My eight-legged therapist! (My Experience with Specific Phobia)

Member Name: dawnfrancis

Product:	My Experience with Specific Phobia
Date:	31/10/01 (701 review reads)
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Advantages: reduces your fear, helps you cope with spiders alone, makes you feel well proud

Disadvantages: expensive

You get out of your car after a long hard day's work and rush gratefully to your door. You put the key in, open it, step inside, then

WHOOOOSH!

Suddenly you're halfway down the street!

Yes, it's happened again. Your home has been invaded by an evil eight-legged monster (doesn't matter that it's the size of a 50p and more terrified than you!).

Arachnophobia, the fear of spiders, is one of the most common specific phobias. Many 'normal' people have it - young and old, male and female. It is extremely infectious. The main cause of arachnophobia is a combination of conditioning and something known as vicarious learning. For example - you are a small child and a crawly thing starts moving across the floor. 'Great!' you think 'a nice new toy!' then your mom comes in and screams her head off. The shock invoked by the sudden loud noise terrifies you, and if repeated often enough, becomes associated with the spider (this is classical conditioning). On top of this, as a kiddie you take your cue from your parents. The fact that mom is losing the plot over this new 'toy' means you probably should too (this is vicarious learning - learning by watching someone else).

Arachnophobia is so infectious that there have even been cases where the DOGS of spider-phobic families become phobic. I kid you not! It appears we have an innate biological predisposition to be afraid of these creatures and that all we need is a little trigger to develop a full-blown phobia.

But can it be cured??

I used to be paralytic at the sight of a spider and would just burst into tears. Not a very good coping response - but when your mom is around to catch the evil b*****s it's no problem! However, when I moved into my own flat it became a problem. I couldn't get rid of these visitors unaided. What could I do?

A friend who used to work for London Zoo told me about
their Friendly Spider Programme. I'd heard a bit about this before and decided to give it a go. Here's my FAQ of my spider therapy.

1. WHO RUNS THE COURSE?
It's run jointly by the Farago Clinic (which uses hypnotherapy to cure phobias), and by London Zoo. A hypnotherapist and a specialist in inverterbrates run the course. It lasts for an afternoon.

2. WHAT HAPPENS?
The afternoon is divided up into various sessions, all of which are actually fun and enjoyable. They are (in order)

a) A discussion about phobias in general, and about the things concerning spiders which frighten you most. This is great as you get to know other people and realize you're not a complete nutter! It also gives an insight into why you're phobic.

b) A talk about spiders, disspelling the myths. This was absolutely fascinating and totally changed my views. For example, did you know spiders are very sensitive to energy fields and feel overwhelmed when near to a human? Far from wanting to crawl all over you, they just want to get away. All they want to do is survive. I actually began to feel sorry for them!!

I also learned that spiders are very clean animals with natural production of antiseptic and keep your house clean.

c) A group hypnotherapy session. This is actually very relaxing. You lie on the floor and simply listen to the bloke, who first relaxes you, and then starts to talk about how harmless spiders are and how you will lose your fear. A lot of people are worried about being hypnotised but it is perfectly safe (so long as you do not suffer from epilepsy - check with your GP if this is the case).

d) The bit we were all terrified about!! You are then taken to the Zoo to the invertebrate house. You start by looking at some of the spiders, safely behind glass. You then see some common house spiders in an open-topped tank.

Several marvellous volunteers help you out here.
Firstly they demonstrate, by putting their hands in the tank, how the spider's instinct is to run _away_, not to go for you. This is a powerful technique. It is undoing the vicarious learning - you are seeing someone calmly touch a spider without going apesh**.

You are then encouraged to have a go. At this stage you only need touch a leg, very slightly. It is amazing how the spider scuttles away from you. You start to feel calmer already!

When you're comfortable with this, you move on to the next step. You're taught how to catch a spider on a table, by putting a glass over it, sliding a piece of cardboard under it, and walking away. Sounds simple but it IS difficult and takes several attempts before you're brave enough to try it! You then have to walk around the room looking like a complete prat with this spider, and put it back on the table.

If you manage this, you win a certificate saying you successfully completed the course!! I must admit I got such a kick out of getting this. I was prouder than when I got my degrees!

You can then practice catching the garden/house spiders as much as you like. The look on people's faces when they achieve this is priceless.

If you have got this far, you have reached the aim of the course. The organisers stress that the aim is not to make you like spiders, but to be able to deal with them in a calmer fashion.

For those who want to take things a bit further, there are optional extras! You can let a garden spider run over your hand. And the best bit is this - they will allow you to hold Flora, the resident tarantula therapist! this opportunity is just not open to the general public so it's a real plus of the course. Flora is very quiet and well behaved, and sits beautifully in your hand. I almost got to like her! For a donation they will take your photo so you can show off to all your mates how you survived an encounter with a man-eati
ng arachnid!

3. WILL I BE FORCED INTO DOING ANYTHING

Not at all. No-one is pushed further than their limit and there are no nasty surprises sprung on you. out of 22 people, only 2 were too frightened to get their certificate. It's amazing how much braver you are in a group of like-minded people.

4. SO DOES IT WORK?

It's not a miracle cure, but it DOES help. I still throw a fit when I first see a spider. The course leaders say that this is a natural reaction and might always be there. The important thing is that I then calm down and then rationally think what to do.

the course only gives you the tools. You must practice, practice, practice. I've got one of those spider catcher things on a long stick. Before the course I couldn't get near enough to one to even use it. Now I can. I'm still very, very frightened, but compared to how I used to be, it's 100pc improvement.

I have found that the effect of the course does tend to wear off with time, which is somewhat disappointing. However, as long as you're prepared to have a go with every spider you encounter, you won't lose the basics. Once you've managed to overcome your fear once at the Zoo, you will NEVER go back to being as bad as you were.

I am so pleased I went on the course. I managed to get through all the steps, caught spiders, touched them, let them run over my hands. And I am the extremely proud owner of a photo of me holding a tarantula.

Last night when dealing with a spider I even found myself TALKING to it! 'Come on now little fellow, I don't like you and you don't like me so let's get you outside where you belong'. yes, I'm really losing it!

5. WHAT DOES IT COST AND WHO DO i CONTACT?

The course IS pricey - about 100 quid. However it is very intensive and actually involves hours of 'therapy'. When you consider that the going ra
te for private therapy is about 30 quid an hour, it's not bad.

I suspect that there are no more courses this year (they only run a few each year). Your best bet is to phone London Zoo on 020-7722 3333 and ask to speak to someone in relation to the Friendly Spider Programme.

I really really hope that this encourages people to overcome their fears and I'd be very interested to hear how you get along. Good luck everyone and remember - spiders ARE lovely really (yeah - right!)

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