Help with my phobia of bugs/Beetles...?

Question

ok so, i have a HUGE phobia of beetles, just recently i found a beetle crawlng on my bed..so i stripped off ALL my sheets (wearing gloves of course) threw every single one of them out and bought a new mattress.. I am scared al almost all bugs in general but beeetles just...uggg.. i really need some help with this..any advice??? Plz no mean answers i will report you.

Answer 1

I totally get you! I'm so afriad of bugs and beetles. I have been since I was young. Once I saw something on TV where this girl went to a special therapy session, where they slowly exposed her to her fear of spiders. It worked for her. And I was thinking of trying it for myself. Hope I helped!

Answer 2

If you are living with insect phobia, what is the real cost to your health, your career or school, and to your family life? Avoiding the issue indefinitely would mean resigning yourself to living in fear, missing out on priceless life experiences big and small, living a life that is just a shadow of what it will be when the problem is gone.

For anyone earning a living, the financial toll of this phobia is incalculable. Living with fear means you can never concentrate fully and give your best. Lost opportunities. Poor performance or grades. Promotions that pass you by. insect phobia will likely cost you tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of your lifetime, let alone the cost to your health and quality of life. Now Insect Phobia can be gone for less than the price of a round-trip airline ticket.

Effective Treatments for Specific Phobia

Specific phobias are the only anxiety disorder for which psychological treatments are almost always considered to be the best approach to treatment. There are no controlled studies showing that medications are an effective treatment for specific phobias.

Psychological Treatments

• Exposure to Feared Situations – This technique, also called in vivo exposure , is the treatment of choice for specific phobias. Essentially, it involves confronting a feared situation repeatedly, until the situation no longer triggers fear. For example, someone with a fear of spiders might begin treatment by looking at pictures of spiders, or by standing 30 feet away from a spider in a sealed jar and gradually moving closer and closer to the spider (eventually even touching it). Someone with a fear of storms might be taught to stand near the window or on the front porch during a storm, instead of hiding in the basement. Someone with a fear of elevators would be taught to ride elevators repeatedly until the fear decreases. Exposure works best when it occurs frequently (e.g., several times per week), and lasts long enough for the fear to decrease (up to two hours). Exposure-based treatments for some specific phobias (e.g., animals, blood) have been shown to work in as little as one session.

• Cognitive Therapy – Involves learning to identify one’s anxious thoughts and to replace them with more realistic thoughts. For example, an individual who is convinced that an airplane will crash might be encouraged to consider the evidence supporting that belief. In reality, the odds of a commercial flight crashing are about one in ten million, and the most dangerous part of any flight is the drive to the airport! Note that cognitive therapy alone is generally not considered an appropriate treatment for a specific phobia. However, some individuals may benefit from using cognitive strategies along with repeated exposure to feared situations.

Biological Treatments

There is very little research on the use of medications to treat specific phobias, and most experts believe that medications are not an appropriate form of treatment for this problem. Still, some individuals with specific phobias (especially those from the situational type, e.g., flying, driving) report some benefit from using either selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, such as paroxetine (Paxil) and similar medications, or anti-anxiety medications such as diazepam (Valium) and related drugs. However, for long term improvement, medications are no substitute for behavioral treatments such as exposure. There is probably little benefit gained over the long term from combining medications with behavioral treatments for specific phobia.

Above all I think it shud b MIND OVER BODY! Its all in ur head n only u can help urself!GUDLUCK.

Answer 3

Don't eat in bed, you know crumbs attract creepy-crawlers, yeah?

And don't antagonize the little suckers so much. They're alive too, and just trying to stay that way, they're not trying to freak you out or eat your brains. Maybe if you humanize bugs they won't seem so scary.

Answer 4

Beetles scare me, too. When I was very young while riding in my parents' car I saw a beetle. Being young, I had no idea what it was. I thought that it looked really cool, so being the curious little tot that I was, I reached for it. To my surprise the beetle flew right at my face and began making this terrible buzzing noise. I asked my parents to help me, but they insured me that it was a simple little bug that couldn't harm me. In my mind I was trapped in the backseat with a monster. I couldn't escape. It hurts me to this day to think about it.

I work the night shift at work now, too. I have to deal with thousands of bugs all around me all of the time when I have to go outside for my job. I still can't stand them, but I'm getting better. In my experience I would say that exposure is the best way to help you get rid of your fear.