Overcoming a phobia That prevents achieving goals in life or having a good quality of life is very important. If allowed to pass, it can increase in intensity and be more complicated to treat.
It may be that at some point in your life you have felt a great fear of a certain object or situation and that fear has made it difficult or impossible to carry out activities that you wanted at that time.
For example, it may be that your fear of heights would prevent you from riding on the wheel, that the fear of insects would prevent you from spending a pleasant day at the Field or that your fear of needles prevented you from donating blood.
Remember that if you do not treat the problem, it may result in others more serious as a depression , An addiction, family problems, work, crisis of anxiety, panic attacks ...
If the phobia that you suffer is of less seriousness, you can surpass it with the steps that I am going to expose to you next.
My advice is that any kind of phobia should be treated, since a fear that at first may seem insignificant, with the passage of Time can grow and become a disabling phobia.
10 steps to overcome a phobia
1. Identify your phobia
The first step in overcoming a phobia is to identify the object or situation you fear.
At first this first step may seem simple, but be careful, since there are usually many confusions. For example: the person may believe that He is afraid of elevators when in fact he is afraid of being locked up.
Take the time you need to identify your fear, as this step is key to getting over your phobia.
2. Talk about what you fear
Talking about your fears with other people has many benefits: it helps you identify your phobia, you relieve yourself, you get advice, you feel Supported and wrapped...
If in your loved ones you do not find the support you need, look for a therapy or help group in which you feel comfortable and help you In your improvement.
3. Construct a hierarchy of fears
I am sure that within your phobia there are different situations that generate more or Less anxiety . For example, if you are afraid of dogs you can That you generate a slight anxiety the fact of seeing a dog in the distance and a serious anxiety to touch it.
What you must do is a hierarchy in which you find all those different situations that generate fear ordered from less to greater intensity. Ideally there should be a minimum of ten situations.
At this point what is intended is to reduce your fear in smaller fears to which it is easier to face in a first moment.
4. Relax
Make some kind of Relaxation exercise Can help you deal with your phobia.
This exercise may consist of visualizing a pleasant scene, performing some breathing exercise, Of meditation ... the important thing is that the Exercise can be practiced at any time and discreetly.
Ideally, before exposing yourself to the dreaded object, perform this exercise, this way, it will help you reduce your activation level and it will work for you. Easier to cope with.
5. View
At this point you must grasp your hierarchy of fears and expose yourself to the different situations in your imagination, visualizing them progressively.
It starts with the first, that is, the least anxiety that generates and begins to imagine you in that situation. It is normal that at first you feel Some anxiety and tension, but do not worry, little by little it will decrease and you will feel as your muscles relax.
When you take a relaxed minute while imagining the first situation on your list, take a break and repeat it. When you see that only You feel anxiety, you can move on to the next situation on your list.
This exercise should be done with all the situations of your hierarchy and your goal is to help you, through the imagination, that your level of Activation down, this way, when you go to face your fears in person you will be calmer.
6. Generate positive thoughts
The thoughts have a great power to make you feel one way or another, so if we modify the Thoughts that generate anxiety , insecurity And fear, it is likely that those emotions will change to more positive ones.
I encourage you to write down on paper those thoughts that come to you when you think about the dreaded situation, and turn them into more thoughts Positive you can say to yourself when you face your phobia.
For example, the thought"I can not do it"can become"little by little and with effort I can get it".
7. Point out your fears
The time has come for you to put into practice everything learned in the previous steps and face in person the different situations of your Hierarchy, that is, your fears.
As before, you must begin to expose yourself to your fears in a progressive way, for the situation that less anxiety generates. Do not force yourself there is not hurry. Slow and satisfactory exposure is preferable to rapid and inadequate exposure.
When you have exposed yourself several times to a situation and notice that anxiety and fear have dropped considerably, move on to the next.
The goal of the exhibition is to gradually tolerate the feared object and the associated reactions of anxiety and fear are disappearing.
8. Have Healthy Habits
For any disorder it is very important that your Healthy living habits .
Exercise regularly, eat healthy, rest enough hours, avoid the consumption of toxics... All this affects your wellness .
9. Beware of drug use
Many doctors and psychiatrists prescribe Anxiolytics Y Antidepressants To alleviate the symptoms of some phobias.
The consumption of these drugs should only be done under medical supervision, since an inappropriate use of them can cause dependence and Desired.
Have patience
To overcome a phobia you have to have patience , Since they do not disappear immediately, but involve time and effort.
Depending on the severity of the phobia the treatment can last several weeks or months. The important thing is to strive and reinforce all the achievements that one Get going.
With patience, effort and desire, you can overcome all your fears.
What is a phobia?
A phobia is a anxiety disorder Which consists of a feeling of intense fear, disproportionate and persistent in the presence or anticipation of An object, an animal or situation that implies little or no real danger for the affected person.
The person who suffers from a phobia is aware of his situation, that is, he knows that his fear is excessive and irrational, that he has no logic, but still not You can avoid feeling that intense fear when you encounter the dreaded object or situation.
The severity of phobias can vary, that is, in some people it generates a slight uneasiness while in others the emotional reaction is such Intensity that generates a great feeling of fear, anxiety crisis and even panic attacks .
These emotional reactions can be triggered by the presence or the mere imagination of what is feared.
For this reason people with phobic disorder try to avoid at all costs that which causes them fear, but when this is not possible And they have to face what they fear, they do it with a lot of fear, discomfort and anxiety .
Avoidance of phobic stimulus greatly interferes with quality of life Of the person affected, preventing him or her from carrying out daily activities such as Example: driving, traveling, being in open or closed spaces, being with animals...
In the end, the avoidance of the dreaded stimulus ends up impacting on work activity, family relationships, couples, friends...
This disorder affects a large percentage of the population. Experts point out that approximately one in every 20 people suffer from some type of phobia.
Phobias are more common in women than in men.
Types of phobias
People can develop phobias towards anything and any situation, so if I list all the Types of phobias Would never end, which is why I will mention a few.
There are certain phobias that are more common than others among the population, such as:
- Acrophobia : fear of heights.
- Aerophobia : Fear of flying.
- Agoraphobia : Fear of open spaces.
- Arachnophobia : Fear of spiders.
- Astraphobia : Fear of storms.
- Cynophobia : Fear of dogs.
- Claustrophobia : Fear of closed spaces.
- Dysmorphophobia : Fear of physical deformity.
- Entomophobia : Fear of insects.
- Phobia Social : Fear of social situations and interactions.
- Glosofobia : scared to talk in public.
- Hematophobia : Fear of blood.
- Nictophobia : Fear of the dark.
- Nosophobia : Fear of getting sick.
- Opiophobia : Fear of snakes.
- Trypanophobia : Fear of needles and injections.
- Etc.
There are also many other less common and more striking types of phobias, such as:
- Anthropophobia : Fear of people.
- Autophobia : Fear of being alone.
- Carcinofobia : Fear of having cancer.
- Cataglophobia : Fear of being ridiculous.
- Clethhophobia : Fear of being locked up.
- Coulophobia : Fear of clowns.
- Dophobia : Fear of going to the dentist.
- Emetophobia : Fear of vomiting.
- Spectrophobia : Fear of specters and ghosts.
- Misophobia : Fear of dirt and germs.
- Necrophobia : Fear of death.
- Pyrophobia : Fear of fire.
- Taffophobia : Fear of being buried alive.
- Etc.
It is most likely that you identify a relative, friend or even yourself in any of the phobias I have just mentioned and is that they are more frequent in
What you can imagine in principle.
I must emphasize that there is another group of phobias that are not characterized by the intense fear and fear they generate, if not by a feeling of hatred, rejection and
Disapproval towards a certain group, as is the case of homophobia and xenophobia.
How do phobias arise?
Phobias arise in childhood and adolescence and tend to stay in adulthood.
They can be acquired in several ways, for example by observing other phobic people, as it happens with the children who develop the same Phobias than their parents or closest relatives.
Through the association of unpleasant emotions with the object or situation with which you are relating at that time. For example by feeling Anxiety and fear after being locked in an elevator.
For the paternal overprotection along with the reinforcement of the fears. For example, parents who do not allow their child to approach any dog and Reinforce when the child avoids contact with these animals.
Or by the experience of a traumatic situation. The person lives a situation that for her is traumatic and from that moment develops a Phobia related to what happened.
This way, you can be afraid of the spiders because your mother has it, fear of the elevators because you remained locked in one, fear of the dogs Because that's what your parents told you and fear to drive after having a car accident.
As you can see phobias are acquired through learning, which means they can be overcome, as we will see later.
What happens when the person encounters what he fears?
As I said before, the person feels a lot of fear, intense fear, anxiety crisis and, sometimes, panic attacks.
All these reactions are joined:
- Acceleration of heart rate.
- Uncontrolled.
- Desire to flee.
- Difficulty breathing.
- Shouting.
- Crying.
- Stomach ache.
- Affraid to die .
- Catastrophic thoughts.
- Rigidity.
- Feeling of shortness of breath.
- Feeling of tightness in the chest.
- Dry mouth.
- Excessive sweating.
- Tremors.
- Etc.
The people feel a set of very unpleasant emotions, reactions and feelings that push them to carry out the avoidance of what they They fear
References
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- Burstein, M. He, JP. Kattan, G. Albano, AM. Avenevoli, S. Merikangas, K. (2011). Social phobia and subtypes in the national comorbidity Survey-adolescent supplement: prevalence, correlates, and comorbidity. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 50 (9), 870-880.
- Dahne, J. Banducci, A. N. Kurdziel, G. MacPherson, L. (2014). Early Adolescent Symptoms of Social Phobia Prospectively Predict Alcohol Use. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs , 75 (6), 929-936.
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- Kok, R. Van Straten, A. Bekkman, A. Cuijpers, P. (2014). Short-Term Effectiveness of Web-Based Guided Self-Help for Phobic Outpatients: Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 16 (9), 226.
- McTeague, L.M. Lang, P.J. Wangelin, B.C. Laplante, M. Bradley, M.M. (2013). Defensive mobilization in specific phobia: Fear specificity, Negative affectivity and diagnostic prominence. Biological Psychiatry, 72 (1), 8-18.
- Muschalla, B. Linden, M. (2014). Workplace Phobia, Workplace Problems, and Work Ability among Primary Care Patients with Chronic Mental Disorders. The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine , 27 (4), 486-494.