There has been a definite increase in both fears and anxiety in our world. In my experience, as a psychologist, usually fear precedes anxiety but not all the time. We often hear individuals almost proudly articulate their long list of fears which sounds something like, well I’m afraid of spiders, and heights, and dogs, high places caves, Dentist… just for starters! (by this time just going through the list of fears, the individual has a multitude of fearful expressions on their face and throughout their body)
A typical fear would be defined “as something that has suddenly arrived in my life, I think a great deal about it and I must do everything to avoid it”.
In contrast anxiety would be defined “something that has been bothering me and makes me afraid…. often, it’s a vague feeling, that is just around the corner from me”.
Years ago, professionals would typically address these fears and anxieties that were brought to them by their clients, utilizing a therapeutic process called desensitization. Desensitization is typically a meticulous process of exposing the anxious or fearful person, with small amounts of the fear at a time. It usually was effective if it was done slowly and was reasonably structured. Unfortunately, often the desensitization would not last because it was not hardwired into the psyche and the client tended to avoid the fear. In the process of desensitization, the individual is slowly exposed to the fear, over the over again, there is the belief that like with allergy shots in which one receives a little bit of the antigen that makes them sneeze, with a little bit more added each time, individual all naturally absorb within the body without much reaction or resistance. Regarding psychological issues, it is similar as one is exposed slowly to the fearful entity (usually at a “safe distance”) and then each week, adding a little bit more, and adding a little bit more, and a little bit more, eventually the person becomes desensitized to whatever they were afraid of.
I recall several years at the local mental health center which I started, being consulted by a basketball player, let’s call him Billy, a senior in high school and an excellent athlete who excelled in basketball. Billy was excited that he recently received a scholarship to prestigious university in an adjacent state, but he quickly shared that he was terrified to go over a bridge. Apparently, there was a history the family experienced while living in Florida during a hurricane they had just traversed over a bridge a few hours earlier and then they were informed that the hurricane hit the bridge causing it to collapse into the river and several people were injured and killed. Understandably this had become an obsession with Billy and unfortunately became a common topic in family discussions as well as with friends.
Occasionally, Billy would miss a basketball game because there was no way to get to the game without going over a bridge or attempting to bypass bridges by going very long meticulous route which would be very time consuming as well as being a very frustrating experience for Billy as well as embarrassing. Over a couple of years, I have developed interesting ways of helping people to manage their fears and anxiety utilizing biofeedback particularly the galvanic skin response, which would instantly measure the fight or flight hormones, especially cortisol which we all know is very uncomfortable. Biofeedback had become very popular and successful in training astronauts for space travel as they would learn to manage their fears and anxieties with this relatively simple, but helpful instrument which would measure emotional state by way of chemical changes within a second and a half as the electrodes on the skin measured the resistance provided an instantaneous audio and visual readout. Simultaneously I gathered about 10 or 12 pictures of the route from my office leading to the Gallatin 109 bridge and two or three pictures walking partway up the bridge and standing at the top of the bridge. In my office I would show Billy the pictures of the Bridge with the least arousal level and then train Billy with easy and effective techniques to lower his fear and modify the anxiety feelings that he would experience. It was quickly apparent to Billy and myself when he was being successful and it was fairly easy to intervene with a different thought or belief which would allow Billy to be able to make this transition with several practices and successful outcomes; so that when we had our final meeting at my office, we both fairly confidently knew he was most likely going to be successful as he ventured toward the bridge. We briefly met at my office and reviewed everything we would be doing and then we agreed to meet at the base of the bridge to complete our therapeutic process.
Of course we have reviewed the sequence 10 or 12 different shots closer and closer toward the bridge and this gentleman overtime has learned to respond within a normal range of feelings and he was very proud of himself for being able to do this during the summer with even a more challenging recommendation that we would walk to the very top of the bridge and leisurely stand there for 10 or 15 minutes talking about the beautiful view, the exciting adventure of attending this prestigious University as a scholarship basketball player, who is free now to pursue his career not far from home, in a nearby state. When we returned to the bottom of the bridge, we shook hands, and I encouraged Billy to complete his next step in his journey. I understand that early the next morning Billy took his next step in his basketball career as he confidently and successfully drove across the Cumberland River on the 109 bridge.
Tim Lynch PhD. Licensed Clinical Psychologist
