How To Learn How To Overcome A Phobia

We all have a phobia, or know someone who has one. Some phobias affect things we do not notice in our daily lives, and these we can ignore completely. For example, a phobia of snakes or rats will not lead to much anxiety in everyday life for you if you live in a big city. But it is helpful to be able to overcome a phobia.

Some phobias can be a big problem in our time period, for example a phobia of driving a car. Or the phobia of flying, which is also called flight fear or flight anxiety, can be problematic if you have to travel a lot in connection with your work. Therefore, it is important to deal with the anxiety that is triggered by these activities. Because they produce avoidance  behavior , which feeds the panic… Learn how!

The key to phobias is anxiety

Anxiety is a feeling that is triggered when you have a phobia. Therefore, it is extremely important to learn to reduce its intensity when it is triggered. With this goal in mind, you should inform yourself about the things that trigger your phobia, since a phobia is often provoked by erroneous beliefs. By denying these beliefs, the phobia often goes away. It will be helpful to have skills that will help you deal with the situation you fear.

Let’s look at an example. If you are afraid of dogs, you will be convinced that all dogs are dangerous. But if you read a little about it, you will find that it is not true. You can also benefit from researching how you yourself should behave around dogs to control their behavior in different situations. This is how you will have more mental tools available when you are exposed to “scary” situations that help you overcome a phobia. These tools give you security and reduce your anxiety levels. So now the threat will seem less worrying.

In addition to finding realistic information about your phobic stimulus and learning how to deal with it, it is important to work on a set of mental tools. This will be great for learning how to relax. There are many techniques you can use to achieve this. The most important thing is to find the one that works best for you, depending on what stimulus it is and your personal character traits.

The next step: Expose yourself to it to overcome a phobia

When you are exposed to the topic around your phobia, it is possible that it will trigger your anxiety. You feel your heart beating at full blast. Your breathing is getting faster and faster. You block off in front of others and your full attention is on the stimulus that triggers your phobia. The only thing you want to do is run far away to avoid it, right? And that’s exactly what you’re doing. Then your anxiety goes away… Until the object of your phobia comes back again and your anxiety responds exactly as before. In this way , this pattern of behavior is repeated and strengthened.

It is clear that this strategy based on evasion is effective in the short term but not in the long term. So what can you do? You can stop running away. It sounds difficult, but that is why the first step is to learn how to relax and control your anxiety. That way, you can deal with the negative emotion that is triggered when you see your phobia.

One step at a time

To achieve this, it is necessary that you begin to expose yourself to your phobia a little at a time. This means that you can, for example, make a list of the situations associated with your phobia and organize them from highest to lowest in relation to the amount of anxiety they generate. Once you have done this, you will need to put yourself in these situations one by one, without running away.

Start with the one that generates the least anxiety for you. When you notice anxiety coming, set your mental tools in motion to deal with it. For example, you can relax, dissociate yourself from the stimulus and thereby stop the cycle of negative thoughts, among others, instead of avoiding the phobia. Once you have figured out how to overcome a phobia, then you are ready for the next situation. This is how you will find that you slowly build up the ability to stay calm in situations that once triggered a high degree of anxiety.

Finally… Reward yourself!

Whenever you want to make an action a habit, you should reinforce it by performing it regularly. To do this, it is important to reward yourself after each time you are exposed to your phobia and you have managed to remain calm and deal with your anxiety without running away. You have just managed to overcome a phobia by having an unpleasant experience… You deserve it!

This is how you want to increase your self-control over the first situation. Not only that. After exposing yourself to the phobia for the first time, you will find that the negative consequences are not that bad at all. You imagined them guaranteed worse. Or maybe there was none at all. This in itself is a good confirmation and motivating factor for dealing with the next, more difficult situation. Once you have overcome the first worries, the next ones will not seem as bad.

Overcoming a phobia is easy if you know how to do it. You must have the right techniques in use. So if you feel that this problem is really affecting your life, it is also important to seek psychological help. A psychologist who will guide you through this process. Then you can control your own life again… What are you waiting for?