Left untreated, phobic disorders can cause:
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- Social isolation. Avoiding feared places and things can cause isolation, difficult social relationships, low academic achievement and work problems. Children are also at risk for poor social skills and loneliness, especially if their social behaviors differ from their peers.
- Related mental health disorders. Many people with specific and social phobias have low self-esteem, trouble being assertive, have negative self-talk and hypersensitivity to criticism. They may also have other anxiety disorders and major depressive disorder (MDD).
- Substance abuse. The stress of living with a severe phobia may lead to abuse of drugs or alcohol.
- Suicide. Some individuals may be at risk of suicide.
Social phobias can be a chronic mental health condition that spike when facing change, stress or demands. Avoiding anxiety-producing situations may help one to feel better in the short term, but without treatment this is not true in the long term.
Learning coping skills in psychotherapy and, in some cases, taking medications, can help individuals:
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- Gain confidence
- Curb embarrassment, worry or panic
- Improve an ability to interact with others
Not all phobias need treatment, but if a specific or social phobia affects daily life, several therapies are available that can help clients work through and overcome their debilitating fears—often permanently.
Exposure therapy: The best treatment for specific phobic disorders involves graduated exposure to the phobic stimulus. Clinicians gradually and gently bring individuals into contact with what they fear, starting with the least frightening situations and moving on until the most difficult situations no longer interfere with their lives.
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- For social phobia, clients are guided to re-evaluate troubling thoughts and beliefs, such as “everyone is watching me” or “if I say the wrong thing, people will think I’m stupid.”
- For agoraphobia, while exposure to fear helps avoidance behavior, treatment needs to deal with unexpected panic attacks. This has traditionally involved medication, though psychological techniques are proving to be just as effective. In addition to exposure therapy, clients learn mindfulness and other techniques to slow their breathing and better understand their symptoms are harmless.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): Clinicians teach individuals to examine their ways of thinking about feared situations, about their behavior and about how other people might evaluate them. With new ways of thinking and new coping skills, they are in a better position to confront their real-life, feared situations.
Social skills training: Clinicians work with clients to increase their self-confidence and learn new ways to act—like how to use eye contact or ask appropriate questions—through practice, in individual and group therapy and then increasingly on their own.
Mindfulness and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR): Clinicians help clients learn how to calm the mind and body toward coping with their fears and anxieties. They focus only on what is happening in the present moment and pay close attention to just one thing.
One technique, applied relaxation training, teaches clients how to relax in fearful situations. Along with CBT, this technique has effectively reduced anxiety, with benefits lasting for years after treatment.
Biofeedback training: In this non-drug treatment, clients learn to control normally involuntary bodily processes, such as muscle tension, blood pressure or heart rate.
A specific technique, called heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback, teaches relaxation techniques, while monitoring heart rate, galvanic skin response and breathing pattern. When combined with CBT and/or virtual reality therapy, biofeedback can help clients optimize treatment gains and enhance clinical outcomes.
Virtual reality therapy (VRT): Clinicians use virtual reality technology to help clients navigate from the safety of an office stressful or an anxiety-provoking situation to the real world. VRT is typically used in combination with CBT and other approaches to address simple (fear of flying, cats, dogs, elevators, subways) and social (public speaking anxiety) phobias.
Medication: Several classes of drugs have proven useful for phobic disorders.
Home Remedies for Phobias and Panic Disorders
Seek professional help to both prevent and treat anxiety- and panic-related symptoms. A treatment plan extending from in-session treatment to home can help individuals gain control when anxious symptoms start, by trying to:
Take slow deep breaths: As breath quickens, individuals can focus their attention on counting and repeating each inhale and exhale until breathing slows.
Recognize and accept the challenging experience: Understanding that symptoms pass, and they will be all right after some moments.
Practice mindfulness: Mindfulness-based interventions can be learned techniques that improve with practice.
Use relaxation techniques: Such as guided imagery, aromatherapy and muscle relaxation if experiencing an anxiety or panic attack.
Lifestyle changes
While it is not possible to predict what may trigger anxiety or panic attacks, adopting a healthy lifestyle can help prevent or at least reduce the severity of symptoms:
Get help early. Anxiety can be harder to treat by waiting. Help can reduce or mitigate sources of daily stress. Through therapy, identify and stop negative thoughts.
Keep a journal. Recording everyday experiences can help clients and clinicians identify causes of stress and what alleviates symptoms.
Set priorities. Reduce anxiety by carefully managing time and energy to do enjoyable things. Get regular, moderate exercise. Practice meditation or yoga. Eat a balanced diet
Join a support group for people with anxiety or panic attacks
Limit alcohol, drug, nicotine and even caffeine consumption. Unhealthy substances can cause or worsen anxiety, yet quitting can heighten anxiety. Support programs or groups can help to quit while managing stress.
Parents can model healthy behavior for their children. Repeatedly seeing someone else’s phobic reactions can trigger specific or social phobias in children. For parents with phobias, dealing with their own fears teaches their children excellent resiliency skills and encourages them to similarly take brave actions.
