Phobias are a type of anxiety that result in persistent and extreme fear of a situation, object, living thing or environment (the fear stimulus) without an actual danger present. How and why a phobia develops is very broad and individual; some phobias may develop from a previous traumatic experience related to the phobia, or completely unrelated to the phobia. However, a phobia typically develops quickly, even instantaneously, as opposed to a slow burn of symptoms. So, how can you treat a phobia? Statistically, phobias have the highest positive response to treatment, and one of the most effective options is Behaviour Therapy (BT); this is how it’s used to treat phobias.
Treating phobias with Behaviour Therapy
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is a common and highly effective treatment for phobias. Its focus is to unpair the fear response from the fear stimulus by identifying the irrational thinking patterns and replacing them with more adaptive responses. Phobias, although not always, are rarely to do with the actual fear stimulus itself. An unrelated experience could ignite the phobia. This can happen from trauma experienced in the presence of the stimulus, but not caused by it (anything from a song playing to an object in the room).
CBT finds what the core trauma is, and works on adjusting your thought patterns when a trigger occurs, using behavioural methods, to have a more appropriate and proportional response. Through the treatment, you will be slowly introduced to your stimulus in controlled environments that you are comfortable with, until you no longer experience such an intense and negative response to them.
This isn’t to say that your fear will magically disappear. It takes work from both you and your therapist, and depending on the severity of the phobia and the individual circumstances, it can take more or less time than others.
The type of CBT involved is dependent on the individual.
Cognitive Restructuring is commonly used for people who believe the stimulus will cause a catastrophic event and cannot function in the face of them. Cognitive restructuring supports more realistic thinking in replace of that to decrease high anxiety or avoidance responses.
Mindfulness is a real-time coping response to replace fear and anxiety. It applies to people whose thoughts become manic and exceedingly irrational. It seeks to have you focus, instead, on the present, and bring your thoughts down to what is really in front of you.
Systemic Exposure is finding the lowest ‘grade’ of stimulus that ignites the fear response (for example, if the phobia is a dog, then it might be a stuffed animal dog, or seeing a dog at a greater distance, or on a screen). The process gradually increases exposure ‘grade’ while gradually increasing positive and realistic responses.
Common symptoms of a phobia
So, how do you know if you have a phobia, and if this is a treatment option you should explore? While actual diagnosis and a treatment plan should always come from a professional, you might recognise some symptoms of having a phobia that can prompt you to seek that professional support.
Common symptoms of having a phobia are:
- A predictable negative, fear response to a stimulus that doesn’t hold any rational or real threat. For example, being fearful of a dog trying to bite you while it’s trying to bite you is a rational fear response. However, being fearful of all dogs, who aren’t trying to bite you, with the same intensity as though they are, is a phobia symptom.
- Significant anxiety and fear, instantaneously, when the fear stimulus is present.
- A visceral fear response at the mere mention of the stimulus (so, shaking, heightened anxiety, panic).
- The fear response is disproportionate to what the stimulus warrants. For example, being at home alone might make you feel fear for a threat that is not present, but that doesn’t make being home alone a phobia. However, if you intensely avoid being home alone and feel you have to have company to be safe, you may have a phobia (autophobia).
- You have been experiencing these symptoms for six months or longer.
Do you feel you might be experiencing a phobia? Contact our friendly team today to book an appointment, and let’s get you on the path to a more productive and happy thought pattern.