Treatment for phobias?

[Scumbelina]

I have a severe phobia of moths & butterflies - It hasnt been officially diagnosed but my cpn/social worker agree with me & I have all the symptons...
I can type 'moths' & 'butterflies' but if I say it out load or I hear it said I feel like I'm going to be sick.
If I see a picture I will actually get vomit in my throat >.<
In summer I have my windows shut all day & get reeeally hot to the point of dizziness. It used to be just at night but 3 years ago a b.fly came in during the day.
One time I went on a walk by a river & there were so many b.flies I curled up in a ball on the floor & just cried.

Of course I understand that they cant hurt me but I'm still terrified & it's actually quite embarrassing - especially as everyone else loves b.flies!

I've tried doing CBT on myself that I've learnt through OCD stuff.

I've thought about getting hypnotherapy as it's coming up to the season again :(

Has anyone tried any phobia treatments?
Can you get it on the NHS?
How much does it cost?
Does it work?

[fairytale dreamer]

I don't have any advice but I wanted to let you know that you're not the only one who has a fear of butterflies and moths.
I admit mine isn't really a phobia, but they do scare the living crap out of me.

Hope you manage to find some help soon :)
take care
x

[Harley]

Hypnotherapy is, or can be for some/most people highly effective at treating this sort of phobia, and my belief is that if it is bad, as it seems to be in your case, that it would be treatable on the NHS, but you would need to speak to your GP about that to get accurate information :)


Good luck! If you get it done, please do let me know how it went as I am currently deep in research and discussion with a number of pros about hypno treatments for SH :)


Harley

[craola]

Hypnotherapy is meant to be really good and if they use it to stop people smoking on the NHS then im sure they could help you. I don't have a fear of ms and bs but its nothing to be ashamed of, I have a phobia of teeth which are equally harmless :)

I had Exposure and Response Prevention therapy for OCD Type Phobias.
I got it on the nhs, whislt I was a partial inpatient due to the distress it caused me.

Basically we made a hierarchy of the least scariest things to the worst things. So say for the number 6, which I used to not be able to say, writer or anything. We started with someone else saying six, and went up till I could write 6 with minimum anxiety. It still does cause me anxiety, but like I've even written three 6's in a row (although I won't do it if I can avoid it). It's quite trying though and takes a long time, because you have to wait for your anxiety to go down. What you might start with is someone else saying 'butterflies and moths' in front of you.

[Scumbelina]

Thanks for the replies - I have an appointment with my consultant psych coming up & I was thinking of asking him for a referral but I really want it to be seperate from all the other mental health stuff - I dont really know why - I suppose I just dont want another reason to go to the CMHT office - its bad enough I have to go there every 6 weeks to see him!

I'm going to ask him about the exposure & response thing (Thanks Roby)

Im a bit scarred to do the hypnotherapy coz it'll take me back to childhood - dont really want to re-visit that!

[Too Shy]

Hypnotherapy's alright - in some cases it takes you back to your childhood, but not always and not necessarily for too long. I had hypnotherapy, and it was mostly focused on just stuff in the present, really, if that makes sense.

The Exposure & Response Prevention stuff sounds really useful, but yeah, I just wanted to say that hypnotherapy isn't as scary as it sounds!

Good luck. :)