TRIGGER WARNING: We are describing your mind and body's reaction to anxiety. Sometimes reading about anxiety can invoke anxiety.  Have a cold drink or compress handy.  Or have a friend or loved one nearby to read it with you or for you.

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What is a phobia?
A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder. It presents as an overwhelming and sometimes debilitating fear.

What causes phobias?
Phobias are a type of anxiety, and anxiety is largely believed to have genetic roots.  Phobias often develop as the result of this hereditary predisposition for anxiety and can be complicated by trauma or early childhood exposure to inappropriate or shock-inducing experiences.

How do phobias differ from ordinary fears?
Fear plays an important and necessary role in human preservation.  When your brain perceives a dangerous or threatening situation, your body goes into fight-or-flight mode, processing stress hormones that help you react quickly to get out of harm’s way. These ordinary, justified responses pass as the actual threat passes.

By contrast, a phobia involves uncontrollable and unreasonable fear over things that pose little or no threat. The phobic response may occur every time the person experiences this stimulus. People who struggle with phobias may structure their everyday routine, even their life, around avoiding phobia triggers.  For many, it becomes a type of prison that is largely misunderstood by loved ones.  

What types of phobias are there?
There are three primary categories of phobia:  specific phobia, social phobia, and agoraphobia.

A specific phobia can prove easy to diagnose because it always occurs in response to one specific trigger. Common examples include acrophobia (fear of heights) and claustrophobia (fear of confined spaces).
Social phobia can encompass a broader range of triggers, all related to intense anxiety in public environments. This kind of phobia typically centers around fear of public embarrassment or rejection. Sufferers from social anxiety may avoid public gatherings, speaking opportunities, and other such occasions at all costs.
Agoraphobia involves a fear of environments that offer little chance of escape from danger. Some people experience agoraphobia when they go out into large, open areas, while others may feel it inside a locked room or moving elevator.
Both social phobia and agoraphobia belong to a larger class of phobias known as complex phobias. They may occur only under certain, infrequent circumstances, potentially making them harder to detect and diagnose than specific phobias with clear, common triggers.

What are the symptoms of a phobia?
As an anxiety disorder, you can expect a phobia to cause many of the same symptoms associated with other types of anxiety or panic issues: tingling sensations in your hands, arms, legs or face; breathing difficulties; rapid heartbeat; sweating; dizziness; nausea; chills; trembling; flushing; or a choking sensation.

A phobia trigger might also cause you to experience sudden, uncontrollable fear accompanied by a desperate urge to eliminate or flee from the trigger. You may find it impossible to think about anything else, even if you recognize the fear as irrational and the threat as unreal.  In some cases, even thinking about the source of a phobia can make a person feel anxious or panicky. This is known as anticipatory anxiety.

What can I expect from my treatment at Bird & Branch?
First, the good news: our treatment style does not require you to expose yourself to the identified phobia.  In most cases, you won’t even have to talk about it.  You can schedule your appointment using our website, or you can reach out via email to adavis@birdandbranch.love (she’s our Chief Happiness Officer).  

You can expect your appointment to last at least 1.5 hours but you might save 2 hours just in case.  Our Anxiety & Phobia expert, Michelli Ramon, will be your primary therapist.  You’ll snuggle up in her couch and you’re welcome to bring your favorite person with you.  Michelli often tells people, “This is going to be the easiest and weirdest therapy session you’ve ever had.”  We don’t really understand what happens next, we just call it magic.  

Why not exposure therapy?
Exposure therapy has been the go-to therapy for treating phobias for some time.  In our experience, it can be re-traumatizing.  

Does medicine help?
Certain medications may reduce phobia symptoms by treating underlying chronic anxiety.
Your family doctor or a psychiatrist can prescribe anti anxiety medicines such as zoloft.  We also love a good beta-blocker. While medication can tone down the intensity of your phobia responses, medicine alone will not solve it.  

When should I get help?
Some people will live with a phobia their entire lives and never need treatment.  They simply arrange their life in such a way that they never have contact with the target of their anxiety.  But for some, it’s not so simple. Continually trying to avoid what you’re afraid of makes life difficult, often impacting every area of a person’s life.  Here are 7 signs it might be time to seek help:

1. If you find yourself missing important opportunities.

2.  If you’re avoiding situations that would otherwise be fun and/or important.

3.  If relationships are being impacted.

4.  If your basic necessities are being impacted: food, sleep, sunlight and connection.

5.  If you are ruminating (overthinking to death) on the phobia.

6.  If you are having thoughts of hurting yourself.

7.  If your loved ones are concerned about our well-being.

If ANY of these is true, it’s time to get some support, my friend.

What should I do if a loved one is struggling with a phobia?
Be patient and remember that this is a function of anxiety and not something a person can easily control or manage without help.  Recommend therapy and, if appropriate, investigate solutions for them.  People who suffer from anxieties will often avoid looking for help because even thinking about the phobia will invoke a panic response.