Cognitive behavioral therapy, a type of psychotherapy, is based on the premise that identifying your fears can help you overcome them. Subotnik explained the basic steps in this particular treatment. First, the patient is helped to identify any irrational beliefs that may be causing the phobia. Next, patients are encouraged to encounter their fears, and subsequently learn to tolerate the anxiety, Subotnik said. Exposure or desensitization, techniques in which patients directly encounter their phobias, work only if the sessions long and used with the other treatments, experts said.
Medication is another widely practiced treatment.
Drugs used to treat phobias range from antidepressants to Prozac to valium, and the drug prescribed depends on the type of phobia. Some doctors recommend medication only as a last resort. Some medical practitioners disagree on the importance of exploratory therapy, i.e. finding the root of phobias. However, Murphy and Subotnik argued that cause is irrelevant to treating a phobia. Meanwhile, many students find solutions to their phobias through often unorthodox channels.