4 Ways to Face Your Fears and Overcome Phobias

We all have them — fears, phobias, anxieties that shorten our breath, quicken our heartbeats, and sometimes can outright disable us. Some of us shut our eyes and hold our breath as we ride the elevator to the tenth floor of an office building, while others pray the Rosary inside that coffin-like enclosure when getting an MRI. I am afraid of heights — in particularly driving over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. It doesn’t look all that menacing, but the structure spans over 4.3 miles and reaches to 200 feet high in places. I’m obviously not alone with my jitters, because two years ago Inside Edition did a story on it, calling it quite possibly the scariest bridge in the world. It was also on Travel + Leisure’s list of the 10 scariest bridges in the world — the only other two American bridges being the Mackinac Straights Bridge in Michigan and the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado. The Bay Bridge connects Maryland’s eastern and western shores (Annapolis is on the western shore), so kids’ sporting events on the eastern shore present a real problem for a mom with gephyrophobia (a fear of crossing bridges — yes, there is a word for us!). Usually I would make my husband take off work to drive either Katherine or David across the bridge. But the other night he was out of town, so I was forced to face my fear, which is usually the way phobias are addressed. I followed these four steps as my strategy, which I thought might help you because I realized (once...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Anxiety and Panic Brain and Behavior Mental Health and Wellness Motivation and Inspiration Personal Phobia Self-Help Avoidance Central Nervous System Fear Fear Of Heights gephyrophobia Panic Attack Phobias Ruminating Worry Source Type: blogs