[AnxiousGirl]

For those of you who haven't read any of my old posts yet, ill give a brief overview about the situation I'm in. I'm 20 and I've been seeing T for a year. I was diagnosed with GAD. So far its been a pretty difficult thing to do because I'm naturally a very shy person and barely talk to anyone about my issues, let alone a stranger. Lately I've been feeling more safe with her which is good I guess. So now were at the point in therapy where we are going to work on my greatest phobia(s). She asked me if I wanted to do exposure with her and at the time I said yes because I really want to get over these fears as they are honestly controlling my life. I haven't seen T for a month (she went on vacation + I have exams this week) so I'm seeing her next week. Im dreading it because thats when we start the exposure (she wanted to do it after all the stress in my life was gone so we can start at the "right place"). I dont know what to do, do I cancel, do I tell her I dont want to do the exposure, or do I trust her and go along with it?

Thank you !

[Chummy]

Exposer therapy is hard and scary and you would probably want to run away from it. But it can help you to get over those fears. I did some exposer with my T. We started with small things. I think you should try it, but start very small. If she wants you to do something that seems too much for you, you sould say it and say you want to try something smaller/easier. You can go as slow as you want.

[Lauliza]

It's normal to want to run from exposure to something you fear so don't run from it. Just go to the session and tell your T how you feel. She should ease you into it, so I doubt the session will be as bad as you are expecting.

[Rive.]

I'd say give it a try. You are very brave for saying yes to T and it is 'normal' to be scared whenever trying anything new. Just be sure to 'use' your T to discuss these fears + ensure T would take it slow/at your pace and basically be there for you i.e. be your safety net.

Exposure therapy has been deemed to be very successful for some phobias... but provided clients stick with it (i.e. not give up part of the way). Good luck to you!

[joshuas-mommy]

I was stalked with bizarre images and it made me agoraphobic.

[Mully]

I agree with the others- I think it's great you are willing to try and I would go for it. It's absolutely scary but as you tackle things that make you anxious- one baby step at a time- it can really be life changing. Sometimes the only way to deal with the fear is to go through it and show yourself you can do it. I'm an extremely anxious person so I understand!

[pbutton]

It is very normal to be nervous about exposure therapy. It doesn't mean that the therapy is a bad idea. It just means you're anxious about a new experience. Totally normal for those of us with anxiety. The anxious mind can come up with all sorts of reasons not to do things.

[CantExplain]

Exposure therapy has two things going for it (or so I hear):
1. It's comparatively quick
2. It's focussed

Done badly, it could make things worse. But if you want to beat your fears as soon as possible (and not waste time on side issues), a frontal attack makes sense.

Best thing to do is talk over your fears of it with her.

[peaches100]

I think whether or not to do exposure therapy depends partly on how good your coping skills are for dealing with anxiety. Exposure therapy is going to bring up anxiety, and that is normal and expected (you will be working through phobias and fears). But at the same time, you don't want to reach a level of anxiety where you completely lose your ability to cope, so that it ends up feeling like you have just been traumatized all over again. There's a balance to it. Hopefully, your t is skilled and will be able to help you stay within that "window of tolerance."

I have GAD and PTSD, as well as being a highly sensitive person (HSP). In my case, my therapist and I have had to go slowly in addressing my fears and traumas. My t uses the term "titrate" to describe the process. We process only a little bit of the trauma at one time.

It took us awhile to figure out that we needed to do it this way. Before that, we kept doing "too much" processing and I ended up feeling destabilized and worse. It was necessary for my t and I to drop back and help me work on building up more coping skills to be able to endure anxiety and fear first.

[AnxiousGirl]

Originally Posted by pbutton

It is very normal to be nervous about exposure therapy. It doesn't mean that the therapy is a bad idea. It just means you're anxious about a new experience. Totally normal for those of us with anxiety. The anxious mind can come up with all sorts of reasons not to do things.

I loved everyones response but just had a question. What if the phobia is literally crippling that you rather die than face it? What happens then?

[pbutton]

Originally Posted by AnxiousGirl

I loved everyones response but just had a question. What if the phobia is literally crippling that you rather die than face it? What happens then?

It depends. Are you in danger of harming yourself in order to avoid the thing you are afraid of? Or are you afraid the fear itself will kill you? If you are at risk of hurting yourself, let your T know this. She will know how to handle that.

If you're afraid of what being overwhelmed by fear will do, I can tell you that the best thing I ever did to work on my anxiety/panic attacks/phobias was to simply remain in the situation that was causing the fear. I eventually calmed the hell down, despite the way I felt at the start. It was a bit mindblowing, really.

From what I have experienced, exposure therapy is designed to go really slow. It is designed to deal with overwhelming feelings of fear.

Not sure if ths will help you or not, but one of the things I would try to remind myself is that even though it felt like my anxiety had to be the world's all time WORST EVER, all I was actually dealing with was anxiety and my T knew how to conquer it. Part of having an anxiety problem can be a feeling of OMG what if I am the ONE PERSON who will die from this, what if I am the special weirdo case?!?! It could be different for me!! I am the one perspn who can't handle it!!

So i would then remind myself that I am not the super special anxietymonster that i was afraid i was, and that those fears were actually just a typical symptom of an anxiety issue. One of the few times that NOT being special was actually a comforting thing

[AnxiousGirl]

Originally Posted by pbutton

It depends. Are you in danger of harming yourself in order to avoid the thing you are afraid of? Or are you afraid the fear itself will kill you? If you are at risk of hurting yourself, let your T know this. She will know how to handle that.

If you're afraid of what being overwhelmed by fear will do, I can tell you that the best thing I ever did to work on my anxiety/panic attacks/phobias was to simply remain in the situation that was causing the fear. I eventually calmed the hell down, despite the way I felt at the start. It was a bit mindblowing, really.

From what I have experienced, exposure therapy is designed to go really slow. It is designed to deal with overwhelming feelings of fear.

Not sure if ths will help you or not, but one of the things I would try to remind myself is that even though it felt like my anxiety had to be the world's all time WORST EVER, all I was actually dealing with was anxiety and my T knew how to conquer it. Part of having an anxiety problem can be a feeling of OMG what if I am the ONE PERSON who will die from this, what if I am the special weirdo case?!?! It could be different for me!! I am the one perspn who can't handle it!!

So i would then remind myself that I am not the super special anxietymonster that i was afraid i was, and that those fears were actually just a typical symptom of an anxiety issue. One of the few times that NOT being special was actually a comforting thing

Thank you for answering back Exposure is just a very scary topic even by the sounds of it but my T has assured me that we will go at our own pace which sort of helps ease the fear in a way. The first exposure session is in a few days already hopefully its not too bad!!