You can also arm yourself with as much information as you possibly can. One person's account of dealing with their own fear of spiders involved an in-depth investigation of the spider as a creation of nature. He looked at pictures, studied their webs and learned to look at them through different eyes.

He deliberately chose to go to places where he knew there would be spiders - old barns, basements/cellars, lakeside cabins, etc. When a spider showed up, he took his initial panic reaction and turned it into a physical study of himself and his response as well as studying the spider itself. This was done after extensive research into spiders and their characteristics.

Armed with this knowledge, he was able to control his panic and turn it around to work FOR him instead of AGAINST him - and it worked! By learning more about the creatures he feared, he was able to view them in a different light and heal himself.

Put down your fears on paper. Once on paper they will appear a lot smaller than if they are swimming around inside your head! Write a positive message in response to your fear and keep it beside you either at home, school or work as a mantra to constantly refer to.

On the same piece of paper, you may want to write down the action steps you plan to take to ensure that your fear doesn't consume your entire being. Keep in mind this saying, "Fear is the absence of a plan; action is one of the best antidotes."

Even though you can work on your phobia by yourself, most experts strongly recommend you get specialized treatment by a trained therapist. The treatment is not complicated and can be successfully completed in about 10 sessions. If you do go it on your own, it has to be systematic and the compliance with "homework" is essential. It all really depends on how much the fear is affecting your everyday life.

Before starting any treatment, you will have to identify several important points:

?Where does the fear come from; how and when it started (traumatic experience or learning?)

?What are the situations/stimuli that trigger the phobic response (make a hierarchical list)

?Who are the people or what are the objects who/that help you to face the stimulus

?What are the thoughts that go through your head before/while facing the stimulus

?What are your reactions/behaviors when you face the stimulus

?What do you really anticipate; what is the worst thing that could happen to you if you faced the stimulus

Write down your responses to these items. The purpose here is to explore the basis for the fear and identify not only the causes, but also the situations that bring about the anxiety. Once you have identified these areas, you can most on to more specific ways to combat your fear.

Let's first look at systemic desensitization and what that entails.

Systemic Desensitization/Exposure Therapy

This is the oldest and most well-known treatment for phobias and conquering fear. The aim is to make you gradually comfortable in the phobic situation by using relaxation training to systematically decreasing the anxiety-provoking effect of the stimulus. The basic principles are that:

?phobias are learned and can thus be unlearned

?relaxation and anxiety are basically incompatible, so that when you engage in relaxation, your anxiety drops

Systemic desensitization is also know as exposure therapy and is a kind of cognitive-behavioral therapy which shows success in about 75 percent of patients, the National Institute of Mental Health reports.