Tears From A Clown

Coulrophobia: an irrational and overwhelming fear of clowns. Check out this video:



The first time I watched this video I thought the therapist was a bit . . . well, cruel. But when I watched it a second time I realized that people with irrational fears need to be pushed to confront those fears. Notice how he gets her to "graph" her level of fear between 1 and 100. He does this for three reasons (I think); first to help her realize that that are different levels of fear (not just "calm" and "terrified"), secondly to help her think rationally about emotional events, and thirdly to help chart her progress in losing her fear. I also like how he uses systematic desensitization to slowly get her more comfortable with increasing amounts of exposure to clowns. For people with phobias, another technique that works well is immersion therapy, which pairs desensitization with relaxation techniques.

So . . . does anyone out there have an irrational phobia? Or know of anyone who does? Phobias are powerful because they become learned emotional responses - ones that aren't rational. Once an irrational fear is not challenged, emotional response can "solidify" it in the brain so that the sufferer loses their ability to imagine them self without it. Most people with phobias eventually realize that they are irrational (like the woman in the video)- but the fear response remains. There is only one way to deal with phobias - you have to face your fear. Even Freud with all of his crazy theories admitted as such. All successful therapies have this as their central component. So if you or someone you know has an irrational fear and want to beat it, this is what you (or they) will have to do . . .