to the fearful stimulus step by step until physical symptoms and stress subside and the original fear-inducing stimulus can be accepted and tolerated.

A practical example: in confrontation therapy, a person with arachnophobia could first learn to talk about the topic of “spiders” until the conversation no longer causes any impairing physical and psychological symptoms. In the next step, the person can train to look at the image of a spider until their body and psyche are no longer in distress. Then a video of a spider can be watched. After that, the person can learn to tolerate being in the same room as a spider, and then perhaps even having a spider sitting on their hand.

Of course, this process takes a lot of time and patience; fears develop over the course of our lives and cannot be erased from one minute to the next. However, facing your fears will help you to better confront and live with them in the future!

Do you suspect you might suffer from a certain phobia? Would you like to get help and improve your quality of life in the long term?

Let’s talk about it in a free initial session!

#phobia #anxiety #treatment

Phobias: “focused” anxiety disorders - phobia - free initial session - claustrophobia - agoraphobia - arachnophobia - confrontation - exposure