When I was growing up I was terrified of snakes, even though I had never actually seen one in real life. I had seen them on TV, though. Then one day I read a newspaper article about a man who died after being bitten by a snake, and that was enough to fill me with a terrible fear of them. I avoided going to zoos or walking in the countryside in case I saw one.
A few years ago, I met someone who had a phobia of spiders, but who now wasn't frightened of them at allHe gave me the name of the woman who had helped him and I arranged to meet her. Elizabeth was fantastic. We talked about why my fear of snakes had started in the first place then she asked me to look at some pictures of snakes. It was difficult, but once I had done it a few times, slowly I started to feel less frightened. We repeated the process with some plastic snakes and finally the day came when I was able to touch a real snake that someone had brought to Elizabeth's office.
My fear of snakes has completely disappeared now and I can even hold them without feeling afraid. I should have asked for help earlier!