Have you ever wondered about the different treatment options for phobias and irrational fears? It’s not always easy to find a way to cope with irrational fears and phobias, and this can leave you feeling worried and stressed. This doesn’t have to be the case, though, and there are several simple ways to help overcome these struggles and regain control of your life – with EMDR being one of the most effective options.
Through EMDR, it’s possible to achieve treatment of phobias and irrational fears successfully. Once you begin working with a registered therapist, you’ll begin to see several key changes, including:
- Greater confidence in yourself
- Heightened sense of self-worth and self-value
- Feel more empowered to tackle difficult situations
- Regain past passions and hobbies lost to irrational fears and phobias
- Discover new friendships and bolster existing relationships through activities
Why Do Phobias and Irrational Fears Develop?
It’s nervous to feel anxious about certain experiences, but when that feeling of worry begins to get overwhelming, you may be dealing with an irrational fear or phobia instead.
Phobias, which can otherwise be referred to as irrational fears, are extreme feelings brought on by a specific trigger that most people believe to be harmless. These can vary significantly from person to person, and they can even develop in later life; as such, a person’s fears or phobias may change over time.
Some of the most common examples of phobias and irrational fears, as defined by Calm Clinic, include:
- Fear of spiders (arachnophobia)
- Fear of heights (acrophobia)
- Fear of flying (pteromerhanophobia)
- Fear of injections (trypanophobia)
These are just a few of the most common types of phobias; however, in reality, there are over five hundred different named phobias that a person might suffer from!
How Can EMDR Help as a Treatment for Phobias and Irrational Fears?
If you have been struggling and are ready to start looking at treatment options, EMDR might be just what you need. EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing and is a specialist treatment that’s designed to do more than just help you move on.
Instead, through EMDR therapy, you’ll learn to reprocess your past traumas and the experiences that may have led to the development of your phobia; this can help you move on from the pain not only in the short term but also for the longer-term perspective.
By harnessing rapid eye movements with specific instructions, your therapist can effectively allow you to re-access previously buried memories that may still be impacting your life today. This allows you to free yourself from the pain that may have been associated, effectively allowing you to heal from the mental pain inflicted by the memory.
How to Use EMDR for Phobias and Irrational Fears
Perhaps you are aware that you may have a phobia or irrational fear. If this is the case for you, EMDR may be one of the best ways to help you come out on top! This is because EMDR does more than just give you coping mechanisms; it actually gets to the core root of the problem and rectifies things.
Phobias such as a fear of flying are often based on traumatic or difficult past experiences, and leaving these unaddressed can allow an irrational fear to develop. It can also be used to help resolve other difficulties, such as social anxiety, which in turn can leave you feeling out of place in specific situations (which gives the potential for an irrational fear to develop).
By allowing your brain to reprocess the events that initially may have triggered your phobias to develop, EMDR then allows you to begin working through the memories and the resulting symptoms they can trigger. This is achieved by connecting your limbic system and prefrontal cortex while reprocessing the memories to help instil a feeling of comfort and safety, rather than having these memories bring up pain and panic. Don’t worry; your EMDR therapist will be able to help you through this process if you’re not sure how to tackle it yourself.
EMDR isn’t necessarily a two-minute process, but it’s often one of the most effective options for the treatment of phobias and irrational fears. So, if you have any questions about how EMDR might help with your fears, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me today, and I’ll do my best to help you understand whether EMDR could be the optimal therapy for your needs.
Final Thoughts
Treatment of phobias and irrational fears doesn’t have to be long-winded or stressful; when you partner with a licenced local therapist, finding relief from your symptoms can become much more achievable.
After all, phobias and irrational thoughts don’t have to control your life, and with the right approach, it’s absolutely possible to move on from these experiences. Contact me today if you’d like to find out more about how EMDR could help.