Does surrounding one's self with one's fears get rid of phobias?!


Question: Does surrounding one's self with one's fears get rid of phobias?
I am hemaphobic. Because of this, I have vowed that I will never give blood- EVER- and it also kind of put a damper on my dreams of becoming a veterinarian.

Either way, I've noticed that just the overdone fantasies I have about bloody situations freak me out a LOT more than actual blood usually does.

So, what I was wondering was, would giving blood, or helping at a veterinarians office, or doing something that actually involves contact with blood, actually help me get over it?

Answers:

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

yes, there's a therapuetic technique called "flooding" where they overdose u on your fears so u become numb to it

example: let's say u were afraid of spiders, deathly afraid

on the first visit, what they might do, is show u a picture of a bunch of spiders in a magazine or something

on the 2nd visit, they might lock u in a big room, and put a spider in the middle of the room, and keep u inside for 10 minutes or so

on the 3rd visit, they might put u in a smaller room, and put a spider in the middle of the room

on the 4th visit, they might put in a small room, with 3 or four spiders in it

on the 5th visit, they might make u hold a spider in ur hand

on the 6th visit, they might put a bunch of spiders on ur hand

on the 7th visit (altho they would never do this, this is just an example of how extreme u might need to get to overcome the fear): they would put ur head inside a box with 20 spiders for 5 minutes

after ur done, you'll see a spider on the street, and say "u kidding? i've stuck my head in a box with those things, 1 doesn't scare me no more"

and that's how flooding works, it desensitizes u

yea, that's a good way to put it, desensitization

11th grade psych




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