One of the driving forces behind phobias, which is particularly important to understand, is avoidance. Indeed, the phobic person avoids the situation which scares him. And then she said to herself: luckily I didn’t go, otherwise I would certainly have been unwell. Avoidance therefore reinforces the conviction that one is right to be anxious. The work of cognitive and behavioral therapy (CBT) therefore consists in avoiding avoidance, in facing one’s fears, most often gradually, so as to reduce anxieties.

Some phobias are not only linked to the making of an anxiety loop, but to a particularly distressing event from the past, which has left an emotional trace. It may also be necessary to work on it in therapy.