Phobias involve experiencing an extreme sense of fear or danger toward a specific activity, place, animal, or object. Some examples of things people can develop a phobia toward are spiders, small spaces, water, birds, driving, and needles. Phobias can interfere with an individual’s quality or enjoyment of life.
Dealing With Phobias
Physical Distress
There are a number of physical symptoms that accompany phobias including sweating, rapid heart rate, hyperventilating, and crying.
Extreme Fear
You may enter “fight or flight” mode when you encounter your phobia. Alternatively, you may find yourself feeling paralyzed with fear, or being unable to act.
Avoidance
You may think that the feared object or situation will harm you in some way. For example, if you go on a plane it will crash and you will die. As a result, you may plan your life around the feared object or situation to avoid it.
Symptoms of Phobias
Everyone experiences phobias differently. These symptoms are only some of what you may experience. The presence or absence of these symptoms alone if not enough to confirm or deny that you have a phobia.
Emotional Symptoms
Excessive, unreasonable fear
Fear is disproportionate to the actual danger of the situation
Experiencing immediate fear when encountering the object or situation
Behavioural Symptoms
Avoiding the feared object or situation
Multiple areas of the individuals life are negatively impacted by fear (work, school, leisure, interpersonal relationships)
Treatment for Phobias
There are a variety of different ways to treat phobias. The type and severity of your phobia can help determine the best treatment method for you. Below are some of the more common treatment methods:
Exposure Therapy
Exposure therapy involves providing the client with coping skills and gradually exposing the client to the feared object or situation in incremental steps in order to reduce the anxiety they feel when they encounter the feared object or situation.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Cognitive behavioural therapy teaches clients to recognize how their thoughts impact their feelings and behaviours and to help them evaluate their thoughts to ensure they are in line with the facts of a situation.
Therapists Who Can Help
Check out our experienced team of therapists specializing in phobias find the perfect fit for you.
Psychology Today
Read more about specific phobias and treatment methods on Psychology Today. Learn about the symptoms and potential causes for different phobias.
Managing Phobias
Learn how to work through and deal with phobias on your own with a self-help worksheet from Anxiety Canada.
Facing Fears Activity
Use this worksheet when doing exposure therapy to catalogue your feelings and track progress with overcoming your fears.
