Life long phobia

AHeartOfRuby · Sep 30, 2016, 10:23 AM

I have insectophobia, a phobia of everything from spiders to worms and I can't shake it. I've been trying to now that I'm a teen but it's still there everytime there's an ant on my shoe of a bee flying by. Today the boy i like my best friend thought it would be funny to pull up a picture of a giant spider. I screamed in the middle of class and curled up on myself. My family yells at me for being afraid and I don't know how much more I can take.. anxiety is killing me

sunnydisposition · Sep 30, 2016, 11:15 AM

People ( this includes family, friends, the very people we love) can, and they usually are, insensitive to our pain. I'm not saying you should hate them (its not a healthy emotion), theyre ignorant and donot understand what we are going through and they probably never will.
This person you refer to as your 'best friend", if he really was a good friend he shouldn't be preying on your vulnerabilities like this. Same goes for your family, they should be more sensitive.
Its typical of people to find even a sliver of insecurity, or vulnerability and attack and prey on it. This world can be a mean place sometimes. This is why choosing the "right" person, to share your troubles, is extremely important. you'll get to meet people who'll be kinder, compassionate, understanding and supportive. Those are the people you' should trust.

One thing i can tell you for a fact is that, you will get over this phobia, or atleast you'll be able to deal with it better in time. There are lots of techniques like (exposure therapy) and experts who can help you learn to overcome your fears. So hang in there, things will get better with time. Also, keep your distance from people who have the capacity to hurt you.

Skeezyks · Oct 06, 2016, 06:07 PM

Hello AHeartOfRuby: I'm sorry you are struggling with this phobia.

There is a type of therapy, referred to as "Exposure Therapy" that is typically used to treat this type of condition. (Perhaps I've mentioned this to you in another post? I know I refer people to it often.) It is important, though, to find a therapist who has experience with it. California therapist, Kat Morton, has a video on her YouTube channel regarding Exposure Therapy. Here is a link to it:

Deejay14 · Oct 07, 2016, 06:52 PM

So sorry you had to experience that I am very hopeful about making g real progress on your phobia be cause of your age. I think one of your first steps should be for you to rid yourself of that list of "problems" in your signature. You can't feel good about t yourself looking at that list. True or not it can't help your self image or esteem.

Nike007 · Oct 07, 2016, 10:55 PM

Greetings. I understand how you feel. I have a major phobia of falling (down), and any activity I try that involves falling makes me cry. Just like someone else said, exposure therapy is the way to go. The first thing to do is to pull up pictures of your fear. They can be cute ones too, but pictures. And then continue from there. People who don't experience MI or something close to MI don't seem to understand how much we try to do what is expected. Anyways, it's not cool of your friend or family to treat you or act like that. I hope you can get better