Most of us know, instinctually, how difficult it can be to live with a mental health disorder like anxiety. It is a frequent, difficult challenge that impacts your work, relationships, sleep, and so much more.
But sometimes, we take some types of anxiety more seriously than others. For example, while we may seek a therapist for issues like panic attacks, we often do not seek therapy for other forms of anxiety – especially phobias.
Phobias are significant, extreme, irrational fears of objects, beings, or situations that statistically should not lead to fear. For example, one of the most common phobias is “arachnophobia,” or a fear of spiders, which causes extreme emotional distress when a person sees a spider. The item that causes fear can be anything, although some phobias are more common than others.
Depending on the phobia, not only are they typically untreated: many people almost discuss them like they’re humorous. They address phobias as though they’re something funny about themselves (or others), and do not typically seek out treatment. But there are many, many reasons to consider treating phobias, no matter what the fear may be.
Why Treat Phobias
Note: For reference, we will refer to the object, animal, or situation that causes a phobia as a “Stimulus” – as in, a thing that stimulates a response. The plural of stimulus is “stimuli.”
Some of the stimuli that cause a response in people may be experienced fairly often. For example, if you’re afraid of heights, but work as a contractor, you may find yourself in high places fairly often. But, most of the time, we don’t encounter the stimulus that often. Many people are afraid of snakes, for example, and may only encounter a snake once a year or less. If you encounter your phobias so infrequently, do they really matter?
The answer is “yes.” In fact, depending on the phobia, it can matter a great deal. Consider the following:
- Severity – One characteristic of phobias is how severe they are when they occur. For those with a phobia, often the mere thought of the stimulus can invoke fear. If you actually encounter the phobia, the result can be so severe for people that they are immensely stressed for hours, sometimes even days. That severity is not only upsetting in the moment, but it can also cause changes to a person’s body chemistry, potentially leading to further anxiety.
- Potential to Get Worse – It would take a long time to explain operant conditioning, so we’ll save it for another article. But one thing to understand about phobias is that, the longer you experience them, the worse they tend to get. This is because one quirk about the brain is that when you successfully avoid something that causes anxiety, you end up reinforcing the anxiety. It’s one of the many unique things about being human, and something to consider when you’re deciding whether or not to treat a phobia.
- Changes to Life – We might think that we don’t change our lives much due to phobias. But the truth is that we often do, even if we don’t realize it. People afraid of snakes, for example, may simply not go outside as often. They may not even be able to vocalize why. But a part of them feels uncomfortable outdoors, and so they avoid it. People afraid of planes may avoid travel. People afraid of public speaking may avoid higher paying or better jobs if they think it’ll be a part of it. We don’t always know how phobias affect us, but we typically do know that they do.
Lastly, one reason to treat phobias is because you simply should not have to deal with phobias. Everyone deserves to live your best life. Phobias may not always feel like a priority, but anything that causes that level of fear is something that deserves to be treated, because you should not have to experience severe anxiety no matter how frequently it occurs.
Getting Treatment for Phobias
So yes, phobias may not always be something you experience often. But it is something you deserve to get treated. Everyone does. We all should be allowed and able to live our best life, and that means addressing any mental health issue that we may experience, no matter what it may be. There are many therapy options for phobias, and if you have one, consider reaching out to address it.