Anxiety can take many shapes and forms. Usually, anxiety is directed at something; there is something that provokes a fear response, something that is interpreted as dangerous.
For instance, people can feel anxious in social situations, people can feel anxious because they see a spider or a snake. People can even feel anxious if they see a banana.
The good news is that effective therapy is available!!
In brief: Effective therapy for specific phobias aims to expose oneself to the feared object (e.g., spiders, snakes, rats, bananas) and curiously see what happens. It’s kinda like being a detective, gathering information Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Depending on the presenting problem, there is often a little more to it, such as evaluating safety behaviors. Regardless, willingly exposing oneself to and exploring one’s fears with curiosity is an effective and worthwhile therapeutic endeavor!
Click the link below for an interview with Professor Per Carlbring and get a glimpse of how effective therapy might look for someone who has a phobic response to bananas!
Do note that this type of therapy is NOT just applicable to phobias about bananas! See here for some reviews on the One-Session Treatment for specific phobia formalized by Lars-Göran Öst in 1989.
The post A Few Words on Specific Phobia first appeared on Jón Ingi Hlynsson.
