Tips for Family Members of Phobia Sufferer

Video Transcript

"In this clip we'll talk about how you as a family member can help a loved one with a phobia. One of the things you have to remember is that a phobia is something that's irrational. It's not something that they can control, and it's not something that they're using to try and get attention. By remembering this you can have a little bit more patience and little bit more compassion. Remember there are things that you are afraid of that maybe others think are silly as well. You want to really try and not make fun of them especially if it's a case where they're afraid of spiders, and they see one, and they run screaming from the room. Natural instinct is to kind of laugh or make light of the subject, but you have to remember that when you're really afraid of something, and that fear that it provokes in you that's what's happening to them, but on a much higher level. So you want to try and calm them down, you don't want to try and make light their fears. And you don't want to say things like, "oh it's just a spider, it's not a big deal." One of the things you can do to help them is maybe kind of pay attention to when these responses happen. What happens? Do they seem to get really agitated. Do you notice any kind of change in their personality. Do they start sleeping less, sleeping more, eating more, eating less. These are things that you as an observer are going to be much better positioned to see and kind of keep tabs on. And as a family member you can sometimes, if the person is okay with it and you have their permission, can go with them to a doctor's appointment or to a session. And help kind of shed light and say, "these are the things that I've been seeing, and this is kind of how it seems when this happens." By being able to be that second person, be the observer, and someone who still loves and cares about them. You might actually be key person in helping them solve some of their phobias a lot faster than them trying to remember exactly what's going on. Because at that moment they're panicking, and when you panic your brain kind of shuts off and you don't really see everything that's going on. As a family member you can empower yourself and you can empower them by having as much knowledge about whatever it is that's going on."