Is it possible for someone to die from therapy of confronting their phobia?
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at
7:21 am
Daba D asked:
What if someone is afraid of something (spiders, tight spaces, rodents, etc) to the point of paralyzing fear? If they were to confront their phobia for therapy, could it actually kill them instead of making them better?
What if someone is afraid of something (spiders, tight spaces, rodents, etc) to the point of paralyzing fear? If they were to confront their phobia for therapy, could it actually kill them instead of making them better?
Tagged with: Phobia • Rodents • Tight Spaces
Filed under: Phobias
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Anything in life is possible =)
Nah. The worst they would do is pass out and hit their head.
yes- heart attack. Ever watch CSI? there was an episode lilke that.
It is unlikely they would die unless they had an unlying medical condition (like heart disease) that is affected badly by stress.
it has been told that someone can but its not because of the phobia its self it is because a persons heart will beat super fast from being scared and overflow the bodys functions causing everything to shut down and than die if you go into therapy being calm and collected its very doubtful it will happen
Not if they are under the care of a competent therapy. While confronting a fear of that kind would augment your stress levels, a competent therapist would recognize that and take you at a pace that would not over-stress you.
It’s not like they’re going to throw you into a hole full of spiders, and take you out when you’ve stopped screaming and hyper-ventilating. Makes for good TV dramas, but it doesn’t work that way in real life.
Anything is possible. It is unlikely, though. The most likely way the person would die is if they were so scared that they stopped breathing or that they feared something legitimately dangerous and it killed them. Fear doesn’t kill. People just get scared and things happen.
It is possible to pass out or have a heart attack due to the stress of being confronted with the event. However, very few therapist use this technique, called flooding, to treat phobias. They don’t, because it IS so stressful and people would be turned off from treatment. Also, there’s a good chance of getting sued using this.
The most common treatment for phobias is systematic desensitization, which is a gradual exposure to feared stimuli. You start off with the least anxiety provoking thing and move up from there. That way, you’ve worked your way up to the most feared thing (spiders, heights, etc) and it isn’t so bad. It can take anywhere from a few weeks to months to completely remove the anxiety, but it’s a very effective treatment, and you aren’t as likely to die
Hell no. Where would you get a demented idea like that?
They could try hypnotherapy to overcome their phobia and it may help.