Desensitizing Against Insect Phobias

Sometimes, people who suffer from phobias about insects can benefit from a technique called 'desensitization.'

In this, a person is brought into near contact or contact with the object of his or her fear in very gradual stages - until the object no longer causes an irrational fear or panic and distress.

Often, 'desensitization' does not have to be used in conjunction with a certain other therapy which tries to find out where the irrational fear of insects came from. Desensitization can be effective and actually offer a solution to a person's phobia as a technique all on its own.

Sometimes it is better to actually find out WHY a person is so irrationally afraid of insects, because this same reason may be connected with fear of other things in a person's life, such as claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces or places). By determining WHY the irrational fear started may allow a person to deal with more than one phobia or problem at a time.

An irrational fear is one whereby a person is afraid without any really good explanation for the fear.

For instance, a person might be afraid of dogs, however, a best friend might have a perfectly well-trained pet dog that is no threat to a person and has never been known to attack another human being. The person who is suffering from fear of dogs will likely not be convinced in any way, shape or form - that the well-trained dog will not cause SOME INCIDENT that is harmful to her or him. The 'fear of (something)' doesn't even have to be a specific 'something,' because the presence of the fear is what is irrational in the first place.

The 'something' that is fear doesn't have to be a 'dog bite' in the example above. It doesn't have to be a 'dog scratching me/someone,' but could be as plain as a dog barking if the 'phobia-affected' person is too overly sensitive to fear while in the presence of dogs. A loud bark would be considered an 'Incident' even if it doesn't cause any physical harm at all. It would be an incident which causes discomfort, for sure, and aggravates the phobia-affected person's anxiety about dogs in general.

Saying that a fear is 'irrational' does not mean that the fear 'isn't real' to those who suffer from anxieties and phobias. 'Irrational' simply means "without a truly rational explanation.' It means that the phobic person is reacting to something without knowing exactly WHY the 'something' causes a 'fear-filled' response.

In the desensitization process, often a person never totally loses their fear of the phobia object, but will come to realize, anyway, that they are reacting in a way that is unreasonable, according to the 'data' they are presented with.

In the case of insects...a person may have been stung by a bee at some earlier date and will have found the incident so unpleasant that he or she develops an overgeneralized aversion and fear of ALL INSECTS or all things that he or she can identify as insects - could be 'sounds,' too - noises that sound like bees 'buzzing' but which might turn out to be from non-insect sources.

In the process of desensitization, the phobic person is often placed into contact with the object of the phobia in this way:

(Insect phobia)

1. The person talks about insects with a knowledgeable friend (someone who knows already about the desensitization process) or a therapist.

2. The person views pictures about insects, and continues to talk with someone all about insects - sometimes learning, in the process, about the 'function' of insects, specific insects, differences between insects (such as bees versus moths), etc.

3. The person touches pictures of insects, just to show 'the mind' that even though pictures LOOK scary, they can't cause physical harm.

4. The person, along with their selected 'helper' (the friend or therapist) listen to audio tapes/media versions of different insects to show that 'sounds' don't cause physical harm.

5. The person views insects in a safe environment, perhaps at a zoo or special lab, whereby the insects are enclosed, safely away from the phobic person.

6. The person touches the glass between him-or herself and the insects.

7. The person speaks to a person who works with insects, perhaps a beekeeper or any other type of person whose field brings them in direct contact with insects.

8. The person has a helper put some insects in a butterfly net (gradually decreasing the separation and perceived 'safety' between the phobic person and the insects).

9. The person, along with the supportive helper works with the butterfly net to allow the phobic person to hold the handle of the net. This allows the phobic person to have some perceived and actual 'control' in the situation and see that even though the insects are actually very close to him/her, unless the net is moved by him/her, safety is still present in the situation.

10. The net is removed at a time when the phobic person is feeling safe enough for this to occur, and the insects are allowed to escape the net.

Moths, butterflies or dragonflies might be a safe and reasonable insect type for something general like this. They cannot cause actual physical harm, even once they are allowed out of the net.

A person may take a longer length of time for certain stages of this desensitization and if the leap forward from a certain stage to the next is too discomforting, one can always go back to the previous step or stage, but a person should NEVER be extremely forced to graduate forward in the desensitization process. This could cause the phobia to become even more ingrained.

Also, it is not always completely necessary for someone to graduate all the way from step 1 to step 10 in this process. Sometimes, half-way through the process, a person will become desensitized enough to function well enough in the world, along with slight remnants of phobia remaining. That is - he or she might function without going into extreme 'phobia' reaction and intense fear every single time an insect is near. Depending on the person and the severity of fear the person has been experiencing in specific situations, a person will have different goals surrounding what is to be accomplished by the desensitization process.

If the goal is to become more 'functional' in certain situations and stop over-reacting, then steps 1-5 or steps 1-8 might suffice. For a very determined person who has more in mind for his or her goal, he or she might want to end up actually being able to touch the insect - providing that it is an insect that is of a variety that is safe to actually touch. A person may want to declare 'success' at the point whereby they are holding a moth in their hand, and this is probably possible so long as the desensitization is done very gradually so that the phobic person gains a lot of confidence in his or her ability to stay calm and overcome fear.

Desensitization is, by no means, the only way or best way of coping with phobias but it is a reasonably common and easy-to-accomplish kind of solution to dealing with common phobias.