How To Squash Your Fear of Bugs (and Other Phobias)
How To! with Mike Pesca
Peach Fish Projects
4.3 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 11 January 2022
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Every year, around the same time, Peter's apartment comes alive. The shadows begin to scuttle and the pipes creak with creepy crawlies. At least that's how it feels. Peter is freaked out by Israel's large flying cockroaches. Logically, he knows they don't pose a threat. But he can't control his visceral disgust at encountering one and his panicked vigilance in the days that follow. On this episode of How To!, we bring on Dr. Elizabeth McMahon, a clinical psychologist who has been treating phobias like these for the last 30 years. She has some very practical advice for Peter, and anyone else with an irrational fear they'd like to overcome. Elizabeth often uses virtual reality therapy with her clients, most recently to treat needle phobias. She's made this needle phobia training available for licensed therapists or supervised trainees.
If you liked this episode, check out "How To Not Be Scared."
Do you have a question with no easy answers? Send us a note at howto@slate.com or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001 and we might have you on the show.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi everyone, I'm Susie Weiss, and I've noticed there's just simply not enough podcasts in the world. So I'm launching my own. Let's go. Let's go, baby. Second Thought is a weekly show about pop culture. The stuff everyone's been binging, arguing about, obsessing over. Here's the thing about heated rivalry. I mean, even the most devoted swifties, I think we can agree, not our best work. We'll be hosting thoughtful conversations with culture's most important figures. Talk about genius. |
| 0:22.6 | Talk about generational talent. |
| 0:23.7 | Coming to headphones near you |
| 0:24.8 | on April 17th with a first guest you won't want to miss. Available wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:30.6 | Hey listeners, you may have noticed something a little different in your podcast player. In the spirit |
| 0:35.1 | of New Year, New You, we decided to give ourselves a |
| 0:38.5 | 2022 makeover. Instead of the old yellow legal pad, look for our new sky blue cover art with |
| 0:44.9 | the paper airplane. Hopefully, it'll lift your spirits while we keep solving your problems. |
| 0:51.1 | You know, I do have some memories of maybe one crawling on my leg for a second and then jumping off. |
| 1:02.0 | Was it when you were a little? |
| 1:04.0 | Yeah. |
| 1:05.0 | I think it was in the shower, which was worse. |
| 1:08.0 | Right. |
| 1:09.0 | I think it came out of the drain, |
| 1:12.9 | crawled over my leg, and went back to the drain. |
| 1:17.4 | I'm Amanda Ripley. |
| 1:19.4 | Welcome to Fear Factor. |
| 1:22.7 | Just joking. |
| 1:24.2 | This is still how to. |
| 1:29.4 | There will be no jumping off of buildings or live burials or creepy crawly monsters, |
| 1:35.0 | at least not until later. But we are going to help you face some of your more irrational fears today. |
| 1:41.9 | For our listener Peter, the monster in his closet, so to speak, is a small but wily little demon that dates all the way back to the Jurassic period about 200 million years ago. |
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