Originally Posted by
faye84
I think this post is slightly unfair. I was able to overcome a lot to do with this phobia, however I don't quite know how I did it exactly, I just know that the time was right for me and I tackled things head on. BUT - just because someone is avoiding things doesn't mean they don't want to actually get better. Many people are let down by the medical system and just dismissed as having anorexia, anxiety disorders etc and literally just left to get on with it. I was for a long time. This leads to people trying to protect themselves in the best way they know how, which can lead to avoidance.
I highly doubt that if you went and did a survey of 1000 people with a phobia of snakes, they would all jump up and say 'Hell yeah, I'll just go right ahead and sit in that room full of snakes even though I'm terrified of them!'
Lots of people DO want to get better, it's just they either don't feel mentally strong enough to push against the mental trauma that 'doing things out of the ordinary' can cause, for some people.
I do think to an extent that people have to push themselves to get better sometimes, but on the other hand it's not really as 'simple' as that. It can take years and years for people to recover from all manner of things, they may be taking little steps in their everyday life that they feel comfortable with, but still post here because they are amongst people that 'get them'. That doesn't mean they don't want to get better!