Phobophobia - Treatment

Treatment

There are many ways to treat phobophobia, and the methods used to treat panic disorders have been shown to be effective to treat phobophobia, because panic disorder patients will present in a similar fashion to conventional phobics and perceive their fear as totally irrational. Also, exposure based techniques have formed the basis of the armamentarium of behaviour therapists in the treatment of phobic disorders for many years, they are the most effective forms of treatment for phobic avoidance behavior. Phobics are treated by exposing them to the stimuli which they specially fear, and in case of phobophobia, it is both the phobia they fear and their own sensations. There are two ways to approach interoceptive exposure on patients:

• Paradoxical intention: This method is especially useful to treat the fear towards the phobophobia and the phobia they fear, as well as some of the sensations the patient fears. This method exposes the patient to the stimuli that causes the fear, which he avoids. The patient is directly exposed to it bringing him to experience the sensations that he fears, as well as the phobia. This exposure based technique helps the doctor by guiding the patient to encounter his fears and overcome them by feeling no danger around them.

• Symptoms artificially produced: This method is very useful to treat the fear towards the sensations encountered when experiencing phobophobia, the main feared stimuli of this anxiety disorder. By ingestion of different chemical agents, such as caffeine, CO₂-O₂ or adrenalin, some of the symptoms the patient feels when encountering phobophobia and other anxiety disorders are triggered, such as hyperventilation, heart pounding, blurring of vision and paresthesia, which can lead to the controlling of the sensations by the patients. At first, panic attacks will be encountered, but eventually, as the study made by Doctor Griez and Van den Hout shows, the patient shows no fear to somatic sensations and panic attacks and eventually of the phobia feared.

Cognitive modification is another method that helps considerably to treat phobophobics. When treating the patients with the method, doctors correct some wrong information the patient might have about his disease, such as his catastrophic beliefs or imminent disaster by the feared phobia. Some doctors have even agreed that this is the most helpful component, since it has shown to be very effective especially if combined with other methods, like interoceptive exposure. The doctor seeks to convince patients that his symptoms do not signify danger or loss of control, for example, if combined with the interoceptive exposure, the doctor can show him that there is no unavoidable calamity and if the patient can keep himself under control, he learns by himself that there is no real threat and that it is just in his mind. Cognitive modification also seeks to correct other minor misconceptions, such as the belief that the individual will go crazy and may need to be "locked away forever" or that he will totally lose control and perhaps "run amok". Probably, the most difficult aspect of cognitive restructuring for the majority of the patients will simply be to identify their aberrant beliefs and approach them realistically. Relaxation and breathing control techniques are used to produce the symptoms naturally. The somatic sensations, the feared stimuli of phobophobia, are sought to be controlled by the patient to reduce the effects of phobophobia. One of the major symptoms encountered is that of hyperventilation, which produce dizziness, faintness, etc. So, hyperventilation is induced in the patients in order to increase their CO₂ levels that produce some of this symptoms. By teaching the patients to control this sensations by relaxing and controlling the way they breathe, this symptoms can be avoided and reduce phobophobia. This method is useful if combined with other methods, because alone it doesn't treat other main problems of phobophobia.