PHOBIA
Psychologist Maarkedal phobia
Are you experiencing a strong, persistent fear of an object or situation? As a psychologist in Maarkedal, I will help you with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and exposure to reduce that phobia step by step.
On this page, you'll read recognition points, treatment options and practical exercises. Make an appointment for an intake or read on.
WHAT IS A SPECIFIC PHOBIA
Everyone is afraid of something from time to time. That fear protects us by warning us of dangers. But, if that fear becomes very big, it may be a specific phobia.
With a specific phobia, you have a violent fear for a specific situation, event, object or animal. For example A fear of spiders or pricking blood. A fear of heights or the dentist. Even thinking about that which you fear causes anxious feelings.
Often you know that this fear is actually unnecessary, yet you can't get it under control.
WHAT ARE YOU FEELING?
You are extremely scared For (the thought of) a specific situation, event, object or animal.
Your avoids What you are afraid of.
When you get in touch with your fear you get palpitations, you are going to sweating and trembling - you become ddizziness or sick - you faint (especially with blood or injection phobia)
HOW DOES A SPECIFIC PHOBIA ARISE ?
As with most mental disorders, there is often no obvious specific cause to point out. A specific phobia can sometimes begin after a shocking event. Often as early as childhood.
For example, if you were attacked by a dog as a child, you may become extremely fearful of dogs. But seeing something exciting, or hearing about it, can also lead to a specific phobia.
Sometimes, as an adult, you don't remember why you became anxious about something. Sometimes the environment you grew up in plays a role. When your parents were afraid of something, you may have adopted it.
The fear causes you to avoid situations. This is called avoidance and it is an understandable reaction. After all, it provides short-term relaxation and peace of mind. But in the long run, this avoidance behavior is harmful. For it causes anxiety to persist and may even increase.
You won't get a chance to discover that not happens that you are afraid of. For example, that nothing nasty happens when a dog walks by or you see a needle.
When fear arises and persists, thoughts are important. This is because fear causes you to estimate the danger to be greater than it really is. With a dog, for example, you may think the animal will bite, while the chance of that happening is very small. You can fall into a downward spiral . As a result, anxiety persists.
Eventually, that fear can become so bad that a specific phobia develops.
Specific phobias are quite common: one in 10 people will experience them at some point.
WHEN DO YOU NEED HELP ?
Are you disproportionately afraid of spiders, pricks, certain animals, driving a car, or other situations? Are you afraid of heights or blood? You need help if fears are obstructing your normal daily activities. Like working or playing sports.
In doubt about whether you need help? Discuss it with your doctor.
HOW DOES COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY FOR PHOBIA WORK ?
Your behaviors and thoughts perpetuate anxiety. During therapy we will work actively To changing it. Also important in cognitive behavioral therapy is that you learn by experiencing things. All this happens step by step. As a therapist, I have a lot of knowledge about anxiety and cognitive behavioral therapy. You are the expert about yourself. Cbt is an active collaboration between the two of us.-
Together we do step-by-step exercises To gradually deal with the very situations you find tense. This is called exposure. Suppose you are afraid of dogs. A list is then made of situations you find exciting.
Sometimes during treatment we also look at exercises for relaxation and breathing. This gives you more control over the anxious feelings.
In addition, we will work on the way of thinking that comes with fear. Are the thoughts real? For example, how logical is it for a plane to crash? With the therapist, you examine which thoughts are incorrect. Then you will change these thoughts as necessary.
So during cognitive behavioral therapy, we actively work together on your behavior and thoughts. As a result, you break through the negative spiral of thoughts, feelings and behavior.
TIPS
TIP 1 : ESTIMATE HOW LIMITING THE PHOBIA IS ON YOUR LIFE
See how limiting it may or may not be for you and those around you, and in that way estimate whether you need help or not.
Make sure your world does not become too small. If you have f.e. fear of flying, but you never travel by plane because you are not interested in it, then perhaps there is no real need to work around it.
However, if you have needle phobia and therefore cannot get a vaccination for that long trip you wanted to take, and cannot get a tattoo, and therefore also avoid the mandatory injections at work....then you may notice the obstacles....and it makes sense to get rid of this problem in order to live more freely again.
TIP 2 : INFORM YOURSELF
By reading more about it, you learn that you are not at all alone in this, and in itself you get a bit more of a handle on what is going on.
If you then also talk about this with those around you, you may get things even better. that way, those around you may also be able to help support you in dealing with your anxiety.
TIP 3 : DO BREATHING or OTHER RELIEVING exercises.
There are lots of apps to help you calm your breathing or start meditating or to think of mindfulness.
Find the one that suits you best. Then you can fall back on that when your tension gets too high.
TIP 4 : TRY TO MAP OUT FOR YOURSELF YOUR CATASTROPHIC THOUGHTS
Ask yourself which is the worst thing that could happen in that situation. In this way, you get closer to the catastrophic thoughts that play a key role in maintaining your avoidance or flight behavior and thus the phobia.
TIP 5 : TRY TO LIST LESS BAD AND WORSE SITUATIONS
Try list lesser and worse situations. In this way you can try to help yourself to expose yourself to the least bad situation. After all, you need this to discover that your thought is wrong. This under the motto: see first and then believe.
Text inspired by the VGCT
Would you still have liked to look further together around how to address your phobia? Then feel free to contact me.