What is the Best Spider Phobia Treatment?
Is the London Zoo ‘Friendly Spider Programme’ or the various hypnotherapists out there really the best option? There are a plethora of spider phobia treatments available all over London and the UK. In fact, one may wonder which one they should pick. It can be overwhelming!
Doing a Google search of phrases like ‘how can I cure my fear of spiders? ‘ or ‘spider phobia treatment’ you will come up with many different results. Many of our clients had already tried The Friendly Spider Programme or just hypnotherapy alone. These options did not give lasting results. Sadly, many people stop believing a real cure of a fear of spiders can actually exist!
But that is why Creature Courage has done the hard work for you with years of research to create the perfect arachnophobia therapy; The Spider Courage Experience! Lasting results are possible to get over your spider phobia for good! We will help you understand why other treatments will often fail to give lasting results for a spider phobia. Additionally, we will explain why the Spider Courage Experience succeeds in this article.
The True Fear Behind Arachnophobia
The reason why both The Friendly Spider Programme and many hypnotherapists will fail is because they do not address the real fear behind a spider phobia: being out of control. This is also known as an intolerance to uncertainty. Almost all animal phobias are based in this fear.
It is not simply the look of the animal. The real fear is how the animal can move unpredictably and show up in an unexpected way. Basically, being an uncontrollable element in a person’s life. This connected to people’s wider relationship with how they handle all anxiety triggers, especially unpredictability.
We noticed many people are not as scared when they see a spider, but more so when they don’t know where it is. We can get people to be very calm while even handling spiders. However, they become afraid again if they can’t see the spider anymore. This points to the true reason of the fear, being out of control.
Therefore, the Spider Courage Experience has designed our therapy to address and desensitise our clients to the feeling of being out of control. We also look at the bigger picture and train our clients to handle all anxiety triggers in a healthier way. This holistic approach to anxiety in context with a spider phobia is not usually addressed in other treatments. Lets look a little deeper.
The Friendly Spider Programme?
The London Zoo and their famous ‘Friendly Spider Programme’ has been running for over 25 years. It starts out with the right idea by exposing people to actual spiders.
However, their are a few downsides to the Friendly Spider Programme in our opinion. Many of their ex clients have come to the Spider Courage Experience because they did not have lasting results. Below is what we noticed The Friendly Spider Programme lacks and thus we have been sure to provide within our own arachnophobia treatment.
What The Friendly Spider Programme Lacks:
- The Friendly Spider Programme is done in large groups of up to 40 people! It’s impossible to create situations where clients can face an uncontrolled situation with spiders in large groups. It would be chaos! The spider is always in a little plastic box which is not a natural situation you would face at home. Thus the core root fear of being out of control is never addressed.
- The large groups make it impossible to tailor the therapy to each individual.
- Only 15 minutes of hypnotherapy. Unfortunately, the hypnotherapy is based on older outdated modules of phobia treatment and isn’t long enough to do deeper work.
- Limited time to do the immersive therapy: The immersive therapy is only done for a maximum for 2 hours. It is also limited in how it can be done because of the number of people attending.
- The Friendly Spider Programme lacks other phobia-fighting techniques that are included in the Spider Courage Experience. These include: art therapy, imagination meditative exercises, NLP techniques, (neuro-linguistic programming) and also CBT techniques.
- The Friendly Spider Programme fails to address spider phobias within the wider context of overall anxiety for their clients. You can’t develop a better habit in one area of your anxiety but then continue to have bad habits in other areas and expect your results to last. A spider phobia, like any phobia, needs to be addressed holistically. Training and awareness needs to be given on how to better handle all anxiety in a healthier way.
- No follow-up or further support. The Friendly Spider Programme has nothing to offer for people who need more support. This means that many of their relapsed clients have turned to the Spider Courage Experience.
Hypnotherapists?
Now lets look at the unending hypnotherapists paying for sponsored ads on Google. Many Hypnotherapists offer quick solutions, even promising to cure your fear of spiders over a webcam! Problematically, these hypnotherapy sessions do not include any form of real immersion with live spiders. Because of this, the root fear of unpredictability and being out of control is never addressed.
Our therapy is based on our years of experience, using the power of proven neuroscience. We know hypnotherapy alone is not a lasting solution for overcoming a fear of spiders. If you can’t prove your hypnotherapy works on the day, how do you know it was really effective at all? And a video and picture of a spider are not the same as a real spider. A video and a picture of a spider can be controlled.
If there is no immersive therapy aspect to the spider phobia treatment then you did not actually face your fear. For the brain to change on a subconscious level, you need to actually do the thing you thought you could not do. So in this case, actually interact with a spider. You need a memory of becoming desensitized to the trigger. So the next time you see a spider, your brain remembers that you no longer have to be afraid.
Also, many of these hypnotherapists are very expensive, some even charging hundreds of pounds for only an hour or two if you are lucky. For our price, we give you 8 hours of therapy in just one day! Even longer if you need it, we are very generous with our time. The Spider Courage Experience works with you at your pace in a gentle and kind way to achieve your goals.
Please read our in depth analysis on the science of hypnotherapy versus exposure therapy in this fascinating blog.
A Lasting and Empowering Solution:
The Spider Courage Experience combines hypnotherapy and immersive therapy for powerful and lasting results. We empower our clients to become mentally strong enough to be able to do immersive therapy. We take the time and patience to work with you until you are actually BORED of interacting with a spider. Can you imagine? You really cannot be afraid of something that you have a memory of being bored of, can you?
The Spider Courage Experience also targets the core root of spider phobias: the fear of being out of control. We designed our immersive therapy to slowly help clients work with spiders in natural and less controlled situations. These are situations that would actually be encountered in the real world. Thus enabling you to feel confident to face a spider in any situation, not one just in a plastic box.
Additionally, we are very holistic in our approach, giving our clients the tools and awareness to manage all anxiety in a better way. This means clients will be able to keep the spider phobia away in a lasting way because over all courage is being built up.
Creature Courage took a lot of time to research and review all previous existing arachnophobia treatments in the UK. We found out what was really working about them and what was lacking. We sought real people with real needs to see what a perfect arachnophobia treatment could offer. Through the years of doing the Spider Courage Experience, we have fine-tuned our therapy through learning even more by experience.
Therefore, we are very proud to offer the most comprehensive, effective and best value for money arachnophobia treatment in the UK! Based on neuro science with proven results, choose the treatment that will actually work THE SPIDER COURAGE EXPERIENCE!
Get In Touch Today
If you’re unsure about whether or not you should seek professional help, head on over to our spider phobia assessment quiz to find out if you have arachnophobia! Or contact us and we will be happy to tell you more about our therapy on the phone or through email. If you are ready to book, you can do so here.