When I was in my early 20’s I had two incidents that instilled in me a *serious* phobia against flying and heights. It was so bad that I’d faint when my husband drove over a bridge. (Lord help me if I accidentally drove onto an overpass.) I had to be sedated to fly.
I *hated* this absolute lack of control. (Especially since I was a climber as a teen and loved flying so much that I was studying to be a pilot of small aircraft.)
Three years ago, I decided to fix it. I started watching video after video of people in extreme height situations. My son directed me to a video game - Mirror’s Edge - and I spent hours watching gameplay videos. Glass elevator vidoes helped, too.
I watched a minimum of two hours of height videos every night for a couple of months. The anxiety eventually dropped, then I started forcing myself to feel enjoyment and anticipation.
Then the test. Austin’s overpass system.
When my husband came home from war, he took me to Austin and he drove over as many as he could in an afternoon.
I had to fly a few months later. I got a window seat and had absolutely zero anxiety. I actually enjoyed it.
I did some work on my spider phobia, and I do plan on following through with that to the point where I can comfortably hold a trantula. My son’s found an owner of a pet store who’s willing to work with me.
Immersion therapy works. Guys who play violent battlefield video games have much lower rates of PTSD.
What doesn’t work? Counseling, therapy, and medications. In my personal experience, counseling and talk therapy did nothing but reinforce my negative feelings and medications were a bandaid that didn’t heal the wound.