We all need to be heard for a little while.

purpleshoes_2

I have a phobia of something that very few folk know about because if I told them what it was some folk would start posting pics of the relevant things on Facebook etc.

Anyway I might as well say what it is, it's a fear of old pictures particularly black and white ones.

I can't look at a pic of a ship for example the titanic in black and white. Would terrify me. Old black and white cine films also give me the heebies

And if I had to watch a film with a large ship like a tanker sail on open water I couldn't do it. Would have to shut my eyes.

Oddly enough I have no fear of water. Am a strong swimmer. Been on plenty boats and could stand on a ship and watch the sea no problem

Just can't bear watching it on film.

There is a name for that phobia. Also extends to newspaper. I remember buying a paper and it had a black and white old paper attached for some anniversary.

Couldn't read it and even touching it gave me the shakes.

I clearly need help

Waves_and_Smiles

An interesting fact is Jimmy Carr is a psychotherapist. I have had phobia treatment and I couldn't recommend it more. It is amazingly fast, in my case literally 5 hours from total terror of spiders and not being able to be in the same room as one to handling large ones with no problems at all. I was also treated for several other phobias such as a fear of falling in front of a train. You have to be brave and stick with it through your fears but you will have a therapist with you the whole time and it is truly astonishing, you feel so different within hours of starting. Unfortunately it's seldom offered on the NHS unless your phobia is preventing you from living an ordinary life but I would say it is worth paying for.

I was fortunate in that my psychiatrist who was treating me for OCD at the time just decided to throw in phobia treatment for free because it would be one less difficulty for us to have to consider when treating everything else (there wasn't much point in trying to control my cleaning rituals when I was afraid to touch anything in case a spider crawled on me). Plus she loved teaching it to her clients because the results were always so fast and it was very rewarding for them and her.

It is a very simple therapy, and rather like CBT in that you deal with the phobia as it is now, you don't have to look at why it's there unless you want to. Whether you do or not, the treatment is the same and the only thing that is required of you is to stay with the fear at each stage (so no fleeing the room) until after a few hours your mind reasons nothing bad has happened to you yet so it doesn't need to panic anymore. You also start off with the smallest exposure to what you are afraid of and build up so it isn't terrifying right from the beginning, and once your panic is strong you stop at that level until the fear lessens before moving onto the next stage.

Can you tell I am deeply impressed by this? Honestly, it was like a miracle cure for me. My psychiatrist told me she would cure me of a life long phobia within hours and I told her it was impossible, I was wrong. I still adore spiders 15 years later and can handle them with no problem at all. All I have to do is handle one maybe twice a year as a top up to remind my brain that I am not afraid. Also, the same technique is used for all phobia's so once you have been taught how to do it you can do it for yourself, with a trusted person if necessary, for any other fears that you have.

The annoying thing for me is that I could use it with going out if it wasn't for the fact that doing so became a problem because of psychotic thoughts. I don't recommend anyone tries phobia therapy if the fear causes or is caused by psychosis because that needs to be dealt with very differently and far more slowly. But for your average phobia it's perfect.

Pyxis

Regular etiquette repost!

Pyxis wrote: »

.........:starmod:......................................................................:starmod:.....................
Here is the suggested THREAD ETIQUETTE. By following this etiquette, all posters, whether new or existing, will feel safe, unpressured and respected..

- This is a thread for support. We have discovered some good friends on here, but we promise always to welcome and include new people, and not to be cliquey.

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It should be pointed out that if anyone is feeling very distressed or close to a crisis, they do not have to worry about what they are posting, or whether it is a penguin for someone else or not. In a crisis situation, just post! We wouldn't want anyone to feel that they couldn't ask for help in case it's a penguin! The penguin thing only applies to a general discussion situation.

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Nos Omnes Ad Audiendum Parumper

Stoodles

I wasn't phobic of spiders, but was more than uncomfortable with them. One day I was reading a book and keeping an eye on a large hairy beast who was wandering across the wall. next time I looked up, he wasn't there - then I realised he was wandering up my leg.

And I realised I wasn't worried at all, caught him carefully in my cupped hands and put him outside. I think it's that moment when you realise you won't die after all, and then it is all right. However this hasn't worked on my true phobia, which I've been face to face with twice. Each time I've become completely hysterical, which is totally unlike me , and caused quite a bit of inconvenience for others.

Waves_and_Smiles

The way you dealt with the spider Stoodles is very similar to how phobia therapy works, you force your brain to realise that nothing bad is actually happening to you and it creates new neural pathways that don't trigger the fear response. Our brains create reliable pathways for what we feel and what it feels the body's response should be, the more we experience that same response the stronger the pathways so it becomes automatic. This happens everytime we experience something new, a pathway is created and our response is noted. Whether this becomes permanent depends on how many times we have the same reaction, eventually it becomes our brains natural response. We are conditioned at this point to varying degrees.

The aim of phobia therapy is to create new, healthy pathways. This is why you then face your old phobia again a couple of times a year, to strengthen what the brain has learned and weaken the old unhealthy pathway.

Coming face to face with a phobia is called flooding and rarely works and if it does at first it doesn't long term. Think of it that you need to give the new pathways time to form and overcome the fearful ones. Gradual exposure works much better.

So with something like spider phobia for example you may look at pictures of spiders. When you feel the panic, stay with it and keep looking until the fear drops (the brain realises nothing bad happens by looking at photo's and a new pathway is formed saying photo's of my fear are ok). Then move onto looking at a spider that is enclosed on the other side of the room. When your anxiety rises, keep looking but wait for it to drop again before doing anything else (the old pathway is weakened because the new one now says looking at my fear in photo's and in real life won't hurt me). You continue like that in small steps until you are handling them which happens very quickly because once our brains realise part of our phobia can't hurt us they create those new, healthy pathways very quickly, within hours.

Too early in the morning for operant conditioning 1O1? I am amazed this stuff still lurks in my head...

Stoodles

Yes, I've successfully done the gradual exposure with fear of going to specific places, just because I read about it and it made sense.

It doesn't seem to transfer to the general fear of going out, but I think that is because so many different fears are combined - it's not being outside, it's general and specific people, various types of places, fear of triggers, places where I've felt powerful urges to self destruction, fear of looking like the crazy lady as I tense up and scan repeatedly…

But we did go out yesterday, to a lovely wild flower nursery and gardens, where the dog could come too. We wandered through meadows, woods and along river banks, and had tea in a secluded corner of the garden, in the sunshine.

Waves_and_Smiles

Aw, what a lovely day out!

You are likely correct, in my case my fear of going out isn't a fear of being outside, I love being outside! I am frightened of people hating me on sight and mocking me, which has caused me to have psychotic thoughts while out and act inappropriately so now I have a fear of that happening, too. I also have a fear of getting lost because my sense of direction is awful and with that a fear of while lost panicking myself into a psychotic episode and then who knows what after that!

If I was just afraid of going out I could likely deal with it but it is far more complex and the fear of psychosis isn't groundless. If I push myself too hard I will have delusional thoughts and hallucinate so I have to be very careful. I have far too many cringeworthy memories of turning up at hospitals and police stations crying my eyes out and asking for help when all I did was try to go shopping. Particularly the police stations where I would be ask to be locked in a cell so that no one could hurt me. So embarrassing and none of that gives me confidence in myself.

Complex phobia's are far harder to deal with and certainly shouldn't be attempted without support. I say that as someone who is breaking her own rule and having tiny trips out without a blanket without telling her caseworkers because she wants to surprise her psychiatrist by walking in confidently at our next appointment. It's a case of do as I say, don't do as I do!

Stoodles

Your last paragraph makes me smile. It is so good when you feel something shift and know it is OK to try just a little more

tea_lover

Someone let me know when you lot stop talking about S****** :eek:

Waves_and_Smiles

Hahahahaha! You are free, tea! I am off to the birds!

(you could always try phobia therapy? *runs for it*)