Well if you have never had an intense fear of something or you have a phobia like a fear of heights,public speaking,snakes or bugs,avoiding these things will often be enough to keep them from being a major factor in your everyday life.Since the average person will rearly speak in front of large groups or confront a snake.

However!What if the phobia you have is something more severe and life altering?

If for example you have a fear of flying you will have a very dificult time if your job involves a lot of travelling or you just want to go on vacation.Some other phobias that are not so easy to live with are ones such as social phobias and Agoraphobia.These types of phobias can be especially dificult to overcome because of the fact that they ussually develop over a long period of time and are deeply embedded by the time they cause major problems in the person life..

People suffering from social and Agoraphobia tend to isolate themselves from others,and avoid situations that make them uncomfortable.This type of avoidance ussually adds to a compounding of the fear.In many cases these people will become house bound and fully dependent on their friends and family to do the tasks that make them anxious.

Phobias are treatable.Not so much with medication but with a treatment called Exposure therapy(a form of cognitive behavioral therapy).This invovles the person facing there fearful situation instead of running from it.It can be extremely uncomfortable at first and can also take a relatively long period of time to see noticable improvement.However with practice and given some time this type of therapy is highly sucessfully,if done properly,but does requires a lot of effort and motivation on the part of the patient..

Exposure Therapy can be done by the patient alone but it is normally supervised by a therapist at first who can guild the person through any rough patches and lend support when needed.Relaxation techniques,deep breating exercises and a support group may also be a big part of the person therapy as well.

An example of a typical situation where exposure therapy might be used is if someone has a lot of anxiety about standing in line at the supermarket.(due to panic attacks).The therapist will accompany the patient to the store and stand in the checkout line with them until the person feels the anxiety build to the point where they can no longer handle the situation or until the anxiety disapates.

The therapist will then take the patient back repeatedly and expose them to the situation that makes them anxious.Until they are able to stand in the checkout line (or whatever the case may be) with little or no anxiety.For this kind of therapy to work correctly and since the therapist cannot be with the patient 24 hours a day.They will of course be incouraged to expose themselves to their specific anxiety inducing situations on a daily basis or atleast as much as possible..

My name is Gerald Hunt from Nova Scotia Canada I have been interested in writing about mental illnesses including Anxiety and Panic attack since I began to realize how many people are suffering from them and not getting the help and treatments that they desperately need.It is my goal to help or maybe even inspire others living with there own challenges to do what ever is necessary to overcome them.

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