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Specific Phobias
Clinical Definition
Unreasonable or irrational fear of a
specific object or situation.
Our Approach
You can’t think or rationalize your way out of a phobia. But we can help you
overcome it with Exposure Response Prevention Therapy. We use evidenced-based
techniques to help you change your relationship with your phobia and build new
behaviors. By going toward your fear without avoidance, you will gain confidence
necessary to live fully without fear.
Available Programs for Specific Phobias
At GPS Psychology & Anxiety Clinic, we offer several programs for Specific Phobias based
on your needs:
Individual Therapy
Meet with a highly-skilled therapist trained in Exposure Response Prevention. We’ll
primarily meet in our office, but depending on the phobia, we will collaborate on
determining the best place for the exposures.
Group Therapy
The Adult Anxiety Group is open to anyone 18 or older struggling with anxiety. Meet
with others facing similar challenges, gain support from your peers, and share your
experiences. Similarly, the Teen Anxiety Group offers a safe environment for teens
between the ages of 12 - 17 to meet, connect, and support one another.
Working with Parents
You are not alone and we can help. Our team has extensive experience working with
children and teens. But we believe working with parents is equally, if not more,
important. We educate parents on understanding anxiety and recognizing the
difference between anxiety and stress. We also help with identifying well-intentioned
behaviors that may be maintaining your child’s anxiety. Most importantly, we train
parents on active listening enhancement and using empathy to build stronger
problem-solving skills.
Parent's Corner
As a parent, you want the world to be a safe, secure place for
your child. You want to slay their dragons and clear the
monsters from under their bed. It’s a helpless feeling when
their monsters take the form of irrational fears. Dealing with
phobias can be confusing and frustrating. Your child may
exhibit the following behaviors:
Shows unreasonable fear when faced with a
situation or object
Avoids certain places or things
Sweating
Trembling
Phobias can be frustrating at best and severely disruptive at
worst. You might know, in theory, your fear is irrational. That
doesn’t make the fear any less real or destructive.
If you look in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders you’ll see
four categories of common phobias:
•
Situational. Fear of flying (aviophobia), fear of crossing bridges (gesphysrophobia),
fear of driving, fear of enclosed spaces (claustrophobia)
•
Animal. Fear of dogs (cynophobia), fear of snakes (ophidiophobia), fear of spiders
(arachnophobia), fear of bees (apiphobia)
•
Natural Environment. fear of heights (acrophobia), fear of the dark (achluophobia),
fear of water (hydrophobia).
•
Blood/Injection/Injury. Fear of injury (traumatophobia), fear of injections
(trypanophobia), fear of blood (hematophobia), fear of vomiting (emetophobia)
Phobias can be frustrating at best and severely disruptive at worst. You might know,
in theory, your fear is irrational. That doesn’t make the fear any less real or
destructive.
Psychology &
Anxiety Clinic
GPS
