Phobias (cont.)

Cognitive therapy and exposure therapy alone, together, or combined with relaxation training have been found to be effective in treating phobias. Relaxation training alone has also been found to be helpful in treating phobias. While some interventions, like sedating people who are phobic about getting dental work, may be useful in the short term, they may undermine truly overcoming the phobia.

Prevention programs that involve educating people, their loved ones, and other involved individuals like children's teachers have been found to be effective in preventing phobias from occurring in the first place.

Ways that phobia sufferers can work toward overcoming their fears include talking about their fears, refraining from avoiding situations they find stressful, imagining themselves facing their fears (visualization), and making positive self-statements like, "I will be OK." In fact, when self-help approaches are combined with brief psychotherapy, people with phobias may achieve significant improvement in symptoms.

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
http://www.aacap.org

American Counseling Association
http://www.counseling.org

American Psychiatric Association
http://www.psych.org

American Psychological Association
http://helping.apa.org

Anxiety Disorders Association of America
http://www.adaa.org/

Freedom From Fear
http://www.freedomfromfear.org

National Anxiety Foundation
3135 Custer Dr.
Lexington, KY 40517-4001
606-272-7166

National Association of Social Workers
http://www.naswdc.org

National Mental Health Association
http://www.nmha.org

National Panic/Anxiety Disorder News, Inc.
http://www.npadnews.com

ABIL, Inc. (Agoraphobics Building Independent Lives)
ABIL1996@aol.com

A.I.M. (Agoraphobics in Motion)
anny@ameritech.net

Phobics Anonymous
619-322-COPE

The future

Research studies are focused upon how well phobias respond to various treatments over the course of years as well as how age-related changes in thinking ability (cognition) may interact with anxiety. The use of herbal and other dietary supplements in the treatment of phobias is being explored as well.

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Source: MedicineNet.com
http://www.medicinenet.com/phobias/article.htm