Brief Background
Just a brief background run on what arachnophobia is. Arachnophobia is simply the spider phobia. A person, who happens to have arachnophobia, may dread to see a spider in any proximity and condition. Sometimes, an arachnophobic person would begin panicking even if the presence of a spider is just meters away from the person itself. The presence alone could already incite fear in the person thus causing him to indulge into a sense of anxiety. Some arachnophobic individuals undergo through the development of a compulsion, wherein from time to time, they perform ritualistic behaviors just to get rid of their fear or mitigate it in any way possible. An arachnophobic person may also dread the idea of a spider presence in any where that has the possibility of spider habitation. Say for example, getting inside an old room may provoke the arachnophobic person, even if the presence of spiders isn't actually visually seen. The idea alone is strong enough to make the person fear the possibility of encountering a spider any time soon.
People with arachnophobia may oftentimes become quite unproductive and sometimes debilitating to himself and to his daily activities. Office personnel who happen to have arachnophobia may fear getting in some dusty forfeited rooms or corners, and would not get inside them even if they were ordered by someone superior. Of course, the situations would be relatively different from case to case basis, but essentially, arachnophobic people have a lot of deterrence in their productivity and thus impairing their very optimal potentials. Also, there is a possibility of irrational self seclusion that may follow after the fear. It may or may not be a form of compulsion, but what happens is that the person would voluntary seclude his or her self from the outside world just because of his or her fear of encountering spiders in unknown territories. Since he or she would have more confidence that spiders don't exist inside his or her abode or room at least, he or she will opt to stay just inside, isolating him or herself from any human interactions as well. This holds true to really severe cases of arachnophobia wherein at times, compulsion and hysteria will already follow the present conditions of the patient.
Arachnophobia is perhaps one of the most common phobia classifications that most people in the world suffer from. The fear is normally influenced by an earlier trauma caused by a fearful incident with spiders. Sometimes, the fear may be caused by the common misconception of spiders, which happens to be almost present anywhere; television media, hearsays and myths from older folks, etc. The misguided depiction and or portrayal of spiders are often the primary causes why a person would begin fearing spiders. On the other side, you can't blame certain people though if they have started fearing spiders. If you are not a scientist, you may only look at a spider with gross, disgust and fear and never on how beautiful they are actually in a scientific kind of perception. Considering a spider is often found in dark places, or lurking in corners, and is also carnivorous, hideous, and eight-eyed, it is not a surprise anymore why most people would fear the presence of spiders amidst them.
How to Overcome the Fear Alone
There are actually certain ways wherein you can address the problem alone. Though it may truly help to seek advice from a professional phobia therapist, to at least guide you in the maybe longer term process of treating your arachnophobia, rest assured you can still do the process manually and on your own. Ultimately, the primary ingredient for a successful treatment is good mental conditioning and to foster sufficient determination to overcome your own ailments. It may help to set the goal of having a fear-free life, for you to achieve the desired output of the process.
1. Assess yourself first and recondition your mind. You must first foster a considerable amount of willingness and determination in order to combat your fear. Without willingness, the treatment process is surely doomed to fail. You may re-evaluate and recondition your mind by assessing what are the things that are important to you and their value and how much you will lose if you continue on being deterred by your fears.
2. Start slowly exposing yourself to your object of fear. Scientist often call this as the “exposure-response” method. Wherein, you will be subjected to a series of exposure until your compulsive responses in relation to your fear will be subtly and eventually mitigated. The only difference is that, you get to do this all by yourself. It’s not all impossible at all as the process in itself requires only you to execute.
3. Learn more about spiders. Know their wonders and how truly beautiful they are. That could be done be approaching the scientific view or perception on spiders. Accept that spiders are ultimately a part of this world and they bring purpose and balance in the ecological system of existence and life.
4. Acceptance is a key factor to the riddance of arachnophobia. You must embrace the truth that spider is potentially just everywhere, and you can never escape the fact that there will always be a spider encounter impending soon.
