Experiences in overcoming phobias

[worrywarrior]

Hi All

This is my first post...I have been living with anxiety for many years but there is one thing I have never fully addressed and now has come a time where I need to face it which scares me greatly! I once had a panic attack at traffic lights while driving. I then became scared of traffic lights and avoided them, then I became nervous of driving in the city, and then after moving to country it became fear of driving in any large town. I know that avoidance just makes it worse but 10 years on from my original panic attack I have recently started a job which is going to force me to drive in a city. I guess I have been ashamed and never truly admitted this fear to any of my psychologists or anyone other than my husband. It was also never really necessary to overcome it. But now I am petrified and am realising it has possibly turned into a phobia. I am seeing a psychologist again soon with whom I plan to discuss this sole issue and face it once and for all.

I was hoping to maybe gain some insights or tips from those who may have overcome their phobias or immense fears of things? I have moments of thinking 'how hard can it be?' but other times of thinking I am going to have to quit my job. But I like every other aspect of my job so really don't want to go down this path, just because of an irrational fear! I would love any words of wisdoms or even stories to inspire me and realise it is possible to move forward from this...

Thanks everyone 🙂

[geoff]

Hello Worrywarrior, phobias are caused by anxiety and there are a few ways for you to talk with your psychologist about:

-Desensitisation which in laymen terms means that you slowly get used to seeing traffic lights until you can cope with stage 1, then it slowly progresses up to a point where you feel comfortable sitting in front of them.

It's a process where you teach yourself to overcome any negative thoughts you have with lights, your psychologist can show what it means or you can look it up on the net, which I don't normally like to say, however, in this case it's fine.

I have used it on a couple of phobias, it takes time and patience and you can do it by yourself it if you wish.

There are other ways but for me, this is the best.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Geoff.

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi worrywarrior,

Welcome to the forums and thanks for being here. I'm so happy that you're wanting to tackle this phobia; I know how incredibly scary it can be and it sounds like the benefits of tackling it outweigh the idea of not!

I definitely have had a few phobias that I've had to overcome too. In a sense the longer that it's been the harder it can be, so I think it's so important to be patient and be kind to yourself. Your brain has been wired in fear for so long so please know that it may take a little time to be able to feel okay.

Geoff mentioned desensitisation, which is also known as exposure therapy - my guess is this might be one of the techniques your psychologist could use since it's very helpful with phobias. It's kind of like facing your fears as a ladder, one small step at a time.

One of the other techniques that could be used is trying to challenge or accept your thoughts. The thought of having another panic attack at the traffic lights is awful, but if it were to ever happen again - it's something that you can do. Our brain is wonderfully plastic, so you can feel strong enough to drive again.

never trust your fears, they don't know your strength - athena singh

I hope this helps! Please let us know how it goes.