Workplace Phobia - Therapy

Therapy

The special problem about workplace phobia treatment is that a controlled stepwise exposition to the anxiety-provoking stimulus is hardly possible. The situational conditions cannot be controlled therapeutically, the workplace cannot be entered anonymously, events happening there cannot be foreseen. With such great variety of possible disturbing factors, an exposition might even result in strengthening the phobic disorder.

More adequate treatment methods are descriptions and analysis of situation and behaviour, development of coping strategies for reducing the general feeling of insufficiency, reframing and symptom management, clearing conflicts and exposition in sensu. A specific therapeutic instrument is the "vocational capacity test“ recently developed in the context of psychotherapeutic rehabilitation clinics. Hereby inpatients attending a rehabilitation therapy are sent to cooperating firms for hospitation for some days, under therapeutic supervision. By this, patients who have been away from work for a longer period can do first steps into a public work environment, may carefully test and be observed concerning their capacities at the same time.