Treatment for Phobias

There are different ways to treat phobias but the 2 most commonly used techniques are

1) Medicine

SSRI's are usually prescribed for the treatment of phobias

2) Therapy

Systematic Desensitization is a technique effective to treat phobias . It involves gradual exposure of a person to anxiety causing stimulus. It occurs in a hierarchy.

I) anxiety causing stimuli are short listed

II) relaxation technique (e.g deep breathing) is taught to awork person to calm down anxiety response.

III) process begins by exposing person to least anxiety causing stimuli to highest anxiety causing stimulus.

2 Steps of systematic desensitization

1) Imaginary exposure ( person is exposed toto anxiety causing stimulus through imagination and anxiety ia reduced through relaxation technique)

2) In vivo exposure ( person is exposed the anxiety causing stimulus in real life. The process is gradual moving from clips, pictures, objects to real life)