Exposure therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy are the most effective treatments. Exposure therapy focuses on changing your response to the object or situation that you fear. Gradual, repeated exposure to the source of your specific phobia and the related thoughts, feelings and sensations may help you learn to manage your anxiety.
What type of therapy is best for phobias?
Therapy. This model favors therapy as a preferred 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.
Is pharmacotherapy a first-line treatment for phobia?
As a general rule, pharmacotherapy is not first-line treatment for specific phobia. To date, no controlled studies have demonstrated the efficacy of psychopharmacologic intervention for specific phobias.
What are the treatment recommendations for anxiety disorders?
Accordingly, when an anxiety disorder is mild (ie, not associated with disability), a wait-and-see, supportive type of intervention is recommended. Treatment of phobic disorders usually consists of psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, or some combination thereof. [ 39] Pharmacotherapy recommendations differ for SAD and specific phobias.
What is the best antidepressant for phobias?
While anti-depressants are most commonly associated with the treatment of mood disorders like depression, they also have anti-anxiety effects that can potentially be helpful in phobias. SSRIs like including Celexa (citalopram), Zoloft (sertraline), Prozac (fluoxetine), and Paxil (paroxetine) are often used for anxiety disorders.
Which of the following therapies is most likely to be used for the treatment of phobias such as fear of flying?
Psychotherapy. Talking with a mental health professional can help you manage your specific phobia. Exposure therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy are the most effective treatments. Exposure therapy focuses on changing your response to the object or situation that you fear.
Which of the following approaches to therapy stresses the attitude of the therapist over the use of techniques quizlet?
Which of the following approaches to therapy stresses the attitude of the therapist over the use of techniques? The technique of intensifying experiences and integrating conflicting feelings is associated with: Gestalt therapy.
Which approaches to therapy most attempts to provide a safe climate based on unconditional positive regard that is conducive to a client's self exploration?
Which of the following approaches to therapy most attempts to provide a safe climate (based on unconditional positive regard) that is conducive to a client's self-exploration? Person-centered therapy. One contribution of Adlerian therapy has been an emphasis on: Social and psychological factors.
Which technique is considered essential in existential therapy?
no set of techniques is considered essential. In a group based on existential principles, clients do NOT learn: that pain is not a reality of the human experience.
What is CBT used for?
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.
What is existential therapy used for?
Existential therapy focuses on the anxiety that occurs when a client confronts the conflict inherent in life. The role of the therapist is to help the client focus on personal responsibility for making decisions, and the therapist may integrate some humanistic approaches and techniques.
Why is humanistic therapy effective?
The individualistic focus of humanistic therapy also helps you learn problem-solving and self-soothing skills, which can help when struggling with the stress and anxiety of daily life. Humanistic therapy can also increase self-esteem and promote an active approach in your life.
When is humanistic therapy used?
When It's Used. Humanistic therapy is used to treat depression, anxiety, panic disorders, personality disorders, schizophrenia, addiction, and relationship issues, including family relationships.
When is psychodynamic therapy used?
Psychodynamic therapy is primarily used to treat depression and other serious psychological disorders, especially in those who have lost meaning in their lives and have difficulty forming or maintaining personal relationships.
Who uses gestalt therapy?
Good candidates for gestalt therapy are those who are interested in working on their self-awareness but may or may not understand the role they play in their own unhappiness and discomfort. Gestalt techniques are often used in combination with body work, dance, art, drama, and other therapies.
Which methods are often used in reality therapy?
Reality therapy techniquesSelf-evaluation. A therapist will use self-evaluation techniques to help you recognize your present actions. ... Action planning. After self-evaluation, your therapist will guide you through action planning. ... Reframing. ... Behavioral rehearsal.
What is existential group therapy?
Existential group therapy is an attempt to synthesize what is most evocative in existential thought and what is most fruitful in the standard group therapies. Together, they offer the patient an unusual opportunity for unsparing self-examination in the presence of others and, with their help, for profound change.
What 4 attitudes are at the core of the scientific approach?
What are the four attitudes at the core of the scientific approach to psychology? The four attitudes at the core of the scientific approach are critical thinking, skepticism, objectivity, and curiosity.
What approach do psychologists use to explain behavior quizlet?
The seven contemporary perspectives include behavioral, psychoanalytic, humanistic, cognitive, evolutionary, biological, and sociocultural. In taking an eclectic position, psychologists use a combination of two or more perspectives to explain a particular behavior.
Which of the following is a technique used in psychodynamic therapy?
Free Association Free association may be the single most important and most used tool for psychodynamic therapists. This technique is simple and often effective.
What is Rogerian theory?
Rogerian therapy, created by Carl Rogers, is a therapeutic technique in which the client takes an active, autonomous role in therapy sessions. It is based on the idea that the client knows what is best, and that the therapist's role is to facilitate an environment in which the client can bring about positive change.
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 to treat phobias?
Many people who live with phobias are best treated with a combination of medication and psychotherapy.
Why do people have phobias?
Many professionals believe that the most important causes of phobias are environmental triggers and learned behaviors. They argue that a phobia is ultimately a learned response to a stimulus. By “unlearning” the response, the phobia can be cured. This model favors psychotherapy as a preferred treatment.
How to overcome phobia of public speaking?
For example, if you have a phobia of public speaking, your therapist may help you gradually face difficult public speaking scenarios to overcome your fears perhaps starting with reading a passage aloud to a friend and ending with giving a public presentation.
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.
Who is the author of the book "Group Therapy of phobic disorders by systematic desensitization"?
Lazarus, A. A. (1961). Group therapy of phobic disorders by systematic desensitization. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63, 504-510.
What is the best treatment for claustrophobia?
Advances in therapies for specific phobias are promising, including the use of computer-assisted therapy, and the use of interoceptive exposure therapy (exposure to anxiety-relevant bodily sensations, such as dizziness and shortness of breath) for claustrophobia. Key references for each of these treatment approaches are noted below, though there is not yet sufficient research evidence to list these approaches as well-established.
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.
How does exposure therapy work?
Avoidance can occur either by not entering a situation at all or by entering the situation but not experiencing it fully (e.g., because of consuming alcohol before taking a flight for a person with flying phobia). Exposure therapies are thus designed to encourage the individual to enter feared situations ( either in reality or through imaginal exercises) and to try to remain in those situations. The selection of situations to try typically follows an individually-tailored fear hierarchy that starts with situations that are only mildly anxiety-provoking and builds up to the most feared encounters, though in some forms of exposure therapy (e.g., implosion therapy), the individual starts out being exposed to a very anxiety-provoking stimulus rather than building up to that point more gradually.
How to reduce fear response?
Systematic desensitization involves exposing phobic individuals to fear-evoking images and thoughts (i.e., imaginal exposure) or to actual phobic stimuli, while pairing the exposure with relaxation (or another response that is incompatible with fear) to decrease the normal fear response. 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.
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.
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 treatment for phobias?
The main approach to treating specific phobia is a type of therapy called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Medications are not a common treatment option, but in some circumstances they may form part of a treatment plan. 2
What is a specific phobia?
Specific phobia is an intense fear of, or anxiety about, specific types of objects or situations, such as flying or spiders. Phobias and phobia-related disorders are types of anxiety disorders. Other types of phobia-related anxiety disorders include social anxiety disorder, agoraphobia, and separation anxiety disorder. 1
How many people with phobias will eventually get treatment?
It is estimated that only about one in 10 people with specific phobias will eventually receive treatment. This is possibly because many cope by avoiding the object or situation their phobia is related to. Treatment is more likely in these situations: 2
What is the best treatment for anxiety?
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.
How does exposure therapy help with anxiety?
Exposure therapy aims to reduce fear and decrease avoidance . This happens through learning that fear, anxiety, and avoidance do not help in reducing anxiety. You also come to recognize that the outcomes you feared were inaccurate. 3
What are the drawbacks of exposure therapy?
One is that it requires the patient to be open to being put into a very stressful situation. It has been estimated that between 13% and 27% of patients will stop attending exposure therapy. 3
What is the treatment for phobic disorder?
Treatment of phobic disorders usually consists of psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, or some combination thereof. [ 39]
What is the best treatment for phobias?
Psychotherapy. Controlled studies have found behavioral therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to be effective in treating phobic disorders. [ 52] . Computerized CBT (FearFighter) has been recommended for panic and phobia by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines (NICE).
How long does it take for a benzodiazepine to work?
If the patient has frequent panic attacks and no history of substance abuse, a benzodiazepine may be considered until the SSRI takes effect. If the response is minimal or nonexistent after 6 weeks, the SSRI dosage may be further increased every 2 weeks until a response is achieved or the maximal dosage reached.
How often should I take SSRI for social anxiety?
Treatment of social anxiety disorder should be initiated with an SSRI, titrated to the minimum effective dosage. If the response is partial or nonexistent at 6 weeks, the dosage may be increased; this may be done every 2 weeks until the maximum dose is reached.
What to do if you have no experience in behavioral therapy?
Physicians without expertise in conducting behavioral therapy may want to consult with a psychiatric center specializing in treatment of anxiety disorders, either for guidance on developing a treatment plan or, in more difficult cases, for referral.
What drugs have unproven efficacy?
Agents with unproven efficacy in this setting include buspirone, propranolol, antihistaminic drugs, and antipsychotic agents. [ 38]
When is outpatient follow up required?
Outpatient follow-up is usually required until the patient’s symptoms have resolved. After the resolution of the symptoms, the physician can attempt to taper pharmacotherapy, as well as monitor for relapse.
What is the best therapy for phobias?
Many therapeutic approaches to phobia treatment involve slowly exposing a person to the thing they fear and addressing underlying beliefs that may be contributing to the phobia. Exposure therapy , also known as systematic desensitization, has been shown to be an effective phobia treatment method.
How to slow down a phobia?
Learn about your phobia. Sometimes, education about the object of a phobia may help slow down the fear response associated with it.
What is EMDR therapy?
EMDR therapy for a phobia might involve desensitizing memories that involve the phobia, visualizing a scenario in which the phobia is overcome while using eye movements to calm fear responses, and finally, real-life exposure to the object of the phobia.
How to deal with a phobia?
It it often the case that the object of a phobia might present itself without warning. In these instances, there may not be time for a person to seek professional help, and it may be necessary for them to use relaxation techniques in order to cope and avoid escalating their fear response. Coping strategies people may use when forced to expose themselves to a phobia include: 1 Focusing on or slowing down breathing. 2 Learn about your phobia. Sometimes, education about the object of a phobia may help slow down the fear response associated with it. 3 Progressive muscle relaxation. Practice tensing up and relaxing different muscle groups, focusing all attention on that activity.
How to overcome a phobia?
Hypnotherapy may help some manage and overcome a phobia. Most often led by a therapist, hypnotherapy involves taking the person with a phobia through the process of guided visualization. They may imagine they are encountering the object of their phobia and then practice self-soothing techniques. Eye movement and desensitization ...
What is Claudia's phobia of hot water?
Addressing phobia of hot water in therapy: Claudia, 23, enters therapy, reporting an extreme fear of being burned by hot water. Her phobia is such that she experiences extreme anxiety when showering, doing dishes, or washing her hands because she worries the water will suddenly become hotter and burn her.
What is content vs phobia?
Contents v. Phobias. Treatment for Phobias. Types of Phobias. A phobia is a fear related to certain objects or situations. When a phobia is so severe that it interferes with a person’s ability to function, a therapist or other mental health professional may be able to help them address and explore ways to overcome fear, anxiety, ...
Diagnosis
- Diagnosis of specific phobias is based on a thorough clinical interview and diagnostic guidelines. Your doctor will ask questions about your symptoms and take a medical, psychiatric and social history. He or she may use the diagnostic criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Me…
Lifestyle and Home Remedies
- Ask your doctor or other health care professional to suggest lifestyle and other strategies to help you manage the anxiety that accompanies specific phobias. For example: 1. Mindfulness strategiesmay be helpful in learning how to tolerate anxiety and reduce avoidance behaviors. 2. Relaxation techniques,such as deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation or yoga, may help …
Coping and Support
- Professional treatment can help you overcome your specific phobia or manage it effectively so you don't become a prisoner to your fears. You can also take some steps on your own: 1. Try not to avoid feared situations.Practice staying near feared situations as frequently as you can rather than avoiding them completely. Family, friends and your therapist can help you work on this. Pra…
Preparing For Your Appointment
- If you've made the choice to seek help for a specific phobia, you've taken a huge first step. You may start by talking to your primary care doctor. Depending on your situation, your doctor may refer you to a mental health professional for evaluation and treatment.
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.