SELF-HELP TREATMENT FOR PHOBIAS
One good treatment is desensitization. This can work for all phobias if you approach the method with determination (and remember that any associated anxiety, depression, phobias, worries or personality problems should also be treated at the same time).
The basis of desensitization is deep relaxation. To illustrate how this can overcome a phobia, think of a man who wishes to overcome his phobia about dogs.
David, as we shall call him, starts by learning how to relax completely. He then thinks about the extent of his phobia. Obviously, if the very thought of a dog produces anxiety, he must do this while he is completely relaxed. Each time any tension begins to develop, he needs to stop and relax again before he continues his analysis.
First of all, David works out whether he has one or more basic fears about dogs; for example, does he fear that the dog may be carrying fleas or disease, or is the phobia simply related to a fear of being bitten?
David’s next step is to establish a list of situations which provoke his anxiety. For example, he realizes that a picture of a dog produces much less anxiety than the sound of a dog barking, and that small dogs produce less anxiety than large ones. Thinking about it, while he is relaxed, allows him to establish a list or hierarchy of anxiety-producing situations:
1. looking at a picture of puppies
2. touching the same picture
3. looking at a picture of a small dog
4. listening to dogs barking late at night
5. watching dogs on television
6. looking at puppies in a pet shop
7. touching a child’s stuffed toy dog
8. walking along a street and seeing a dog some distance away
9. walking past a fully-grown dog on the other side of the road
10. being touched unexpectedly by a fully-grown dog
11. touching or stroking a puppy
12. touching a medium-sized dog
13. touching a fully-grown large dog such as an Alsatian
Compiling this kind of list is the basis of all desensitization treatment of phobia, so it’s worth taking the time and trouble to do it thoroughly. If thinking about the object of your phobia makes you feel anxious, stop and relax.
Also, identify your basic fears carefully. For example, if you find that you have more than one basic fear, you will need to establish two (or more) hierarchies. You can deal with the less disturbing one first. You may find it helpful to set a target date by which you are determined to be able to carry out a particular objective.
After you have made these preparations, you are ready to move on to the desensitization treatment itself. There are two ways of doing this: in imagination and in life.
DESENSITIZATION IN IMAGINATION
To use this technique, you relax completely and visualize yourself successively in each of the anxiety-producing situations on your hierarchy, starting with the least anxiety-making and progressing upwards. The objective is to create a detailed, complete and vivid image of each situation as though you were actually taking part in it – but to do this while your body and mind are as relaxed as possible.
You should spend sufficient time on each level of the hierarchy to be sure that you can remain relaxed while you mentally visualize the scene: and, if any anxiety does develop, consciously relax your mind and body to relieve it. When you are satisfied with your achievement at each level, you can move on to the next one in the hierarchy.
If you can consistently relax at one level of the hierarchy, but not at the next, you are probably trying to take too large a step at one go. You can solve this problem by inserting another stage into your hierarchy.
The longer you spend on the procedure, the more effective it will be. Sometimes you can achieve better results if you practice mental imagery before you start the desensitization itself. You can do this by relaxing deeply, closing your eyes and imagining brightly coloured shapes and objects.
Desensitization in imagination is very effective, but it may not remove all your phobic anxiety. You may feel satisfied if you reduce your anxiety to some degree. Or you may wish to complete the process by moving on to desensitization for real, in life!
Shadow work for treatment of phobias & anxiety
You can also work on overcoming your phobia by treatments such as shadow work, which is a powerful practice that involves exploring the unconscious parts of your mind. Shadow work can be an invaluable tool in self-help treatment for phobia, as you can read below…
You May Discover the Root Cause of Your Phobia
Phobias often stem from past experiences, fears, or unresolved emotional traumas, which may not always be immediately obvious. Shadow work can help you delve deeper into your subconscious mind, helping to uncover the hidden fears, memories, or emotional wounds that might be the underlying cause of your phobia. By bringing these issues to light, you can begin to heal them.
Facing and Integrating Fear
Shadow work is about facing uncomfortable emotions and experiences. If you have a phobia, it allows you to confront the fear in a safe, controlled manner. By acknowledging and integrating the emotions tied to the phobia, rather than avoiding them, you can reduce the intensity of your fear as time goes by. me.
Releasing Limiting Beliefs
Phobias are often reinforced by limiting beliefs—thoughts like “I can’t handle this” or “This will hurt me.” Through shadow work, you can identify these limiting beliefs and challenge them. By doing so, you can replace them with healthier, more empowering thoughts, which can lessen the grip of your phobia.
Healing Emotional Triggers
A phobia can sometimes be triggered by certain situations, sensations, or even thoughts. Shadow work helps you identify these triggers and the emotional responses that come with them. By understanding why these triggers provoke such strong reactions, you can start to release the emotional charge tied to them.
Building Emotional Resilience
As you confront and process the shadow aspects of your psyche, you will become more emotionally resilient. This increased resilience allows you to face fears—whether rational or irrational—with greater calmness and confidence. It creates a sense of inner safety that can be extremely helpful for you as you try to overcome your phobia. This will be especially true when you are supported by a shadow work facilitator.
Empowering Self-Awareness
The more you understand about your subconscious mind, the better equipped you are to deal with our fears. Shadow work helps you gain deeper self-awareness, which can provide valuable insights into why you feel afraid and how you can take active steps to overcome it.
Developing Compassion for Ourselves
A big part of shadow work is learning to accept and love all parts of yourself, including those aspects you may not like. By embracing the shadow, you will reduce the shame of any self-judgment that might otherwise intensify your phobia.
Shadow Work for Phobia Treatment
Work with a therapist trained in shadow work or trauma who can guide you through the process of integration and healing.
While shadow work is a potent method for healing, it’s essential to remember that overcoming a phobia is a gradual process that may require patience, persistence, and sometimes even a mix of various therapeutic approaches. But shadow work stands high in the list of effective therapies because it seeks to change both current and historical influences that have left you feeling phobic.
DESENSITIZATION in life
This is similar to the procedure above, in that you work through your hierarchy, achieving both mental and physical relaxation at each level before moving on to the next. This time, however, you are doing it for real. In other words, you will use real situations, events or objects connected with your phobia, perhaps together with models and photographs of it.
Obviously, this method increases the chance that you will feel some anxiety. But the important point is that by progressing up a hierarchy in this way, you will be able to control the extent of that anxiety, and thereby avoid the need to escape from the phobic situation.
One advantage of desensitization in life is that by looking at or touching photographs, models and objects related to the phobia, you will obtain a real proof of your ability to remain calm and relaxed at each level of your hierarchy.
OTHER EXAMPLES OF DESENSITIZATION
You might treat a phobia about elevators by first visualizing yourself inside one, travelling up and down, and then doing so in reality. You might watch people getting in and out of a lift from successively closer points, then touch the ‘call’ button, then get inside and travel one floor up or down, then two floors, and so on. You would of course ensure that you were relaxed at each stage of this progression before moving on to the next.
A fear of the dark might be treated like this. To start with, you would need to black out a room of your home. You would then position a lamp which you could switch on and off to one side of a comfortable chair. Next, you would sit down and relax. By switching off the light for progressively longer periods of time, you should be able to accustom yourself to the dark.
Each time any anxiety began to develop, you would switch the light on and relax before sitting in the darkness again. (Also try to use your senses of touch, hearing and sight to increase your comfort with the environment which has previously frightened you.) At some point, you will want to extend your anxiety-control training to environments outside your home.