CBT Therapy is a talking therapy that shows how certain patterns and cycles of thinking and behaviour can have a detrimental affect on our healthy functioning. Through a process of enquiry, psychoeducation and written exercises, a CBT therapist will help you understand what types of thinking and behaviour patterns you may be engaging in, that facilitate or exacerbate the phobia. Then through a series of further exercises and experimentation, your cognitive behavioural therapist will help you discover a new perspective and more effective strategies that enable you to reduce, manage and/or completely remove the phobia and related fears from you life.

A CBT therapist can also help you explore certain behaviours which facilitate and exacerbate the phobia. For example, many people with phobias go out of their way to avoid exposure to the things they fear, and exposure therapy can form part of the behavioural component of treatment. This can involve exercises of gradual exposure to the trigger, increasing over time, so eventually it doesn’t trigger a panic reaction anymore.

CBT therapy for phobias is most effective if you are able to actively engage in undertaking homework assignments. These might include keeping a journal, completing a thought record exercise or testing out a new behavioural strategy.