my phobia.. please help!?

Question

im not reaally scared of much. im not afraid of hieghts, snakes, the dark, aliens, clowns, lawn gnomes... im not afraid of any of them.. but the one the that creeps me out hardcore is spiders! i cant stand spiders! they scare the living sh*t out of me! how can i overcome my fear?

kitten doc- it doesn't matter how big u are if they can kill u in less than an hour with their bite.

i live in maryland with all three- black widow, brown recluse, and water spider. ive seen all three by our pool, near the hose,in the garden, etc...

Answer 1

Arachnophobia. I understand this because some spiders are quite scary looking. On the other hand, I love spiders, I like getting up close and personal with them, photographing them and studying them as they weave their webs. The other day I took a fly and threw it on a web and watched the spider feast on it... it's actually very fascinating. maybe you should look at some close up pictures of spiders..they really are beautiful creatures.


"According to scientists, there are a number of reasons which may have led to this irrational obsession, although they haven’t yet been clarified.


1) Patients may have had an unfortunate incident as children, i.e. they were bitten by a spider.
2) They may have seen someone close to them being bitten by a spider.

3) Repeated parental warnings “Don’t go near spiders, they 're poisonous,” may have conditioned a child to this faulty thinking.


Various projects are in progress aiming at breaking this fear which according to scientists can lead to fear of other animals as well. This and other fears can be treated by means of virtual reality, a computer-generated artificial world. Patients wear stereoscopic glasses and watch spiders move three-dimensionally across a PC screen. Patients also have a VR-glove, which allows them to move a three-dimensional arm in the screen. Before and after the treatment patients are exposed to live spiders to see whether and how much their fear has receded. In every case patients are cured or have their fear minimized and controlled.


Another way to cure fear is by means of aversion therapy (or direct shock therapy.) Patients are persuaded to approach spiders step by step, stopping when they feel their fear culminate. By staying in that position for some time, the fear recedes and patients are encouraged to approach the feared animal ever more closely. Finally they succeed in touching it and even in letting it walk on them as they realize that there’s really nothing to be afraid of. Hypnosis can also applied to victims who suffer from phobias.


Finally, when all is said and done, patients do have to bear in mind that:

1) Apart from a few scorpions and spiders which are truly dangerous to human, the rest are simply harmless life forms and 2) There are no dangerous spiders in Europe; those live in Africa and other tropical places. Nevertheless, one spider, which can be lethal to young children and old people, is the black widow, which is most commonly encountered in the southern parts of Europe. Also, the bite of the water spider and the brown recluse, seen in the continent, can be harmful and should be avoided. All the rest use poison to kill their prey but their venom is harmless to humans."

Answer 2

Exposure. Just about the only way to overcome a phobia is to spend time around the phobic object.

It sucks I know, I have been archonphobic my whole life. I would love to be an archologist, but playing in the dirt and fear of spiders do not go well together.

Answer 3

I hate bugs, period. Spiders and things that look like spiders are right at the top of the list. I like the outdoors and love to fish. It's really embarrassing to have a spaz attack in front of a crowd of people.

BTW, I don't condone killing anything because I fear them.

Answer 4

Most people freak out over them. I used to be terrified of them, I still think they're totally gross but I'm not really scared of them anymore. I had to share a dorm with the horrid creatures on my deployment to East Timor, either it was get over it or have a stress attack everytime I walked into my quarters. Takes time, sometimes all it takes is being forced to get over it or just understanding a bit more about them

Answer 5

People usually fear what they don't understand.

Try studying up on them, looking at them at the zoo or pet store (in a controlled environment), or even dressing up like one for halloween. =) Most spiders are more scared of us than we are of them. And they do a world of good for the environment. They are wonderful at keeping the bug population at bay.

I really like what the one dude said about looking at photographs of them up close. He needs the best answer vote in my opinion.

Answer 6

If you believe in Homoeopathy Try
TARENTULA HISPANICA 1M single dose daily before sleep
for 7 days and tell me what u have benifitted?

Answer 7

Hypnotherapy works wonders on phobias.

Answer 8

well, i would just try to calm yourself down while ur having a spida-seisure.

Answer 9

just remember your bigger than they are , and squish em