Managing Dental Anxiety
Fear of going to the dentist is a common health-care related anxiety. Patients often express a broad range of triggers, such as the fear of pain, claustrophobia, needles, sounds, or…
Phobias
Tackling the Fears of the ‘Worried Well’
It is estimated that millions of people in the U.S. suffer from imaginary illnesses, including a rise in recent years in food intolerances. Are we really a nation of hypochondriacs?…
What is Exposure Therapy?
Exposure therapy is a specific type of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy technique that is often used in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and phobias. Exposure therapy is a safe and…
Overcoming Fears, Phobias and Panic Attacks
There are many ways that a therapist might work with someone to help them overcome their fears, a phobia (like being afraid of snakes) or having a panic attack (where…
Therapists Spill: What I Learned from My Toughest Client
We often learn our most important lessons from our toughest trials. These are the lessons that’ll likely stay with us years after we’ve learned them. When it comes to lessons,…
Food, the Holidays & the Truth about Eating Disorders
Think about your favorite holiday food. Maybe pecan pie, maybe roast beef, maybe stuffing, maybe sugar cookies. Let’s say you are hungry. Think about eating that food right now. Do…
Understanding the Fear of Flying
Traveling by plane is one of the fastest and easiest modes of transportation, enabling people to visit family and friends across the globe in a short amount of time. While…
Helping Children Who Fear School
A kid can be just as phobic about school, or math class, or writing a sentence as another child might be about dogs. What can be done to help children…
Understanding Anxiety Disorders, Part 2
Anxiety disorders come in many varieties. Descriptions of some of the most common disorders follow: Generalized Anxiety Disorder: GAD is characterized by persistent anxiety unrelated to a specific event. People…
Facts About Phobias
Phobias are persistent, irrational fears of certain objects or situations that pose little or no danger. Phobias occur in several forms; the fear associated with a phobia can focus on…
Specific Phobias
People with specific phobias experience intense, irrational fears of certain things or situations. These phobias might include dogs, closed-in places, heights, escalators, tunnels, highway driving, water, flying, and injuries involving…
Social Phobia
Social phobia, or social anxiety disorder, is an intense fear of being watched and judged by others. It is the third largest mental health issue in the world today. Those…
Relaxation Helps Ease Fears and Phobias
Dave is frightened of flying. In an airplane he gets nervous and thinks about the plane crashing. Amy avoids going to the dentist. She becomes apprehensive, fears the pain and…
20 Tips to Recover from Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia is a stressful phobic disorder that can take years to overcome. There are varying degrees of the illness. Some agoraphobics are so severe, they can’t leave their beds, while…