Therapy for Phobias
Perhaps you’ve started to notice a pattern…there is a specific thing that you are avoiding that is really started to get in the way of living the life you want to live. And you know it’s getting in the way, but the fear is too overwhelming and debilitating to choose differently. Maybe you’ve been avoiding it for a really long time…and that amount of time feels embarrassing to admit to someone else. So you systematically change the topic, distract yourself, and make a justification to yourself if that thing comes up so you can continue avoiding it. Because what else are you supposed to do?
If the above paragraph resonated with you, you might be dealing with a phobia. People experience phobias when there are specific situations or things that trigger intense anxiety and panic. Phobias can emerge after a really intense or negative experience, from social modeling learning (seeing how others react to the thing causing the phobia), or without specific negative experiences and influences.
Phobias can disrupt your life by preventing you from doing something you genuinely want to do — such as traveling, spending time building relationships, going outside/to specific places or even interacting with animals. They can also prevent you from doing things that you need to do, such as attending medical and dental appointments or leaving your house. They can be really specific and individual, or focused on more general situations.
When Fear Starts Limiting Your Life
Some phobias that I often work with in my practice include:
Driving phobia
Flying phobia
Medical phobias: needles, blood, medical procedures
Social phobia
Animals or insects
Body sensations/experiences: throwing up, choking, vertigo
And many others.
There are many types of phobias I work with, and this is not an exhaustive list. A specific phobia involves having a strong and lasting fear of something that is disproportionate to the amount of danger that thing actually risks. While that can feel frustrating to hear, rebalancing how your brain looks at risk around the focus of your phobia is where I come in to help.
Kinds of Phobias
In therapy, we work together to understand your specific fear response and how it shows up in your body, thoughts, and behavior. We focus first on building understanding of your experience, then work together on a game-plan to face the fear head on without overwhelming you, and work to build your confidence step-by-step.
Therapy for phobias and anxiety can help you:
Better understand your fear and nervous system reactions
Learn new ways to approach anxiety-provoking situations
Build confidence in navigating fear without avoidance
Develop practical tools to cope with anxiety and panic
Reconnect with parts of life that fear has been limiting
The goal isn’t to eliminate fear entirely— that’s pretty impossible and not really useful, since fear is a protective experience to have in situations that really are dangerous. Our goal is to help you feel more in control, more capable, and more free to move through the world in ways that align with what you value most and with the life that you’d like to live.
How Therapy for Phobias Can Help
Moving Away from Fear and Toward the Life You Want
If any part of this page resonated with you, I want you to know that you don’t have to continue to live like this or try to figure it out alone. Working with a trained professional that understands how debilitating, frustrating and overwhelming a phobia experience can be makes a huge difference in making the changes you’re craving.
I would love to support you in gently expanding your world again. When you’re ready, I invite you to reach out to schedule a consultation call from this page to see if I could be a good fit to help you pursue the life that you feel like you’re missing out on.
