Has anyone ever conquered their phobia?

[Maija]

:sad:

I have a phobia, my sister and my mom and I all share this irrational phobia.
We are normal people asides from this I swear. I mean, yah I have things that I am scared of spiders, scary movies, but this is completely different.

I have Trypophobia or a "fear of clusters." I get upset, angry and panicked when I see something that fits into this description, it's a visual phobia.

If you type in Trypophobia and look in images you'll see what I mean.

My biggest worry right now is that someone would be very cruel and post a picture or image in this post..please don't.

I have thought of immersion therapy but I can't even look at images without looking away and immediately thinking of a mantra or something to repeat or envision immediately to self soothe.

The feeling I get reminds me of disease, feeling dirty, it's a feeling of disgust. My scalp itches, I get nervous..it's awful.

Thank God mostly only my family knows and husband as you get good at disguising these things.

So, back to my initial question really, is there any other way, asides from immersion therapy to cure a phobia? Come on, IMMERSION - I'd go crazy first...

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Hmmm...
You won't want to hear this. I had what could loosely be called a phobia in relation to heights. It would have been on the lower end, since I could still function, but I felt sick, dizzy, etc.

Took a while, but I basically forced myself to confront it over and over. Kinda like informal immersion therapy, but a bit more protracted.

Worked too. I wouldn't say I like heights, but I'm about average, now, maybe even slightly better than average in how I handle them.

Also trained my brain to confront what I was scared about directly, since the whole thing about a phobia is it's an irrational fear. Rationalising helped, at least for me. Again, though, it was a slow process. Gradual improvement over years.

 

[Galen.Iksnudnard]

I used to have a mild phobia of flying. It wasn't as bad as many people have it, where they simply have a panic attack as soon as they step onto a plane, but it was enough that during my college years even though I lived on the opposite coasts of the country, I would either take a Greyhound bus or Amtrak train from LA to NY and back. Actually the train wasn't so bad because you get to see a lot of the country and some great scenery, but that's a story for another day.

Anyhow, when I was job-hunting the companies would sometimes fly me in for an interview, so I had no choice to fly. Eventually I realized it wasn't so bad an got over it.

 

[Maija]

All such good advice, while we tend to think that we are so alone in our phobia, we are not and this is a good reminder.

I've dealt with other mental health issues, eating disorder, anxiety, but nothing is worse than this. Having a phobia is by far the most isolating feature to my personality, granted due to the specific nature of my phobia, I do not often encounter it, thank God when it does I've had to have doctors hide posters on their wall for appointments or remove things from sight in order to stay in the room and focus.

You give me hope. This year I hope to tackle this.

 

[StarryNightshade]

Well, I have symptoms of autism and I have had bad anxiety when I get upset or when I'm in a large crowd.

I wouldn't call them "phobias" per se, and I try not to let them control my life, but when they happen, they happen.

 

[Gentoo]

I don't know if it's a full on phobia, but I have an intense fear of dogs. Our neighbors had a pit bull (Never leashed, btw), I wasn't able to go outside without looking if she was out, and if she was, I probably didn't go outside unless I had to. She would come up to us, and just start barking and I would go into a full flight or fight mode. It was a pretty big stressor, but not anymore because they've moved out.

 

[Huey09]

For a long time I had an irrational fear of the dark and I confronted it by simply shutting all light in my room off at night and forcing myself to go to sleep. When I awoke in the morning and nothing was there the fear went away although I'm pretty sure everyone had a fear of the dark at some point in life(mostly as kids) for me it lasted a little longer...

 

[Maija]

Well, I have symptoms of autism and I have had bad anxiety when I get upset or when I'm in a large crowd.

I wouldn't call them "phobias" per se, and I try not to let them control my life, but when they happen, they happen.

That sounds like something you encounter WAY more than my weird textural phobia.


Have you ever sought help? I never thought you could have a few symptoms of autism but not have autism, has anyone ever diagnosed you?

 

[Maija]

For a long time I had an irrational fear of the dark and I confronted it by simply shutting all light in my room off at night and forcing myself to go to sleep. When I awoke in the morning and nothing was there the fear went away although I'm pretty sure everyone had a fear of the dark at some point in life(mostly as kids) for me it lasted a little longer...

I am 30 and I still sleep with a hallway light on unless my husband is in the bed or I'm with our 2 year old in her bed.

I'm a mom, not fully afraid of the dark, but I've never really had to encounter my fears too much because I've always lived with people.

Good for you, you were very brave.

I also don't sleep with my closet door open and I hate mirrors in my bedroom (at night it creeps me out!)

 

[Gjallarhorn]

I have/had a phobia of public speaking. It's getting better, and while I can speak in front of others, I suck at it and my vision goes weird.

 

[Maija]

I have/had a phobia of public speaking. It's getting better, and while I can speak in front of others, I suck at it and my vision goes weird.

It's so odd the shape phobia can take, I'm sure people read mine and cannot understand for the life of them how my phobia could be so odd, even more how both my MOM and my SISTER could have this phobia too!

it's super freakn odd..

What for one person is nothing, for another is just h*ll.

I for one rather enjoy public speaking, I find it empowering to inform. I'd rather be on stage delivering a prepared speech any day then telling a funny story or having the attention of say, 5 or 6 friends.

The public speaking, yes very public but putting yourself out there, talking to a small group of ppl, way too intimate!
lol

What about public speaking scared you?

 

[Penumbra]

I have a moderate phobia of spiders. I'm not freaked out by seeing one or anything, but if one is touching me, I will panic to get it off, and make various high pitched noises. And if there is one near me that I cannot see, I'm similarly afraid of it due to the possibility of it touching me.

I can't say I've ever gotten over it, but I try to not let it affect me. At work, since I'm small, I sometimes have to crawl into places to wire things or to analyze data problems, and there are spiders there. I take precautions to look around with a flash light, and I usually feel nauseous while I'm in there due to the spiders, but I get it done.

If I'm afraid of something, I basically just ask myself what Batman would do. -_-`

 

[Maija]

Yah, I get the spider thing. It's very different from the real phobia I have, but I'm definitely unreasonable with it. A few weeks ago there was a spider in the living room on the ceiling, I stayed up an extra 40 minutes to make sure I kept my eye on it for my husband to take care of when he came home.

LAME.

I baby sat a spider because I was afraid it would get lost in our house.

 

[illykitty]

Oh so many... I used to be very social phobic (people/social situations), agoraphobic (going out/crowds/perceived dangerous areas) and have some moderate case of bug related phobias (esp spiders and wasps or other similar bugs).

I also don't like mirrors at night, opened closets, clowns and similar stuff. Scared of being completely alone too.

I have conquered some social phobia by volunteering (not a full time job, it would have been to much at the time) and it really did help. I'm much less phobic and even had a full time job for a month (quitted for other reasons). Agoraphobia, I guess would need to go out more on my own and view that it's okay to do so. Bugs, probably be exposed to them and see they don't harm without a reason.

So I guess what is being said is to face the fears but you don't need to throw yourself into too big of a situation at once. Small steps. If you go too big, it might have the opposite effect of making you more scared.

Edit: Googled Trypophobia and the pictures are absolutely horrific. *Shudders* Hopefully I don't get nightmares.

 

[Falvlun]

Ok, just got to say this: No one should google trypophobia images. No one. They are just disturbing.

 

[nazz]

well I don't recommend it but I did temporarily overcome my fear of heights during a spiritual emergency I experienced in the 90's.

 

[Koldo]

I have Trypophobia or a "fear of clusters." I get upset, angry and panicked when I see something that fits into this description, it's a visual phobia.

Ok, just got to say this: No one should google trypophobia images. No one. They are just disturbing.

Too late. I have done that already.
It is rather disturbing...
I mean, like... very ...

I have acrophobia, or at least i think so.
And...don't laugh.... i have a... problem... *ahem*... with big moths and butterflies. It is fight or flight.

 

[Fireside_Hindu]

I have a phobia of speaking on the phone and of deep water where I can't see the bottom.

The water thing, I get - I almost drowned as a child.

The phone thing I don't get. I have been doing more exposure, and while I can now make phone calls more easily I still hate doing it. The whole idea makes me incredibly anxious. I have to "prepare" myself to make a phone call. However, it's only for people I don't know, so it's probably linked to some kind of social phobia.

The deep water thing hasn't gone away but I get very few opportunities at exposure. I hate not being able to see the bottom and I start to imagine creatures or things that might drag me down. :cover:

:camp:

 

[Penumbra]

I have a phobia of speaking on the phone and of deep water where I can't see the bottom.

The water thing, I get - I almost drowned as a child.

The phone thing I don't get. I have been doing more exposure, and while I can now make phone calls more easily I still hate doing it. The whole idea makes me incredibly anxious. I have to "prepare" myself to make a phone call. However, it's only for people I don't know, so it's probably linked to some kind of social phobia.

The deep water thing hasn't gone away but I get very few opportunities at exposure. I hate not being able to see the bottom and I start to imagine creatures or things that might drag me down. :cover:

:camp:

Speaking of that, how are your online language classes going? I recall that you had a thread on your fears of them.

 

[Zanuku]

I conquered my fear of squid and octopi.