DIFFERENT TREATMENTS OF PHOBIA AND THEIR EFFECTIVENESS

This research paper aims to discuss the effectiveness of different treatments of phobia and whether or not some treatments should be abolished in favour of other more effective ones through the results of several trials and studies. These treatments include therapy, medication and self-help. For therapy, in vivo therapy (IVT), virtual reality therapy (VRT) and hypnotherapy (HT) will be discussed. It is found that IVT proves to be the most effective, VRT helps to ease transition into IVT, and HT needs to be used with other types of treatments to bring out its full effects. For medication, both benzodiazepines and antidepressants will be considered. It found that although the use of benzodiazepines is helpful in the acute treatment of phobias, it leads to high risk of withdrawal symptoms, abuse liability and tolerance, while antidepressants such as Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors and Serotonin Selective Reuptake Inhibitors are commonly more beneficial than benzodiazepines due to lower risks of overdependence. For self-help, web-based self-help treatment with or without therapist guidance is shown to be effective towards overcoming phobias. It is hoped that through this research paper, decisions could be made on the abolishment of certain phobia treatments to reduce patient discomfort and save resources.