Prevention

Prevention goes first and foremost through early treatment of this disorder. If you suffer from a fear and it affects your quality of life and prevents you from doing certain things, do not hesitate to talk to your doctor.

Medical treatments

Most of the time, the management of a phobia is done by outpatient setting with psychotherapeutic care and treatments medicated. This support reduces symptoms and morbidity (= occurrence of other disorders) and also improves the psychological and social functioning of the phobic person. In certain cases, and in particular when a thymic decompensation (generalized anxiety disorder, depression, etc.) is associated, hospitalization may be necessary.

The management of phobias falls within the competence of the attending physician but also of the psychiatrist, the child psychiatrist or the psychologist. The occupational doctor and the school doctor can also be part of the circle of professionals that it is important to inform and seek during this care. Finally, the medical, social and educational services are structures that can also provide help to the phobic person.

therapies

• Les TCC

The tcognitive-comportementales hérapies have shown their effectiveness in the treatment of certain phobias at a rate of 12 to 25 sessions of approximately 45 minutes. The therapist helps the phobic person to face his fear by gradually exposing him to the feared object or situation. This exposure is set up through visualization or mental imagery.

Through relaxation and the work done in parallel on the thoughts and emotions felt by the phobic person, the therapist establishes a list of goals to be achieved throughout the therapy. The ultimate goal is for the patient to cope with their biggest fears without anxiety thanks to progressive desensitization. In order to obtain better results, it is possible to combine this type of therapy with appropriate medication (see the “medication” section).

• Virtual reality therapy

Virtual Reality Therapy (TRV) techniques have been used for several years in psychiatry. Thanks to a system of 3D glasses, the patient is immersed in a virtual reality controlled by the therapist. The therapy used is inspired by exposure techniques used in cognitive and behavioral therapy (CBT). The results obtained on the treatment of phobias are comparable to the results obtained with CBT⁴.

• EMDR

EMDR, or neuro-emotional integration through eye movements, is a therapeutic tool that emerged in the late 1980s. Originally developed to treat people suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder ( PTSD), it appears to have a good success rate in treating simple phobias⁵.

In this context, the therapist asks his patient to think of a situation that poses a problem for him at the same time as he asks him to fix a moving object. The rapid eye saccades induced by the swinging movement controlled by the therapist would stimulate the passage of problem information into new areas of the brain.

• Analytical Inspiration Psychotherapy

The phobic person is led to question, among other things, the psychic conflicts at the origin of his phobia⁶. Where cognitive and behavioral psychotherapies focus on eliminating the symptom, analytical therapy accompanies the patient in the discovery of the direction of this symptom, in his personal and family history.

• pharmaceuticals

Antidepressants are part of the therapeutic arsenal available to physicians to support phobic patients in improving their disorder. Even if there is no depression associated with the phobia, antidepressants are recommended because their action is much more extensive than it appears.

Antidepressants acting on the reuptake of serotonin (SSRIs) are commonly used in the treatment of phobias. These drugs work by increasing the amount of serotonin (neurotransmitter) in the brain. Among the most frequently used in the treatment of phobia, we can mention: citalopram (Celexa®), escitalopram (Lexapro®), fluoxetine (Prozac®), paroxetine (Paxil®) and sertraline (Zoloft®) ).

If the anxiety that accompanies the phobia is significant, anxiolytics such as benzodiazepines (Xanax®) may be prescribed over a short period to avoid addiction.

Finally, beta blockers can also be prescribed in the treatment of phobias. Medicines such as Propranolol® are used to treat high blood pressure. These drugs, among other things, reduce the heart rate and help relieve bothersome symptoms such as palpitations.