It's impossible to think clearly when you're flooded with fear or anxiety. The first thing to do is take time out so you can physically calm down. Distract yourself from the worry for 15 minutes by walking around the block, making a cup of tea or having a bath.
Stay where you are and simply feel the panic without trying to distract yourself. Place the palm of your hand on your stomach and breathe slowly and deeply. Try this breathing technique for stress. Avoiding fears only makes them scarier. Whatever your fear, if you face it, it should start to fade. If you panic one day getting into a lift, for example, it's best to get back into a lift the next day. Try imagining the worst thing that can happen — perhaps it's panicking and having a heart attack.
Then try to think yourself into having a heart attack. It's just not possible. The fear will run away the more you chase it. It sometimes helps to challenge fearful thoughts. For example, if you're scared of getting trapped in a lift and suffocating, ask yourself if you have ever heard of this happening to someone. Ask yourself what you would say to a friend who had a similar fear.
Life is full of stresses, yet many of us feel that our lives must be perfect. Bad days and setbacks will always happen, and it's important to remember that life is messy. Social phobia , also called social anxiety disorder , is fear of social situations where you may be embarrassed or judged. If you have social phobia, then you may be excessively self-conscious and afraid of humiliating yourself in front of others. Fear of public speaking—an extremely common phobia—is a type of social phobia.
Other fears associated with social phobia include fear of eating or drinking in public, talking to strangers, taking exams, mingling at a party, or being called on in class. Agoraphobia was traditionally thought to involve a fear of public places and open spaces, but is now believed to develop as a complication of panic attacks. You may also avoid cars, airplanes, subways, and other forms of travel. In more severe cases, you might only feel safe at home.
The symptoms of a phobia can range from mild feelings of apprehension and anxiety to a full-blown panic attack. Your fear will also be higher if getting away is difficult. The symptoms of blood-injection-injury phobia are slightly different from other phobias. When confronted with the sight of blood or a needle, you experience not only fear, but also disgust.
Like other phobias, you initially feel anxious as your heart speeds up. However, unlike other phobias, this acceleration is followed by a quick drop in blood pressure, which leads to nausea, dizziness, and fainting.
Although a fear of fainting is common in all specific phobias, blood-injection-injury phobia is the only phobia where fainting can actually occur. Read: Overcoming a Fear of Needles. On the other hand, if you have a severe phobia of crowded spaces, living in a big city would pose a problem. Self-help strategies and therapy can both be effective at treating a phobia.
As a general rule, self-help is always worth a try. However, if your phobia is so severe that it triggers panic attacks or uncontrollable anxiety, you may want to seek additional support.
Therapy for phobias has a great track record. Not only does it work extremely well, but you tend to see results very quickly—sometimes in as a little as one to four sessions. Just having someone to hold your hand or stand by your side as you face your fears can be extremely helpful. But when it comes to conquering phobias, facing your fears is the key.
While avoidance may make you feel better in the short-term, it prevents you from learning that your phobia may not be as frightening or overwhelming as you think. You never get the chance to learn how to cope with your fears and experience control over the situation. As a result, the phobia becomes increasingly scarier and more daunting in your mind. The most effective way to overcome a phobia is by gradually and repeatedly exposing yourself to what you fear in a safe and controlled way.
The phobia begins to lose its power. Make a list. Make a list of the frightening situations related to your phobia. Build your fear ladder. Arrange the items on your list from the least scary to the most scary. When creating the ladder, it can be helpful to think about your end goal for example, to be able to be near dogs without panicking and then break down the steps needed to reach that goal. Work your way up the ladder.
If possible, stay in the situation long enough for your anxiety to decrease. If a step is too hard, break it down into smaller steps or go slower.
The more often you practice, the quicker your progress will be. Go at a pace that you can manage without feeling overwhelmed. And remember: you will feel uncomfortable and anxious as you face your fears, but the feelings are only temporary.
If you stick with it, the anxiety will fade. These physical sensations can be frightening themselves—and a large part of what makes your phobia so distressing. However, by learning how to calm yourself down quickly, you can become more confident in your ability to tolerate uncomfortable sensations and face your fears. Perform a simple deep breathing exercise. By breathing deeply from the abdomen, you can reverse these physical sensations and feel less tense, less short of breath, and less anxious.
One of the quickest and most reliable ways to relieve anxiety is by engaging one or more of your senses—sight, sound, taste, smell, touch—or through movement. Movement — Go for a walk, jump up and down, or gently stretch. Dancing, drumming, and running can be especially effective at relieving anxiety. Sight — Look at anything that relaxes you or makes you smile: a beautiful view, family photos, cat pictures on the Internet.
Sound — Listen to soothing music, sing a favorite tune, or play a musical instrument. Or enjoy the relaxing sounds of nature either live or recorded : ocean waves, wind through the trees, birds singing. Smell — Light scented candles. Mindfulness is a passive thinking activity that allows you to become more aware of your fear.
As you learned in Step 1, awareness helps you overcome your fear and anxiety. Practice these mindfulness tips during some of your less severe times of fear and anxiety. When you recognize your fear symptoms arising, sit down and think about what is happening to you.
This is like making a mental journal entry. Observe the symptoms as they arise. Just sit and keep track of yourself as the moment continues. Being passive raises your self-awareness, and it prevents you from doing the typical things you do when you experience fear.
It helps get you out of a rut. Talking to a therapist is an excellent way to work through your fears and anxiety. Try going for a walk outside instead! Natural beauty found in parks, backyards, or wherever something green is growing does help reduce symptoms of fear and anxiety.
Nature calms people, reducing stress levels and changing moods from anxious to relaxed. Plus, the physical activity of walking or jogging outdoors requires us to use our brains differently, which can cause a switch from irrational fearful thoughts to clearer thinking that can help overcome the fear.
Would you like to know more? Our counselors at Real Life Counseling can provide real help for your fear and anxiety problems. Please contact us to learn more. Skip to content. Anxiety Issues Staff Writer. Learn how to overcome fear and anxiety. Most importantly, learning all about your fear gives you an idea of how to counter it. Step 3: Use Your Brain in a Different Way than Usual Your fear and anxiety arise out of a certain part of your brain, and they allow emotion to overcome rational thought.
Step 4: Focus on Your Breathing Breathing is more important than you think. Step 6: Use Nature as Your Therapist Talking to a therapist is an excellent way to work through your fears and anxiety.
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