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Phobias Treatment

Freedom from Fear: Expert Phobia Treatment at Wholesome Psychology

Phobias Therapy in Edmonton & St. Albert

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Wholesome Psychology, Alberta, CA
Author: wholesome
Date: June 3, 2024

Fear is an intense feeling that can be overwhelming. Fear is a common and normal feeling to experience. There are many different reasons you may develop a fear of something. The threat of fear is either emotional, physical, psychological, real or imagined. A fear can turn into a phobia if it is lasting, uncontrollable, irrational, and certain, object, situation or activity. Phobias can cause you to go to great lengths to avoid the object, situation or activity that you fear.

Fear vs. Phobia

Fear is a response of the body, emotional or physical, in reaction to something that you are afraid of. Fear turns into a phobia when it begins to severely affect your life. Phobias can alter your day to day life, and make it difficult to maintain relationships in both personal and workplace settings. These are a few symptoms of phobias that can help you differentiate between fear and a phobia:

  • Obsession with the thing you fear
  • An inability to control feelings
  • Feeling like you are choking
  • Shortness of breath
  • Dizziness or lightheadedness
  • Nausea, vomiting and diarrhea
  • Hot and cold flushes
  • Sweating
  • Racing or pounding heart
  • Chest pain and tightness
  • Extreme anxiety
  • An inability to act or behave normally around the thing you fear

What is a Phobia?

There are 3 main types of phobias. Social, Agoraphobia, and Specific. The underlying core of social phobia is the fear of judgment or rejection. Social phobias can include public speaking, dating, large crowds, meeting new people, voicing your opinion, and public spaces. Agoraphobia is considered a type of anxiety disorder, and is considered to be complex. An individual with agoraphobia can be afraid to leave environments that they know are or consider safe, and may have a fear of public spaces and of places that there is no easy escape from. Specific phobias, also called simple phobias, are the most common type of phobia. These phobias are specific to a thing such as an animal, an experience, an insect, things like flying and germs, and many others.

The most common types of phobias are:

  • Fear of spiders (Arachnophobia)
  • Fear of flying (Aviophobia)
  • Fear of tight/small spaces (Claustrophobia)
  • Fear of germs (Mysophobia)
  • Fear of needles (Trypanophobia)
  • Fear of heights (Acrophobia)
  • Fear of storms (Astraphobia)
  • And many others!

Overcoming Phobias

Our therapists have expertise in many different areas to help you overcome phobias. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), has been one method to be proven effective against overcoming or facing phobias. By gradually changing the way you think, CBT is able to alter negative thoughts and behaviors, and help diminish fear. Exposure therapy is another method that our therapists use to help handle phobias. Exposure therapy is exposing you to your fear, in order to get more comfortable with it, but this is done at your own pace not to overwhelm you. Mindfulness therapy and Eye desensitization movement therapy (EMDR) are also used to help with phobias!

Where to start

If you have been wanting to overcome a phobia, reach out to Wholesome today. Your mental health and well-being are our top priority, so we offer your initial sessions at half-off so that you can ensure you find the right fit to support you on your journey. Even if you feel like we don’t quite align with what you are looking for, still contact us, as we may be able to provide alternative resources to help guide you. We want to ensure you receive the best care possible, whether that is with us or elsewhere.

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