Please Help My Friend?

Question

ok so my friend is SO scared of animals. she starts hypervenelating [sp?] when theres an animal within 10 ft of her! she can't spend the night at any of her friends houses [including mine] because we have pets. and even if we tell her that we'll put the pets away, she STILL freaks!

i just want to help her get over her fear. and idk how! animals are my LIFE. && i want her to spend the night and feel comftorable not scared.

help?

Answer 1

hope this helps

A specific phobia is an intense fear of something posing little or no actual danger. Common specific phobias are closed-in places, heights, escalators, tunnels, highway driving, water, flying, dogs, and blood. Such phobias aren't just extreme fear; they are irrational fear of a particular thing. Although it is normal and even helpful to experience fear in dangerous situations, with phobias the danger is greatly exaggerated or imagined. For example, it is only natural to be afraid of a snarling Doberman, but it is irrational to be terrified of a friendly poodle on a leash, as you might be if you have a dog phobia. Fears become a reason for concern when they are persistent and interfere with your daily functioning. When a fear reaches this level of intensity, it is often identified as a phobia.

People with phobias have, as said, become 'conditioned' to produce the fear reaction in situations that aren't really dangerous. The best way to counter this is by 'de-conditioning': training themselves to react correctly. This is done by gradual exposure to the things they fear, experiencing the fears without running away, and so 'desensitising' themselves to that lash of anxiety which insists that only flight is an option. This process needs commitment from the sufferer. Sometimes anxiety is so high, the person is so sensitised to fear, that he or she cannot contemplate resisting it. Basically, so much energy is going in to avoiding what is seen as an insuperable problem that there is nothing left, or so the person perceives it, for trying to recover. In such a case a short course of anti-anxiety medication might be useful, perhaps a benzodiazepine. This won’t cure the phobia, but it may reduce the physical symptoms to a point where the person concerned feels that countering with desensitising techniques is, at least, feasible.
we have to learn our irrational fears, but we can also unlearn them ...

DOGS

Step 1: Draw a small rough dog shape on a piece of paper.
Step 2: Work up to the biggest and most accurate version you can manage.
Step 3: Look at black and white photos of dogs.
Step 4: Look at colour photos.
Step 5: Look at videos.
Step 6: Look at dogs through a closed window.
Step 7: Then through a partly-opened window; then open more and more.
Step 8: Look at them from a doorway.
Step 9: Move further out from the doorway; then further etc.
Step 10: Have a helper bring a dog into a nearby room (on a lead).
Step 11: Have the helper bring the dog into the same room, still on a lead.

Phobias vary of course so some people might start at steps 6 or 7, or include hard or soft toy dogs in the ‘ladder’, if this seems more appropriate.

Once she gets to step 11 without any panic attacks etc you can try step 12. Walk the dog on its lead upto her but keep at a distance she remains comfortable at.

From there you take it each step at a time till she is able to stroke the dog and feel comfortable with it in the same room as her off the lead.

CATS

You can use the same technique as above for cats. Some cats wont walk on a lead so instead have them in a basket or cage with a lid. and progress to walking in the room with them in it to you carrying the cat in the room.

You can also make up your own steps to follow as you know her better than i do, this is only a guideline. Try helping in this sort of way first. Have plenty of patience it CAN take a long time for some people.

lASTLY WITH DOGS I WOULD SUGGEST A DOG THAT IS CALM NATURED AND WELL TRAINNED. NOT TOO PLAYFULL OR BOYSTRESS.

Your friends sounds like she has one of the following:-
Panic attack: Unexpected feelings of fear, often accompanied by physical symptoms that come on suddenly, increase rapidly in intensity, and last 20 minutes or more.

Panic disorder: A type of anxiety disorder characterized by repeated panic attacks that are not caused by an actual threat or danger.

Panic disorder with avoidance: A condition in which people avoid situations that they fear will produce panic attacks.

Answer 2

I'd say the best thing would be for her to see a phsycologist to find out the real deep reason she is so afraid of animals. I definitely wouldn't push her into going to the zoos or force her to stay at your house. If you do so, she will probably stop being your friend. Instead, stay at her house. You can ask her questions about it and try to see why... because doing so shouldn't harm her. But if she is really afraid of animals, throwing one in her face or taking her somewhere she doesn't want to go is only going to terrorize her. Good luck with your friend.

When I was younger I had a friend that couldn't be away from her mom for more than a 1/2 hr. She insisted we stay at her house when we did sleep-overs until about age 12. People grow out of things, though. Eventually we were able to go away from her mom for longer periods of time. Until eventually we were going out of town on road trips together (age 19).

Answer 3

Iqbal is right, try taking her to a pet store or a petting zoo, a zoo. anything that has pets/animals around. is afraid of every type of animals? try cats they are nice. even guinea-pigs, they make people smile! I hope she losses her fear of animals.. Animals are my life to.

groups.msn.com/shelterhelpers

Answer 4

Take her to Petting zoo. Pet stores will also be good to go and see the small house pets and get close to them.