Personal Woes and Advice 2

[Kindablue]

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@Kindablue- I'm sorry for this sudden fear. You said this started recently? How strange. Unfortunately I don't really know a lot for how these sorts of things happen. Any advice I have is typically only useful if you aren't driving...I hope that there is someone in the Playground who knows better how to handle fears. I do wish you the best for getting better with it. Any attempt to deal with your fear is a step in the right direction.

Thanks.

General advice for dealing with phobias:

1) Desensitization. Sucks, but it's a thing. Find some aspect that scares you a little (maybe a pedestrian bridge? Some other enclosed/narrow space? Just guessing here, since you say it's not a height thing) and work on that until you're comfortable with it. Then try something a little harder.

A part of me was hoping someone was going to say, "drive over a lot of bridges at once."

The problem is that I already go over a lot of bridges in my day-to-day. It's really only the one big one that freaks me out, and I also go over that every day too.

2) As a corollary: Reward yourself. Think Skinner box. Try to build some positive associations with bridges - eat a chocolate whenever you go over one, or put a cute sticker on your dashboard, or something. Make it be immediate, though; don't think "if I go over the bridge every day for a week without panicking, I'll go out for dinner." You can do that too, but the immediate reward is really important.

Yeah, I never would've thought of that. I think I'll try it, thanks!

3) If it continues, gets worse, or starts to interfere with your life (e.g., it scares you so much you have to stop going to work, or sit at the bottom of the bridge for an hour every morning working up your nerve) see a therapist.



General disclaimer: I am not a doctor. I am not a therapist. I have dealt with anxiety disorders, both in myself and in family members. Advice on the internet is what you pay for it.

I think I figured it out. Hurtling 200 feet in the air at speeds upward of 65 miles an hour over shark infested waters is scary. Not irrationally scary, normal scary. You have to be irrational to live in a world where that's mundane.

I'm overthinking it, basically.

Thank you for the advice.