Ok, I am fed up with this phobia....I can't be in the same room as a spider, I can't kill them, I can't touch them, I can't even think about them without being extremely uncomfortable and uneasy and feeling sick.

If I see a spider on tv or someone talks about them, I have to look around to make sure there aren't any around me......then any little itch or crawling feeling I have, I think its a spider and I am freaked out.

For the rest of the day, I have them on my mind and every room I go into, I have to check to make sure there arent any there, and I am convinced that they are going to come down on a thread and crawl on my face.

The other day, I went to turn on a light switch and there was a pretty large sized spider below it....I almost touched it! I screamed, backed up, became dizzy and felt like I was going to throw up and was reduced to tears.

It doesnt matter what type or size of spiders, in fact, the smaller ones might be scarier because if I see one, they seem to be quicker and I can loose track of them easier before someone kills it. But the big ones.....uuuugh I dont want to even think about it.

The crazy thing is that I am not afraid of any other living creature. I can handle all insects, rodents, bugs, snakes etc. and I also am not irrationally worried about things in general so I dont know where this comes from.

I have looked into treatment because it is ridiculous to freak out the way I do but a lot of the treatment I have read about involves touching spiders and letting them crawl on you.

In fact, I know I would avoid any treatment that involves this and would not be able to do it. I feel like I won't ever be able to get to that point of treatment and the though of letting one crawl on me makes me gag and feel VERY uncomfortable, so what else is out there?

After writing this, I know I will have nightmares about them....anyone have any advice for me?

Hello Summie!

I have this phobia too. I cannot stand spiders! The only thing people have told me, is if I want to get over this fear, I would have to do exposure therapy. That would involve holding them! I just can't do it! I'am sorry that I don't have any advice, as I'am trying to get some of my own. Every time I see one, I scream, get goosebumps, get naseated, and feel faint. Most of the time I tear up. When I lived in Denver, I went to the Butterfly Pavillion with my Mom and sisters, well they went to see a Tarantula! My sisters were looking at it, and I lost it! I ran out of the Pavillion crying, and waited for them in the car. Now we have relocated to Montrose Colo., and where we live, the spiders are everywhere. We live in the country, so that's all part of it I guess. I just wish I wasn't so afraid of them.

~NicoletteAshley

I have heard this same thing. Once I watched a 20/20 special (or 48 hours - one of those numbers shows!:)) about a young girl that had the phobia so severly she couldn't leave her home.

Her exposure therapy worked, but it took almost 6 months for her to get to an advanced stage of it. If it is something that is starting to impede on your daily life, then I think you need to seek some help for it.

You gotta look at it this way they're smaller than you. There is no reason to fear them. Most spiders aren't a threat to humans... I bet you that the spider you saw the other day, was more afraid of you than you were of it. :)