Facing fears and phobias
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What is a phobia and how does it differ from a normal fear?
Hi, it's All in the Mind on RN, I'm Lynn Malcolm. And today we're facing phobias. So a warning that some people may find aspects of this program confronting.
So you've just put on the virtual reality headset and what I'll do now is I'll take you through a number of our 360 videos that we use for the virtual reality treatment. So we're in your office. Yes. Feed that paper? Yes, I can see the keeper over there. If you focus on her, you'll see she's getting out fluffy.
Oh yes, she's got a big blue plastic bag. Oh and she's pulled out this enormous enormous python and it's wrapping around her head. and all around her body it's huge and she's just kind of trying to take it off her head. and putting it around her neck. It is the most enormous snake, very disconcerting and she's coming right over so close to me. Uh she looks completely calm and collected, but um I'm finding this rather challenging. Oh, and she's holding its head up uh to look at me straight in the eye and with its little tongue sort of coming out. Uh Mm.
It's a tricky one. It's a tricky one. But we had two clients come in and get to a point where they were handling that snake, patting it, and one of my clients draped that snake right across her shoulders. And that was in five sessions after being so terrified that she was checking every time she left the house. Wow, that just feels so
real. Do you have an overwhelming, irrational fear of something? That virtual reality snake experience was quite confronting, but if I was forced to have a close encounter with rats, that'd be another story. Cory Ackland is a clinical psychologist and founder and director of the Sydney Phobia Clinic. She describes some of the symptoms of a phobia, and she knows because she's had a
spartophia herself. The very first thing that happens is a disturbance of our breathing rate. Some people will note that being quite significant, um, a racing heartbeat and and a shallow and quickened breath. um sweaty palms or restlessness and agitation, the butterflies feeling. So all of those symptoms can come on pretty fast and pretty intense, and the predominant urge is to run. Um so the the running is often what we would see and certainly when it came to a spider in my house running is certainly what I would do. Um and other people will notice more of a F freeze response coming over them as well.
A fear becomes a phobia when it has a real impact on your everyday behaviour, as Cory Ackland found with her arachnophobia.
When I noticed that it was a real problem and certainly something that I often relate to with with arachnophobic clients, is when I'd find myself on a runner. I would run in the middle of the road early in the morning rather than running on the path because of potential for webs and spiders. And I guess that's where that irrationality really comes in, because you recognize that you're actually putting yourself in far more objective danger, trying to avoid
How can virtual‑reality exposure be used to treat snake and spider phobias?
avoid these other things that we can often realise aren't actually dangerous at all.
Between eight and twelve percent of the population have a phobia. Cory Ackland outlines the most common phobias she sees at the Sydney Phobia Clinic.
So our most common phobia presentation would be a fear of flying or public speaking anxiety. We also see situational phobias like a fear of heights, claustrophobia, um, animal phobias. Our most common ones would be dogs, spiders and birds. Um, and then we see some of the medical phobias, so blood injury, injection, and vomit phobias as well. What's the most unusual phobia you've come across? We've had a couple of people call up with fear of buttons. None of them have actually come in for treatment, um, but that's probably one that often is considered quite unusual.
And have you been able to make any sense of why somebody would develop a fear of
I mean the thing is with phobias and what I find so fascinating about them is we can actually learn that anything is a threat and develop a phobia around it. All we need is is that sort of negative association and then to continue to avoid it as if it really was that concerning and then we have that phobic cycle develop.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is a phobia and how does it differ from a normal fear?
0:09–3:41
2
How can virtual‑reality exposure be used to treat snake and spider phobias?
3:41–7:07
3
What are the common physical symptoms that appear when a phobia is triggered?
7:07–11:21
4
Which phobias are most frequently seen at the Sydney Phobia Clinic?
11:21–14:47
5
How does cognitive‑behavioural therapy (CBT) address the thoughts behind a fear of flying?
14:47–18:14
6
What is the role of gradual exposure versus flooding in treating severe phobias?
18:14–21:17
7
Can medication enhance the learning process during exposure therapy?
21:17–24:37
8
What future research is needed to speed up recovery from phobias and improve access to treatment?
24:37–28:29