THE answer lies is this basic idea - the more you avoid something you are scared of, the fewer opportunity you have to learn that it is actually not as scary as you imagine it to be, and hence, your fear will remain strong.Clowns. Spiders. Heights. Needles. Dentists. Flying. What do these things all have in common? They're some of the most common phobias. A phobia is actually a type of anxiety disorder characterized by an excessive or unreasonable fear of a certain situation or object. While severe phobias should be treated with professional therapies and/or medication, you can overcome most mild to moderate phobias and reduce the anxiety associated with a phobia on your own. However, if you expose yourself to thing you are scared of, you will get more opportunity to learn that it is actually not as dangerous as you believe it is, and that will help to reduce the fear. For someone with a phobia of dogs, a psychologist may first teach some exercises to help him relax.
...Then in a safe environment, he will expose the person to the least feared stimulus, for instance, a picture of a dog, and teach the person to do those relaxation exercises while watching the same. Slowly, he may expose the person to the sound of a dog barking. Then he may take the him to watch a dog in a kennel, then to see a friendly unchanged dog but from a distance, and as the person learns to relax in these progressively more scary situations, he or she will reach a point where he/she may be comfortable even petting a dog. Watching others who are unafraid of the situation that you are scared of may help to reduce your own fears, for instance, watching your friends petting dogs and playing with them, may make you feel less scared and moree willing to play as well.
0 Comments