Recently, a few members of the class have posted about their phobias and how to dissect them to the cause of their phobia. Junior year, I had the pleasure of taking Psychology 101 where I learned a whole lot about how we as consumers process and respond to information. While reading some of your articles, I was reminded of the definition of phobia, that was so often drilled into our heads junior year. By definition, a phobia is an irrational fear usually as a result of some kind of traumatic experience at a young age. For me, I have an irrational fear of butterflies.

Every Halloween, my elementary school would put on a costume parade that went around our local elementary school and fire department. Being new to the school district, I was unaware that costumes were supposed to be put on after arriving to school – costumes were not to be worn on the bus. Unfortunately, I didn’t get this memo. In my kindergarten ignorance, I happily wore my Snow White costume on the bus, complete with a fake stuffed bunny and a cape. In getting off the bus, the boy behind me accidentally stepped on my cape sending me tripping face first to the ground. I don’t remember a lot after, but I do remember regaining consciousness only to have my kindergarten teacher dressed up as a giant monarch butterfly standing over me, yelling down to me to see if I was OK. In addition to already being slightly disoriented from the fall, having a giant butterfly standing over me was incredibly traumatizing. Since then, I cannot stand being around butterflies.

So, can phobias be cured, and if so, how? For everyone with a phobia, you’re in luck. However, most treatments point to facing your fears head on. Helpguide.org states that “the most effective way to overcome a phobia is to gradually and repeatedly exposing yourself to what you fear in a safe in controlled way. . .you’ll learn to ride out the anxiety and fear until it inevitably passes” (helpguide.org, 20). To truly over come your anxiety, the best solutions seem to come from exposing yourself gradually to the object of your fear in an environment where you feel safe and comfortable. The more and more you expose yourself to your phobia, “you’ll begin to realize that the worst isn’t going to happen; you’re not going to die or ‘lose it’” (helpguide.org, 23).

So how can I apply this method to help myself to get over my phobia of butterflies? (I know, it sounds incredibly silly) In a comfortable environment, I would recommend having a butterfly enclosed in some kind of jar be exposed every ten minutes with a five minute break in between about 5 or 6 times until I no longer feel anxious when the butterfly is exposed.

Wow, that does sound silly.

However, some phobias, like fear of burning to death, cannot and should not be attempted to cure for obvious reasons. Despite this, research like that provided on healthguide.org gives people like me hope that one day I’ll be able to be in the same room with a butterfly without being reminded of my kindergarden halloween bus experience.

Works Cited
“Phobias and Fears.” : Symptoms, Treatment, and Self-Help. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. <http://www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/phobias-and-fears.htm>.