Well this may b a long entry so I
apologise in advance lol. Ever since I
can remember I have been really freaked
out by spiders, but I get so confused if
its a phobia or not or if im just scared
and being silly. Im 16 no and my mum
already sent me to see a hypnotherapist
that didnt work and so now im on a waiting
list to see a psycotherapist after I had a
week of no sleep due to several encounters
with spiders.
Im worried that when I go see this
psycotherapist they will say that I dont
have a problem, because how can I be sure
its really a bad phobia when I have never
met anyone with a phobia before to me this
is normal. When I see a spider I get a
tight feeling in my stomach and start
shaking and sweating (nervous basically)
then I cant go ion that room until its
killed. Even if it has been killed I
still dont go in it sometimes, sometimes I
throw up with nerves and then generally I
woont b able to sleep well. Not only that
but it does control my life just little
things like checking rooms before I step
inside and when I go to bed I have to go
through a routine that I will repeat a few
times, of checking under my bed around my
bed and in all the corners of my room
before I turn off the ligth, which I
normally end up turning back on so I can
check it all again lol. But does this
sound like a real phobia or do you think I
would be wasting the psycotherapists time
by going to see him?
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CoffeeBallerina
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Posts: 2 Location: , US
Hope This Helps! Posted: 01-11-08 00:48am
I know exactly where you're coming from.
I'm 18 and I've been dealing with the same
thing for as long as I can remember. I
experience a lot of your symptoms, and I
have a lot of panic attacks, as well. It
seems like it's gotten a lot worse in the
past year: now I don't even have to see a
spider in the room. It's just the idea
that there might be one there. When it
gets really bad, I have to keep running my
hands over my body to make sure there's
nothing there, and I'm afraid to breathe
incase I inhale any. That last one
worries me a lot.
I think you should see the
psychotherapist. I really want to; my
college psych teacher referred me to a
place, and I keep the number handy. The
only thing is that my family doesn't
understand. I'm sure you know how other
people react to your phobia. If I were to
walk into a room full of people and say
that I have arachnophobia, half of them
would say, "Yeah, me too, their gross!"
and half would just laugh. That first
half of people get on my nerves because
not liking spiders is different from the
disorder. People generally don't
understand, and neither does my family.
My parents have gotten really mad at me in
the past when I couldn't clean the
basement or the pool because of the
spiders. So I really want to get help,
too, but since I'm still financially
dependant on my parents, I can't go.
It feels so nice to find someone who knows
how I feel every day!
