Tips to Conquer your Fear via Exposure

Hi all,

Over on my Instagram, and in the spirit of Halloween, I asked you guys to name one of your fears as part of a special #DrCsTips post. Some of you said spiders, loud sounds, getting spooked and clowns even! But let’s tackle real quick how to work on conquering your fears.

Tips to Conquer your Fears

When we are scared of something, we obviously tend to avoid it. Why? Because avoiding it can reduce our feelings of fear in the short term BUT in the long term it can make the fear worse.

The first step in conquering a fear is to understand the WHY we are afraid. Once we have that information we can then take action on it to overcome it since we are labeling it and really getting to know it.

The next step is to gradually put ourselves in feared situations in which we feel scared while tolerating those levels of distress without avoiding either the distress or the situation.

Learning behavioral strategies to manage the physiological symptoms (i.e., fast heart rate, sweating, breathing fast) that we experience through relaxation strategies like deep breathing or grounding are also 🔑.

In therapy, this is called Exposure Therapy and is an evidence-based therapy to tackle fears and anxiety.

Should I make a reel on how to practice Deep Breathing? Let me know below!

Xo,
Dr. C