Specific Phobia Help

[Baam]

Hi, I'm a 17 year old student (girl), going into year 12 next year.

I'm not really sure where to start, so I'm just going to start rambling. While not officially diagnosed, I'm fairly sure I have a Specific Phobia (arachnophobia), as I have all the symptoms. It is limiting me. I am too afraid to go outside at night, my family are complaining that I never use the telescope they bought me, and don't really believe me when I tell them why. I really wish I could, but...

 Whenever I enter a room I have to check everywhere for any spiders, and if I see one I can not enter, no matter the size or distance (not so bad if it's a giant room, though). I have panic attacks when I get into a situation where I can't escape (lol when they're in between me and the door). It's ridiculous, I don't know why I'm afraid of them, I just am. I really, really wish I weren't. I feel faint whenever I come near a spider, and it gets worse if I can't get out the situation until I fall into a panic attack. I'm terrified it's going to happen at school - it nearly did once but I got away haha.

The thing is, I've heard of the treatment things that work (the CBT thing), but I can't really trust anyone enough to ask. Whenever I've told anyone (best friends or whatever), all that results is them making fun of me for a few weeks until they get bored (pretending there's spiders on me or whatever). I feel like arachnophobia is just something no one believes is actually real. My family would never believe that it's actually serious, even mum who witnessed one of my panic attacks I think thinks I am exaggerating this.

So how do I get rid of this stupid anxiety disorder thing, if I can't even trust anyone to take me seriously?

P.S. anyone else with arachnophobia experienced being in the middle of a shower and a spider 'attacking'? xD!

[Neil_1]

Hi Baam

I hope you're still about on the network here and lurking - and oh, I would also like to welcome you to Beyond Blue.  Your post you've provided is an interesting one and is also a very genuine concern and a very real disorder.

What saddens me is to hear that your parents are not supportive of this - as this fear is a very common fear for people.  The young, the middle aged and even the old (ok, I made up the part about the elderly, I don't know that), but definitely the young and the middle aged, as my partner is not overly keen on them either.  Nor is my son, who is 16yo.  And I can understand his concern for them - nothing traumatic ever happened to him for him to be this way (which I believe is the same for you), but it's just something in the mind that makes you extremely scared and uncomfortable with them.

I would also strongly suggest that you steer clear of any movies with them in it.  Producers tend to get highly carried away with things like this and further from the truth, you could not get.

But yes, there would be support out there for you - it's just a matter of being able to obtain it.  I think my first suggestion for this would be to see if you're able to get to a doctor by yourself - or to sit down with either parent and explain to them that this fear is absolutely 100% real and that it is causing you major anxiety.  Tell them that you really would like to seek out appropriate help.  And I believe if you're able to get to a GP, in the first instance, who then may be able to refer you to an appropriate counsellor who may be able to help you.

I really hope that your parent(s) support you in this - and look if they have doubts about this - send them to this site and we'll be able to let them know that this disorder is very real - either that or as you speak with them, perhaps even have already prepared a laptop (having googled the disorder) so you can then show them and they can read it for themselves.

I hope my post has helped even a little bit, and please Baam, I would like to hear from you again to see how you're going.

Neil

[geoff]

dear Baam, well any phobia does have it's nightmares and we can never forget this one bit, but incidentally Iwould like to welcome you to this site.

There are so many phobia's that many people suffer from, and they maybe caused by a previous event or it's just the thought of something bad happening, and please don't blame yourself for having this type of phobia.

There are are a few ways to overcome this fear, but I know that by trying 'desensitization' either by yourself or with a counsellors help as it has to be taken in a slow way will help you overcome this fear, so please google this word 'desensitization' so that you can understand how it actually works, but there are special counsellor's and/or psychologist's that deal this exact problem.

Please let us know what you think. Geoff.

[Baam]

Thanks for the replies.

The thing is, I'm hesitant of going to a doctor myself, because I feel as though maybe my fear isn't bad enough to qualify for help? I think I'll probably just have to learn to deal with it, because I don't think I'll ever work up the courage to go to someone myself, or talk to my parents - they don't seem to understand things like this.

[geoff]

dear Baam, I would ring either web chat or the Beyond Blue phone number above and they will be able to direct you to a doctor who specialises in phobias, they will then pass you onto a psychologist who also handles phobias, which I'm sure there are plenty to contact.

Can I suggest that if you don't go ahead with seeking help then this phobia will only multiple onto another type of phobia, and before you know it, it will then be much harder to overcome, so as they say 'grab it in the bud'. Geoff.

[Asche]

Keeping in mind that I'm only a psychology major not a psychologist (at the moment, anyway), I'd say that your phobia is definitely severe enough to warrant help. One of the DSM's main criteria for any diagnosis is that the symptoms expressed by the disorder cause "significant distress or impairment". If you can't bring yourself to go out at night, for fear of spiders, I'd say that's a pretty significant impairment. If you're having panic attacks over spiders, I'd call that significant distress. I've had only one of those, and thank god for that. I couldn't imagine having to deal with that on a regular basis.

 So suffice it to say, no professional is going to turn you away because your fear isn't "bad enough". The good news is that CBT for specific phobias (e.g. arachnophobia) is one of the most successful treatments out there. If you're lucky with your sessions, all of this could be a bad memory by the time New Year's rolls around.

[Guest_10170]

I literally just posted a very similar thing. I’m in the same boat. I’ve had severe arachnophobia since I was a child up and having panic attacks or PTSD episodes because of it, and I live in Australia a small town just south of Sydney. 

and I live in my own kind of unit. so whenever I do anything I’m double triple checking every single place a spider could be hiding. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking I’m getting bitten by spiders and so I will literally turn all of my sheets around and turn on my light and my flashlight to check and make sure I’m just being overdramatic.

girl. I’m not even sure what to do but I wanted you to know that you’re not alone and I’m in the same boat