Health & Fitness / 14 October, 2024 / Ellie Thompson

Seven Steps To Curing Your Phobia If Spooky Spiders Freak You Out

As Halloween approaches, those with a fear of spiders, or arachnophobia, may find the spooky season particularly challenging. For those dreading the sight of creepy crawlies, Christopher Paul Jones, author of Face Your Fears, offers practical advice on how to manage and overcome this phobia. Whether it’s encountering fake spider decorations or the real eight-legged critters that seem to pop up more in autumn, there are effective techniques to help reduce anxiety and avoid unnecessary stress.

How to cure a fear of Spiders

Autumn is really not your time of year if you have a fear of spiders. As the weather cools, they seem to make their way into our homes. Despite debate about whether this is to keep warm or not, you do not want them to be there! Then there’s Halloween, where all things creepy and spooky are on parade, not least those pesky arachnids.

For those with arachnophobia, encountering a spider can provoke fear out of proportion to the actual threat. This can disrupt daily activities, such as cleaning the house or putting tools away in the shed. In severe cases, just thinking about spiders or seeing a model or image can cause anxiety.

Interestingly, the prevalence of arachnophobia does not significantly increase in regions with dangerous spiders, such as Australia. This suggests that cultural factors, such as media portrayal and social attitudes towards spiders, may play a larger role in maintaining this fear than actual risk. In some cultures, spiders are associated with spirituality and are less feared, indicating the influence of cultural context on phobias.

Fortunately, like most phobias, fear of spiders can be addressed; in most cases, it can be removed completely. My new book, Face Your Fears, details detailed processes for dealing with phobias, but here is a brief look at a seven-stage process I call the Integrated Change System.

Recognise what you’re really afraid of

Identifying not just the surface-level fear (be it spiders, flying or vegetables) but also the deeper fears it represents is crucial. Is it a fear of harm, a loss of control, a past traumatic event or something else?

Relax the conscious mind

Achieving a state of relaxation allows us to work with fears more effectively. The “4-7-8 Breathing Technique” involves inhaling quietly through the nose for four seconds, holding the breath for seven seconds, and exhaling forcefully through the mouth for eight seconds. Repeated three to four times, this acts as a natural tranquiliser.

Reward for your fear

Phobias can serve hidden purposes – a secondary gain. One way to find this is to ask:

“Does this fear keep me safe from situations I perceive as dangerous?”

“Do I receive comfort or attention because of this fear?”

“What might I lose if this fear were to disappear now?”

Recipe

Everything we do, including phobias, operates according to a subconscious ‘recipe’ – a combination of thoughts, behaviours, and feelings that reinforce, in this case, the fear. Clarity about our recipe for fear makes it easier to change it. A highly effective technique involves changing the internal representation of the fear.

Imagine the thing that triggers your phobia. In your mind’s eye, shrink that image, make it lose its colour, and let it play backward like a film reel running in reverse. This process helps in diminishing the image’s emotional impact.

Release the past

Finding the first event and changing the mind’s link to fear can have an effect on how somebody will feel about that fear in the future.

One way to release the past is through tapping. Begin by clearly identifying the fear or specific event related to your phobia and hold this memory in your mind.

Start by tapping on the outer edge of your hand with the fingertips of the other hand. As you tap, verbalise your fear and your acceptance of yourself despite this fear.

Proceed to tap lightly but firmly on a sequence of points: eyebrow, side of the eye, under the eye, under the nose, the chin, the collarbone, under the arm, and top of the head. Tapping each point about seven times, briefly state your fear to maintain focus on the issue.

After a few rounds of tapping, introduce a positive reframing of your fear. For example, “I am open to feeling safe around dentists.”

Recondition your emotions

Our responses to any fear-inducing stimuli are learned behaviours. These can be unlearned or modified with an exercise known as Emotional Anchoring. Decide on the positive feeling you want instead of fear and select a memory where you felt this positive emotion strongly. While immersed in this memory, make a simple physical gesture, like pressing your thumb and forefinger together. Repeat with other positive memories. Your chosen physical gesture becomes your anchor – the anchor takes you straight to a positive feeling.

Realise a powerful future

Part of your fears will be “what ifs.” For example, what if a spider jumps at you?

We tackle “what ifs” by Script Flipping. Write down as many “what ifs” as possible, then replace each with a positive statement or question. For example, what if the spider quietly and quickly goes about its business?

Take your new statements and questions and visualise them, pairing them with affirmations that reinforce your new narrative – perhaps “I am capable of feeling calm and in control around spiders.”

Summary

Phobias affect millions worldwide. Unlike general anxiety, a phobia is often linked to something identifiable, leading to avoidance behaviours that can severely impact daily life. Understanding the root causes of phobias is essential in addressing and treating them. After following the seven steps above and repeating them as needed, you should find that your fear of spiders becomes reduced.

This is an article by Christopher Paul Jones, a leading Harley Street phobia expert. Having overcome his own phobias, Christopher’s culmination of over 20 years of research across Europe, North America and Asia is an integrated approach combining mainstream psychology with cutting-edge techniques: The Integrated Change System™. The system aims to change the mind’s danger response and leave people free and happy to enjoy things they once found terrifying.

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