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How to Overcome Fear of Spiders

David Logan 2,448 Comments

Video – VLog #31

How to remove the fear of spiders?

How to overcome the fear of heights?

Willie Nicol and David Logan discuss fears and how to overcome the fear of spiders in this video.

Script – VLog #31

David Logan: Welcome everybody – Week 31. My name is David Logan. I’m the IT Geek. Here, based in Annan, South West Scotland. With me this week is my crime partner, partner in crime, ex-policeman – Willie Nicol. So, Willie, how are you today? And, where are you?

Willie Nicol: I’m very well David, thanks. No pun intended there – partner in crime. I’m the Techno Dinosaur and also a personal development coach. I’m based near Troon, Ayrshire, Scotland.

David Logan: Fantastic. So, my, my job in this video series is the IT Geek. The guy who takes the difficulty, the technicalities out of technical stuff. The jargon out of technical computers, stuff.

David Logan: So, Willie, week 31 question for you. All humans, friends, family, you name it, will have our own specific fear. Whether it’s a fear of flying, fear of heights but, I want to look at one specific fear – spiders. I hear that coming up quite a lot. How does one remove that fear?

Willie Nicol: That’s a very good question David. Just to start off on a general basis – fear is perfectly normal. Now, I’ve talked at length about the fight or flight response. Fear keeps us safe; it keeps us on our toes. We know not to cross the road without looking cause we’re feart of getting knocked down. Fear can be overcome by logic and reason. We know not to step off the pavement without looking. We know not to go near a burning fire, right, and the fear bit of it, yeah, I’ll wait till that dies down a bit. The fear keeps us safe. It’s only when the fear develops into, if you like, irrationality, something that’s not logical – then it becomes a phobia.

Willie Nicol: So, a phobia is almost like a fear on steroids. Fear we can cope with, phobia become something entirely different. So, you’re talking about spiders : arachnophobia; flying : aviophobia, claustrophobia etc, etc. So, a phobia is a fear which has been exaggerated to the point where it actually has an inhibitive effect on your activities.

Willie Nicol: For example, I have a loft in which there are spiders. My wife and daughter will not go into that loft in case they see a spider. They might not, but in case they do, they won’t go there. Other people might not go out at night because they might walk into a spider’s web. Or there’s a spider in the bath and they can’t have a bath because the spider’s there and then there’s usually a lot of screaming and shouting and someone else has to go in and deal with the spider before they can have the bath.

Willie Nicol: So, a phobia is a more exaggerated fear which has an impact on the sufferer which stops them doing what they would ordinarily do.

David Logan: Good. So, when we’re born, as a one-day old baby, do we have fears?

Willie Nicol: That’s a very difficult question to answer because they can’t articulate that, but my understanding is, we don’t have any fears, right.

David Logan: So, what causes fears?

Willie Nicol: Well, the, I think .…

David Logan: What, sorry, that’s not the right word, it’s not what causes – what creates the fears?

Willie Nicol: Okay. For example, you might have been in an incident which was fearful at the time, not been resolved and continues to make you afraid. Let’s say you’re a kid, you were bitten by dog and ever after that you were scared of dogs and that even went into adulthood. You don’t like dogs, you don’t go near dogs, right. That was an incident which created the fear which has stayed with you.

Willie Nicol: Another cause of fear could be learned behaviour. For example, my wife has a fear of spiders, my stepdaughter growing up saw that her mum was afraid of spiders and just naturally assumed it was the right thing to do to be afraid of spiders. So, that’s what they call learned behaviour or absorbed behaviour. Right, these are two of the very basic causes of the fear which turns into the irrational phobia. There are many more causes, but I’ll leave it simplistically at that just now.

David Logan: Great, fantastic, amazing how we grow up with no fear. Youngsters can jump off settee’s, jump off from heights – no fear. And then as we grow up that fear grows into us.

Willie Nicol: I think yes …. I think ….

David Logan: Which I think is down to life experience ….

Willie Nicol: There are two things that you continue to fear which is falling over and I can’t remember the second one.

Willie Nicol: But, fear of heights, for example, kids you know they’ll jump off trees and God knows what all, right. If they break their leg, probably, they’ll not do that again. So, it’s either learned behaviour or something’s happened to you to create that fear and if that stays with you it can be positively debilitating.

Willie Nicol: We know people have claustrophobia, fear of small spaces. Agoraphobia, fear of large spaces. So, there are people who don’t go out their house because they’re frightened of the outside. Or they won’t go into a small room because they feel claustrophobic or they won’t get on a plane because they’re frightened of flying. That phobia inhibits them from doing something that maybe 95% of the population would do without thinking. So, that’s when it holds you back from a normal activity. The fear having become a phobia – the phobia is holding you back, if you like and …. But there are ways to deal with it.

David Logan: Fantastic Willie. Great. I think that’ll do us for this week. If that’s okay with you?

Willie Nicol: Yeah, sure. One thing I would say is you don’t have to live with a fear or a phobia. There are techniques which can overcome that. It’ll maybe not happen in a flash, but it can be overcome. And, when people are unable to leave their house and go out, or able to go into confined spaces, or walking on a plane to have a holiday, right. Would that be life changing? Would that expand their options? Of course it would.

Willie Nicol: So, don’t suffer in silence, as it were. There are ways these fears and phobias can be overcome, just ask me.

David Logan: Thank you Willie. Thanks a lot for your answer and replying back to unprepared questions. It’s always good to keep you on the hop.

David Logan: So, to the viewer if you’ve got fears of flying, fears of heights, fears of spiders or fears of enclosed spaces, like myself – speak to Willie. I’m just giving Willie a thought for a fortnight’s video. So, to the viewer, thank you for listening. Thank you for following. If you’ve got any questions or any suggestions, drop in the comments down below. Comments on the website, comments on the YouTube channel, put them on LinkedIn. If they’re private, send us a private message or a direct message, as we call them, to either of us. I’m sure if you can’t contact one of us you can contact the other.

David Logan: To you the viewer, we need more subscribers in YouTube. Subscribe down here please. Final words, I’m sure you’ll say the same as well, Willie. Be safe, stay healthy as we go into winter. Best thing of all have a great weekend all. Thank you. David Logan, the IT Geek.

Willie Nicol: Yes, thank you David. I will reiterate that. Have a great week and weekend when it comes. Keep yourself safe, keep yourself warm and it’s goodbye from me, Willie – the Techno Dinosaur. Goodbye. 

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