Toss someone with a phobia about reptiles into a roomful of nonpoisonous snakes and lock the door, and after three months the fear will be gone, Acierno said. But few want the initial overwhelming trauma of flooding. When presented with that option, Everybody drops out, Acierno said. In serious cases of fear-induced panic disorders, psychiatrist Clyde Flanagan of the USC School of Medicine said medications may be prescribed. In overcoming fears, The central treatment is exposure, Acierno said.
Talk is cheap.
Behavior is what you have to change. Typically, that is accomplished in gradual ways. In a method known as graded exposure, the feared object is introduced a little bit at a time. Acierno used fear of dogs as an example, adding the caveat, A moderate fear of dogs is appropriate. Someone afraid of dogs may be brought into a room where a dog is caged and 10 feet away.