What type of therapy is best for phobias?
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) It can be used to develop practical ways of dealing with your phobia. One part of the CBT treatment process that's often used to treat simple phobias involves gradual exposure to your fear, so you feel less anxious about it.
How effective is exposure therapy for phobias?
Exposure therapy is effective for the treatment of anxiety disorders. According to EBBP.org, about 60 to 90 percent of people have either no symptoms or mild symptoms of their original disorder after completing their exposure therapy.
How can we treat phobia?
Phobias are typically treated with therapy, medication, or a combination of both: Exposure therapy. During exposure therapy, which is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy, you work with a psychologist to learn how to desensitize yourself to the object or situation that you fear.
Is there medication for phobias?
Benzodiazepines, including Valium (diazepam), Xanax (alprazolam), Klonopin (clonazepam), and Ativan (lorazepam), are generally used for the short-term acute treatment of anxiety associated with phobias. Common side effects include: Drowsiness.
Does hypnosis work for phobias?
Research has shown that hypnosis is particularly beneficial in treating anxiety as well as the issues that people develop in response to their anxiety. These may include fears such as public speaking, flying, and test taking as well as phobias to needles, animals, or other anxiety-provoking stimuli.
Is Prolonged Exposure Therapy Effective?
PE therapy is effective in helping people overcome PTSD generally. It also helps in reducing related suicidal thinking, excessive guilt, anxiety, and depression. Studies have generally found that PE therapy produces symptom improvement in 80% to 90% of people who do it.
How can CBT treat phobias?
Cognitive behavioral treatment for phobias involves un-pairing the anxiety response from the feared situation. CBT is able to do this partly by identifying problematic or irrational thinking patterns, and helping people take on new, more adaptive ways of thinking about challenging situations.
How do you treat phobias naturally?
Below are some techniques to try out, so you can overcome your phobia once and for all.Try To Desensitize Yourself. Mattia/Photodisc/Getty Images. ... Give Biofeedback A Try. ... Go For The Flooding Technique. ... Get Help From The Partnership Method. ... Attend A Support Group. ... Try Some Medication. ... Self-Exposure Therapy. ... Read Up On The Topic.More items...•
What is CBT therapy?
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy that can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave. It's most commonly used to treat anxiety and depression, but can be useful for other mental and physical health problems.
Which therapy seems to be the most effective treatment for schizophrenia?
A Combination is the Best Treatment for Schizophrenia A combination of approaches, including medications, psychotherapy, social support and family education, vocational and housing support, treatment for co-occurring issues, and sometimes electroconvulsive therapy, is most effective for most patients.
What is the best medication for phobias?
Beta blockers, including Tenormin (atenolol) and Inderal LA (propranolol), are sometimes prescribed as a short-term treatment to help control trembling, sweating, and other physical symptoms of phobia-related anxiety. While medication is helpful for some, others find the benefits aren't worth the side effects.
How can a phobia be cured?
This model favors psychotherapy as a preferred treatment. Many people who live with phobias are best treated with a combination of medication and psychotherapy.
What is the medical model of phobias?
The medical model places emphasis on the genetic and brain chemistry components of phobias. Medications are prescribed to reduce the symptoms associated with phobias. Studies show that in phobias, cognitive behavioral approaches tend to be more effective long-term than medication approaches.
What causes phobias in 2020?
The latest studies show that there is likely a complex interaction of factors including genetics, brain chemistry, environmental triggers, and learned behavior.
What is exposure therapy?
Exposure therapy is often part of a cognitive behavioral treatment program, but can also be incorporated into your daily life.
Can you get help for a phobia?
Getting help for your phobia may feel uncomfortable and anxiety-provoking—but you can take comfort in the fact that you are taking the best first step to alleviate your anxiety, manage your phobia, and start enjoying your life.
Is phobia a first line treatment?
Increasingly, mental health professionals and patients are turning to alternative treatments to augment traditional means of treating phobias, but these options are not considered first-line treatments and often come with their own set of side effects.
What is the first line of treatment for phobias?
The first-line treatment for specific phobia is exposure therapy . Prescription medications are not considered to be effective as the only treatment. But antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, and beta blockers might be used in addition to therapy or to treat comorbid conditions.
What is the best medication for anxiety?
Anti-anxiety medication can help rapidly reduce the symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks. The most common of these are called benzodiazepines, which are a type of sedative. These include Klonopin (clonazepam), Valium (diazepam), and Ativan (lorazepam) .
What is the best herbal medicine for anxiety?
The most widely studied herbal medication in relation to anxiety disorders is a compound called kava. This comes from the kava kava plant, which is a member of the pepper family.
What is the most common antidepressant?
Antidepressants are used to treat depression, but they can also be helpful for treating anxiety disorders. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) are the most common antidepressants used as first-line treatments for anxiety.
Can you avoid phobias?
While avoidance can be useful for some with specific phobia, it can be damaging if it involves changing your life dramatically. Seeking treatment from a medical professional may help you live a healthier and less restrictive life.
Can medications be used for phobias?
As mentioned above, it is believed that medications by themselves are of limited use in the treatment of specific phobias. But there have been investigations into whether some medications might be effective at enhancing therapy treatment of specific phobias when taken alongside, before, or after exposure therapy.
What is CBT treatment?
CBT comprises the overwhelming evidence of empirically supported treatments for a wide variety of problems including depression, eating disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (American Psychological Association (APA) Task Force on the Promotion and Dissemination of Psychological Procedures, 1993; Chambless & Hollon, 1998).
Is CBT good for anxiety?
CBT is also an enduring treatment for anxiety disorders including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), generalized anxiety disorder ( GAD), and for specific phobias (Hofmann & Smits, 2008). Studies have shown that for patients with anxiety disorders, including specific phobia, exposure-based CBT can significantly reduce the fear associated with ...
Why are phobias maintained?
From a behavioral perspective, specific phobias are maintained because of avoidance of the phobic stimuli so that the individual does not have the opportunity to learn ...
How long does a spider phobia treatment last?
The treatment usually last a number of hours, and can be administered in one very long session (e.g., one 3-hour session for spider phobia) or across multiple sessions (e.g., three to eight 1-1.5-hour-long sessions). A range of specific phobias respond well to in vivo treatment, although treatment acceptance and dropout can be a problem.
Is systematic desensitization better than in vivo?
Treatment using systematic desensitization tends to take longer than in vivo exposure , and appears to be more effective at changing subjective anxiety than at reducing avoidance. Thus, it is not recommended as the first line of treatment if a client is willing to try in vivo or an alternate form of exposure therapy.
Does cognitive therapy help with flying phobia?
Evidence regarding the utility of cognitive therapy for flying phobia is mixed, and it is not clear that adding cognitive therapy to exposure therapy for other phobia types improves outcomes.
Can a phobia be treated in vivo?
This therapy appears to be useful for phobias that may be difficult to treat in vivo; namely, flying phobias (where repeated plane flights are impractical) and height phobias, but more studies are needed to demonstrate its efficacy for a broader range of phobia subtypes.
Therapies
Prescription Medications
Adjunctive Treatment
- Many phobia sufferers are best treated with a combination of medication and therapy. Most psychiatrists do not perform the types of therapy best suited to phobia treatment. Therefore, psychiatrists and therapists often form referral networks to help clients meet both needs. Mental health centers often have a range of mental health specialists on st...
Alternative Treatments
- Cognitive behavioral therapy will usually be recommended as the first-line treatment. Specifically, exposure-based CBT is an effective treatment for anxiety disorders such as specific phobia.
Summary
- No medications are currently approved for the treatment of specific phobias by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).5 It is generally thought that medications by themselves are of limited use in the treatment of specific phobias. However, they may be considered in certain situations, such as if the patient is resistant to exposure-based therapy or if that kind of therapy is not available.6 S…
A Word from Verywell
- As mentioned above, it is believed that medications by themselves are of limited use in the treatment of specific phobias. But there have been investigations into whether some medications might be effective at enhancing therapy treatment of specific phobias when taken alongside, before, or after exposure therapy.