People typically put up with mild phobias for long periods until something happens which turns a manageable discomfort into a serious hindrance requiring phobia treatment. A full blown phobia such as a fear of leaving the house, (agoraphobia) or fear of throwing anything away (hoarding) only appears odd to an outsider. For the person suffering, however, the phobia serves to protect against an unknown danger. In an inside-out sort of way, the phobia seems to make sense.
What are some causes of phobias, or what causes a person to develop what appears to be a fear that lacks any rationality, insofar as the thing feared does not have an inherent danger? Generally, phobias develop after an experience of discomfort or danger, and after the mind has linked the danger to a concrete concept. For example, a patient presented with a mild but annoying fear of cotton. She complained that she developed a discomfort in her throat whenever she touched cotton balls, or items that reminded her of cotton balls. It was discovered that as a child, she underwent a mild traumatic experience in the dentist’s chair when her mouth was stuffed with cotton in conjunction with a procedure. She had gagged and tried to remove the cotton but was made to endure it for the remainder of the procedure.
This is an example of a relatively minor phobia with minor consequences, but it illustrates how fear becomes linked to concrete concepts. Unfortunately, phobias and the anxiety they generate can inhibit healthy sexual activity, healthy social activity, travel, work, and general daily functioning.
Counseling for Social Phobias, Panic Attacks and Hoarding Anxiety
When a phobic person comes in to treatment for phobias, they are looking for help with the riddle of their fear. Since they also realize that therapy will eventually solve the riddle by exposing the thing they are most afraid of, the therapist must be sensitive to these competing desires. Phobia treatment or phobia therapy recognizes that simply exposing the causes of a specific phobia is not, in and of itself, worthwhile. Overcoming phobias certainly requires insight, but it also requires attending to the anxiety and the possible panic attacks that frequently accompany phobias and phobia treatment.
Douglaston Psychotherapy is located between Little Neck, New York and Bayside, New York, in northern Queens. It is also close to Great Neck, Manhasset and New Hyde Park. The office is easily reached from the Long Island Expressway and from the Cross Island Expressway. The office is discretely located away from the center of town, with free, on-street parking. A private waiting room with private entrance is large enough to accommodate a group or family.
Lisa Lempel-Sander is a licensed Douglaston NY Therapist with a Psychotherapy practice for short and long term therapy. Her main areas of practice include: Depression Counseling for Depression and Anxiety Disorders, Eating Disorder Therapy for the Treatment of Anorexia, Bulimia and other Eating Disorders, Couples Therapy, and Phobia Treatment for Social Phobias, Agoraphobia and Panic Attacks.
Common tags: Phobia Treatment Douglaston NY, Psychotherapist Little Neck New York, Bayside Counseling, Psychotherapy, Hoarding Treatments, Hoarder Disorder, Symptoms, Specific, Social, Therapy Phobias, Help, Anxiety, Overcoming
We serve the following States, Cities, Zip Codes and Counties: Bayside NY, Bayside Hills NY, College Point NY, Douglaston NY, Forest Hills NY, Fresh Meadows NY, Great Neck NY, Little Neck NY, New Hyde Park NY, Queens Village NY |