Medications can help regulate the apprehension and fear that come from thinking about or being exposed to a particular fearful object or situation. Antidepressant medications such as SSRIs or MAOIs may be helpful in some cases of phobia. SSRIs (antidepressants) act on serotonin, a neurotransmitter in the brain. Since serotonin impacts mood, patients may be prescribed an antidepressant. Sedatives such as benzodiazepines may also be prescribed, which can help patients relax by reducing the amount of anxiety they feel. Benzodiazepines may be useful in acute treatment of severe symptoms, but the risk-benefit ratio is against their long-term use in phobic disorders. This class of medication has recently been shown as effective if used with negative behaviors such as alcohol abuse. Despite this positive finding, benzodiazepines should be used with caution. Beta blockers are another medicinal option as they may stop the stimulating effects of adrenaline, such as sweating, increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, tremors and the feeling of a pounding heart. By taking beta blockers before a phobic event, these symptoms are decreased, causing the event to be less frightening.

The most widely used and possibly the most effective treatment for astraphobia is exposure to thunderstorms and eventually building an immunity. Cognitive behavioral therapy is also often used to treat astraphobia. The patient will in many cases be instructed to repeat phrases to himself or herself in order to become calm during a storm. Heavy breathing exercises can reinforce this effort.

The fear of spiders can be treated by any of the general techniques suggested for specific phobias. The first line of treatment is systematic desensitization – also known as exposure therapy – which was first described by South African psychiatrist Joseph Wolpe. Before engaging in systematic desensitization it is common to train the individual with arachnophobia in relaxation techniques, which will help keep the patient calm. Systematic desensitization can be done in vivo (with live spiders) or by getting the individual to imagine situations involving spiders, then modelling interaction with spiders for the person affected and eventually interacting with real spiders. This technique can be effective in just one session.

Recent advances in technology have enabled the use of virtual or augmented reality spiders for use in therapy. These techniques have proven to be effective.

Hypnotherapy can be used alone and in conjunction with systematic desensitization to treatment phobias. Through hypnotherapy, the underlying cause of the phobia may be uncovered. The phobia may be caused by a past event that the patient does not remember, a phenomenon known as repression. The mind represses traumatic memories from the conscious mind until the person is ready to deal with them. Hypnotherapy may also eliminate the conditioned responses that occur during different situations. Patients are first placed into a hypnotic trance, an extremely relaxed state in which the unconscious can be retrieved. This state allows for patients to be open to suggestion, which helps bring about a desired change. Consciously addressing old memories helps individuals understand the event and see it in a less threatening light.

As with most phobias this fear could be cured with therapy. Relaxation techniques or support groups could also be effective.

The most common methods for the treatment of specific phobias are systematic desensitization and in vivo or exposure therapy.

Many treatment options are available for those suffering from it. Cognitive behavioral therapy is one form of therapy for people who suffer from certain phobias. It focuses on one's fears and the reason they exist. It tries to change and challenge the thought processes behind one's fear. Studies have shown that it has been effective in treating people with equinophobia. Another treatment option is systematic desensitization, which focuses on gradually acclimating patients to their phobias. The first step in this process may involve thinking about horses, followed by looking at pictures of horses. Once the patient is comfortable with the images, they may proceed to meeting a horse, touching a horse, and finally riding a horse. For extreme cases, it may also be necessary to use medication, even though its effects are only short term.

Flight experience with the use of anti-anxiety medications like benzodiazepines or other relaxant/depressant drugs varies from person to person. Medication decreases the person's reflective function. Though this may reduce anxiety caused by inner conflict, reduced reflective function can cause the anxious flier to believe what they are afraid will happen is actually happening.

A double-blind clinical study at the Stanford University School of Medicine suggests that anti-anxiety medication can keep a person from becoming accustomed to flight. In the research, two flights were conducted. In the first flight, though patients given alprazolam (Xanax) reported less anxiety than those receiving a placebo, their measurable stress increased. The heart rate in the alprazolam group was 114 versus 105 beats per minute in the placebo group. Those who received alprazolam also had increased respiration rates (22.7 vs 18.3 breaths/min).

On the second flight, no medication was given. Seventy-one percent of those who received alprazolam on the first flight experienced panic as compared with only 29% of those who received a placebo on the first flight. This suggests that the participants who were not medicated on the first flight benefited from the experience via some degree of desensitization.

Typical pharmacologic therapy is 0.5 or 1.0 mg of alprazolam about an hour before every flight, with an additional 0.5-1.0 mg if anxiety remains high during the flight. The alternative is to advise patients not to take medication, but encourage them to fly without it, instructing them in the principles of self-exposure.

The medical literature suggests a number of treatments that have been proven effective for specific cases of needle phobia, but provides very little guidance to predict which treatment may be effective for any specific case. The following are some of the treatments that have been shown to be effective in some specific cases.

- Ethyl Chloride Spray (and other freezing agents). Easily administered, but provides only superficial pain control.

- Jet Injectors. Jet Injectors work by introducing substances into the body through a jet of high pressure gas as opposed to by a needle. Though these eliminate the needle, some people report that they cause more pain. Also, they are only helpful in a very limited number of situations involving needles i.e. insulin and some inoculations.

- Iontophoresis. Iontophoresis drives anesthetic through the skin by using an electric current. It provides effective anesthesia, but is generally unavailable to consumers on the commercial market and some regard it as inconvenient to use.

- EMLA. EMLA is a topical anesthetic cream that is a eutectic mixture of lidocaine and prilocaine. It is a prescription cream in the United States, and is available without prescription in some other countries. Although not as effective as iontophoresis, since EMLA does not penetrate as deeply as iontophoresis-driven anesthetics, EMLA provides a simpler application than iontophoresis. EMLA penetrates much more deeply than ordinary topical anesthetics, and it works adequately for many individuals.

- Ametop. Ametop gel appears to be more effective than EMLA for eliminating pain during venepuncture.

- Lidocaine/tetracaine patch. A self-heating patch containing a eutectic mixture of lidocaine and tetracaine is available in several countries, and has been specifically approved by government agencies for use in needle procedures. The patch is sold under the trade name "Synera" in the United States and "Rapydan" in European Union. Each patch is packaged in an air-tight pouch. It begins to heat up slightly when the patch is removed from the packaging and exposed to the air. The patch requires 20 to 30 minutes to achieve full anesthetic effect. The Synera patch was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration on 23 June 2005.

- Behavioral therapy. Effectiveness of this varies greatly depending on the person and the severity of the condition. There is some debate as to the effectiveness of behavioral treatments for specific phobias (like blood, injection, injury type phobias), though some data are available to support the efficacy of approaches like exposure therapy. Any therapy that endorses relaxation methods may be contraindicated for the treatment of fear of needles as this approach encourages a drop in blood pressure that only enhances the vasovagal reflex. In response to this, graded exposure approaches can include a coping component relying on applied tension as a way to prevent complications associated with the vasovagal response to specific blood, injury, injection type stimulus.

- Nitrous Oxide (Laughing Gas). This will provide sedation and reduce anxiety for the patient, along with some mild analgesic effects.

- Inhalation General Anesthesia. This will eliminate all pain and also all memory of any needle procedure. On the other hand, it is often regarded as a very extreme solution. It is not covered by insurance in most cases, and most physicians will not order it. It can be risky and expensive and may require a hospital stay.

- Benzodiazepines, such as diazepam (Valium) or lorazepam, may help alleviate the anxiety of needle phobics, according to Dr. James Hamilton. These medications have an onset of action within 5 to 15 minutes from ingestion. A relatively large oral dose may be necessary.

There are several options for treatment of scopophobia. With one option, desensitization, the patient is stared at for a prolonged period and then describes their feelings. The hope is that the individual will either be desensitized to being stared at or will discover the root of their scopophobia.

Exposure therapy, another treatment commonly prescribed, has five steps:

- Evaluation

- Feedback

- Developing a fear hierarchy

- Exposure

- Building

In the evaluation stage, the scopophobic individual would describe their fear to the therapist and try to find out when and why this fear developed. The feedback stage is when the therapist offers a way of treating the phobia. A fear hierarchy is then developed, where the individual creates a list of scenarios involving their fear, with each one becoming worse and worse. Exposure involves the individual being exposed to the scenarios and situations in their fear hierarchy. Finally, building is when the patient, comfortable with one step, moves on to the next.

As with many human health problems support groups exist for scopophobic individuals. Being around other people who face the same issues can often create a more comfortable environment.

Other suggested treatments for scopophobia include hypnotherapy, neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), and energy psychology. In extreme cases of scopophobia, it is possible for the subject to be prescribed anti–anxiety medications. Medications may include benzodiazepines, antidepressants, or beta-blockers.

The following are two therapies normally used in treating specific phobia:

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a short term, skills-focused therapy that aims to help people diffuse unhelpful emotional responses by helping people consider them differently or change their behavior, is effective in treating specific phobias. Exposure therapy is a particularly effective form of CBT for specific phobias. Medications to aid CBT have not been as encouraging with the exception of adjunctive D-clycoserine.

In general anxiolytic medication is not seen as helpful in specific phobia but benzodiazepines are sometimes used to help resolve acute episodes; as 2007 data were sparse for efficacy of any drug.

In vivo or exposure therapy is considered the most effective treatment for cynophobia and involves systematic and prolonged exposure to a dog until the patient is able to experience the situation without an adverse response. This therapy can be conducted over several sessions or, as Dr. Lars-Göran Öst showed in a study done in 1988, can be done in a single multi-hour session. This study utilized 20 female patients suffering from various specific phobias and ranging in age from 16 to 44. Patients were each provided with an individual therapy session in which Dr. Öst combined exposure therapy with modeling (where another person demonstrates how to interact with the feared object) to reduce or completely cure the phobia. As each patient was gradually exposed to the feared stimulus, she was encouraged to approach and finally interact with it as her anxiety decreased, concluding the session when fear had been reduced by 50% or completely eliminated. Once the session was concluded, the patient was then to continue interaction with the feared object on her own to reinforce what had been learned in the therapy session. Dr. Öst's results were collected over a seven-year period and concluded that "90% of the patients were much improved or completely recovered after a mean of 2.1 hours of therapy".

There are also many options for treatment of Ablutophobia. Generally seeking professional help from a person with a background in psychology is the best option. A sufferer of Ablutophobia can also undergo Exposure-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in which the person is allowed to confront the feared object (in this case, water) in controlled situations.

There are anxiety medications that medical professionals can prescribe as well, however these medications have yet to show much promise in the treatments of specific phobias such as Ablutophobia. The use of d-cycloserine (DCS) in conjunction with Exposure therapy is the only drug to show developments in alleviating the phobia-related symptoms even after a 3-month period.

The most common treatment for serious cases is behavior therapy—specifically, systematic desensitization.

Several other self-help treatments exist, mainly involving exposure therapy and relaxation techniques while driving. Additional driving training and practice with a certified teacher also help many to become more confident and less likely to suffer from anxiety.

One of the emerging methods of treating this fear is through the use of virtual therapy.

With repeated exposure, all of the subjects displayed significantly less variance from normal in heart rate acceleration, depression readings, subjective distress, and post-traumatic stress disorder ratings.

There are many ways to treat phobophobia, and the methods used to treat panic disorders have been shown to be effective to treat phobophobia, because panic disorder patients will present in a similar fashion to conventional phobics and perceive their fear as totally irrational. Also, exposure based techniques have formed the basis of the armamentarium of behaviour therapists in the treatment of phobic disorders for many years, they are the most effective forms of treatment for phobic avoidance behavior. Phobics are treated by exposing them to the stimuli which they specially fear, and in case of phobophobia, it is both the phobia they fear and their own sensations. There are two ways to approach interoceptive exposure on patients:

- Paradoxical intention: This method is especially useful to treat the fear towards the phobophobia and the phobia they fear, as well as some of the sensations the patient fears. This method exposes the patient to the stimuli that causes the fear, which they avoid. The patient is directly exposed to it bringing them to experience the sensations that they fear, as well as the phobia. This exposure based technique helps the doctor by guiding the patient to encounter their fears and overcome them by feeling no danger around them.

- Symptoms artificially produced: This method is very useful to treat the fear towards the sensations encountered when experiencing phobophobia, the main feared stimuli of this anxiety disorder. By ingestion of different chemical agents, such as caffeine, CO-O or adrenalin, some of the symptoms the patient feels when encountering phobophobia and other anxiety disorders are triggered, such as hyperventilation, heart pounding, blurring of vision and paresthesia, which can lead to the controlling of the sensations by the patients. At first, panic attacks will be encountered, but eventually, as the study made by Doctor Griez and Van den Hout shows, the patient shows no fear to somatic sensations and panic attacks and eventually of the phobia feared.

Cognitive modification is another method that helps considerably to treat phobophobics. When treating the patients with the method, doctors correct some wrong information the patient might have about his disease, such as their catastrophic beliefs or imminent disaster by the feared phobia. Some doctors have even agreed that this is the most helpful component, since it has shown to be very effective especially if combined with other methods, like interoceptive exposure. The doctor seeks to convince patients that their symptoms do not signify danger or loss of control, for example, if combined with the interoceptive exposure, the doctor can show them that there is no unavoidable calamity and if the patient can keep themselves under control, they learn by themselves that there is no real threat and that it is just in their mind. Cognitive modification also seeks to correct other minor misconceptions, such as the belief that the individual will go crazy and may need to be "locked away forever" or that they will totally lose control and perhaps "run amok". Probably, the most difficult aspect of cognitive restructuring for the majority of the patients will simply be to identify their aberrant beliefs and approach them realistically.

Relaxation and breathing control techniques are used to produce the symptoms naturally. The somatic sensations, the feared stimuli of phobophobia, are sought to be controlled by the patient to reduce the effects of phobophobia. One of the major symptoms encountered is that of hyperventilation, which produce dizziness, faintness, etc. So, hyperventilation is induced in the patients in order to increase their CO levels that produce some of this symptoms. By teaching the patients to control this sensations by relaxing and controlling the way they breathe, this symptoms can be avoided and reduce phobophobia. This method is useful if combined with other methods, because alone it doesn't treat other main problems of phobophobia.

Fear of mice may be treated by any standard treatment for specific phobias. The standard treatment of animal phobia is systematic desensitization, and this can be done in the consulting room (in vivo), or in hypnosis (in vitro). Some clinicians use a combination of both in vivo and in vitro desensitization during treatment. It is also helpful to encourage patients to experience some positive associations with mice: thus, the feared stimulus is paired with the positive rather than being continuously reinforced by the negative.

Phobias of this sort can usually be treated by different types of therapies, including: cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), psychotherapy, behavior therapy and exposure therapy.

Practice may play an important part in overcoming fear. It may be helpful to sufferers to increase phone usage at a slow pace, starting with simple calls and gradually working their way up. For example, they may find it easier to start with automated calls, move on to conversations with family and friends, and then further extend both the length of conversations and the range of people with whom conversations are held.

Patients are typically sent to therapy for BII phobia in order to receive therapeutic treatments to calm their levels of anxiety and stress. Therapists use a combination of psychological and physical measures, such as applying muscle tension, in order to help the patient to be aware that there is certainly a needle in front of them.

A popular method of treatment for BII phobics is Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT), which is a technique that allows the patient to become immune to their fear by being exposed to it. For BII phobics, patients are given pictures of needles or blood, they are also asked to draw pictures of these needles and speak about it. Afterwards, they are given an actual needle, and the goal is: by that point, that the patient is to be comfortable enough with their fear of needles and blood.

Some patients may refuse professional help for their phobia. Instead, a different type of treatment solely revolves around motivation and whether or not the patient is willing to undergo through treating their phobia with self-help. Similar to CBT, patients treat themselves by completing exercises to become immune to their fear. This requires no professional assistance and merely relies on the person.

Research on hypnotherapy has been looked upon to treat patients with BII phobia. Hypnotherapists are known for using relaxing therapies towards individuals with common anxiety issues. A form of therapy given to patients with BII phobia include the “Applied Tension” method, which was developed by Lars-Göran Öst and his colleagues at the University of Uppsala in Sweden. This “coping method involves creating tension on a person’s arms, legs, and chest until they start to feel their body temperature rising,” (Robertson) which usually occurs within 10 to 20 seconds. These sessions of muscle tension is repeated 5 times with 20 to 30 second breaks. Patients should complete this form of therapy over the course of 5 weeks. This helps to prevent the patient from fainting by applying tension to the body, the blood pressure steadily rises, preventing any sudden drop until their vaccination is complete. By using this treatment, there was a noticeable improvement by 90% of patients with BII phobia. Compared to patients that only used the relaxation methods, where only 60% showed noticeable improvement.

Along with muscle tension,there are several methods of physical maneuvers that can help with the treatment of BII phobia. Therapists suggest that while being injected, patients should perform movements, such as: leg crossing, muscle tensing, and holding in the breath. Patients are instructed by their therapist to perform these maneuvers simultaneously while being injected with a needle. It’s also recommended that the patient stays seated with their head lowered while performing these movements.

Autophobia is a form of anxiety that can cause a minor to extreme feeling of danger or fear when alone. There is not a specific treatment to cure autophobia as it affects each person differently. Most sufferers are treated with psychotherapy in which the amount of time that they are alone is slowly increased. There are no conclusive studies currently that support any medications being used as treatment. If the anxiety is too intense medications have been used to aid the patient in a continuation of the therapy.

It is not uncommon for sufferers to be unaware that they have this anxiety and to dismiss the idea of seeking help. Much like substance abuse, autophobia is mental and physical and requires assistance from a medical professional. Medication can be used to stabilize symptoms and inhibit further substance abuse. Group and individual therapy is used to help ease symptoms and treat the phobia.

In mild cases of autophobia, treatment can sometimes be very simple. Therapists recommend many different remedies to make patients feel as though they are not alone even when that is the case, such as listening to music when running errands alone or turning on the television when at home, even if it is just for background noise. Using noise to interrupt the silence of isolated situations can often be a great help for people suffering from autophobia.

However, it is important to remember that just because a person may feel alone at times does not mean that they have autophobia. Most people feel alone and secluded at times; this is not an unusual phenomenon. Only when the fear of being alone beings to interrupt how a person lives their daily life does the idea of being autophobic become a possibility.

In some cases, education can considerably diminish concern about physical safety. Learning how aircraft fly, how airliners are flown in practice, and other aspects of aviation can reduce anxiety. Many people have dealt with the problem by learning to fly or skydive, effectively removing their fear of the unknown. Some educate themselves; others attend courses offered by pilots or airlines.

Though education plays an important role, the knowledge that turbulence will not destroy the aircraft does not stop the amygdala - the part of the brain responsible for generating most emotional responses, and via the Hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, the release of stress hormones - from reacting. In turbulence, repeated downward movements of the plane trigger one release of stress hormones after another. A build-up of stress hormones can cause a person to be terrified despite having every reason to know logically that the plane is not in danger. In such cases, therapy — in addition to education — is needed to prevent the release of stress hormones so that the anxious flier may gain relief.

Behavioral therapies such as systematic desensitization developed by Joseph Wolpe and cognitive behavior therapy developed by Aaron Beck rest on the theory that an initial sensitizing event (ISE) has created the phobia. The gradually increased exposure needed for systematic desensitization is difficult to produce in actual flight. Desensitization using virtual flight has been disappointing. Clients report that simulated flight using computer-generated images does not desensitize them to risk because throughout the virtual flight they were aware they were in an office. Research shows Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) to be no more effective than sitting on a parked airplane. As a practical substitute for systematic desensitization, the amygdala can be taught to regard a stimulus as benign by linking it to an experience already regarded by the amygdala as benign. This alternative has been termed systematic inhibition of the amygdala.

Hypnotherapy generally involves regression to the ISE, uncovering the event, the emotions around the event, and helping the client understand the source of their fear. It is sometimes the case that the ISE has nothing to do with flying at all.

Neurological research by Allan Schore and others using EEG-fMRI neuroimaging suggests that though it may first be manifest following a turbulent flight, fear of flying is not the result of a sensitizing event. The underlying problem is inadequate development of ability to regulate emotion when facing uncertainty, except through feeling in control or able to escape. According to Schore, the ability to adequately regulate emotion fails to develop when relationship with caregivers is not characterized by attunement and empathy. "Because these mothers are unable to regulate their own distress, they cannot regulate their infant's distress." Chronic stress and emotional dysregulation during the first two years of life inhibits development of the right prefrontal orbito cortex, and hinders the integration of the emotional control system. This renders the right prefrontal orbito cortex incapable of carrying out its executive role in the regulation of emotion. Some who disagree with the importance of early experience regard this view point as contentious. However, Harvard University and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child state, "Genes provide the basic blueprint, but experiences influence how or whether genes are expressed. Together, they shape the quality of brain architecture and establish either a sturdy or a fragile foundation for all of the learning, health, and behavior that follow."

When it senses anything unfamiliar or unexpected, the amygdala releases stress hormones. In humans, stress hormones activate both the sympathetic nervous system and executive function. The sympathetic nervous system produces an urge to mobilize. Initially, to assess the situation, executive function overrides the urge to mobilize. If assessment reveals no threat, executive function dismisses the matter, and signals the amygdala to end stress hormone release. If risk is apparent, executive function considers what can be done to deal with the risk. Upon commitment to a plan, either of action or of inaction, executive function signals the amygdala to end stress hormone release.

In a non-phobic person, the arousal caused by the release of stress hormones results in a sense of curiosity, not a sense of emergency. Phobic response is significantly different. The phobic person equates arousal with fear, and fear as proof that there is danger. Upon arousal, the person's executive function is called upon not merely to assess the situation, but - if stress hormones are to be regulated - to prove no danger exists. If danger cannot be ruled out, executive function can no longer inhibit the urge to mobilize. Though phobics regard control as the antidote to fear, it is commitment to a plan - not control alone that ends the release of stress hormones. If a person has control but cannot commit to a plan, fear persists. It is interesting to note that commitment to any action - even unwise action - provides relief, and signals the amygdala to terminate stress hormone release.

If a phobic flier were able to fly in the cockpit, the pilot's facial response to an unexpected noise or motion would adequately prove the absence of danger. But with information in the cabin limited, it is impossible to prove no danger exists. Stress hormones continue to be released. As levels rise, anxiety increases and the urge to escape becomes paramount. Since physical escape is impossible, panic may result unless the person can escape psychologically through denial, dissociation, or distraction.

In the cognitive approach, the passenger learns to separate arousal from fear, and fear from danger. Cognitive therapy is most useful when there is no history of panic. But since in-flight panic develops rapidly, often through processes which the person has no awareness of, conscious measures may neither connect with - nor match the speed of - the unconscious processes that cause panic.

In another approach, emotion is regulated by what neuroscientist Stephen Porges calls neuroception. In social situations, arousal is powerfully regulated by signals people unconsciously send, receive, and process. For example, when encountering a stranger, stress hormone release increases the heart rate. But if the stranger's signals indicate trustworthiness, these signals override the effect of stress hormones, slow the heart, calm the person, and allow social interaction to take place. Because neuroception can completely override the effect of stress hormones, can be controlled by linking the noises and motions of flight to neuroceptive signals that calm the person.

Lastly, frequent flyer experts at Flightfox suggest that fear of flying is a reaction caused by the panic and tension of so many travellers in close quarters - once one person is uneasy the rest soon feel uncomfortable as well. Their solution, odd as it may seem, is to fly in premium class to experience flying in a comfortable and relaxed setting, so as to avoid the tension and anxiety of coach.

Anti-anxiety and antidepressant medication is commonly prescribed for treatment of social anxiety disorder. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as sertraline, fluvoxamine and paroxetine are common medications which alleviate social phobia successfully in the short term but it is not certain if they are useful in the long-term. Also the MAOI moclobemide works well on treating social phobia in the short term. Patients who have avoided certain situations should make a big effort to become exposed to these situations while at the same time taking antidepressant medication. Anxiolytic medication aids a patient to handle social or professional situations before more lasting treatment has had an effect and therefore it is a provider of short term relief, but anxiolytics have a risk of dependence. Beta-adrenergic antagonists help to control palpitations and tremors unresponsive to the treatment of anxiolytic medication. One must read the precautions of these drugs outlined in the manufacturer's literature and be careful to watch out for the contraindications of these drugs.

Scientists have developed medications that can be taken to reduce patients' fears. This medication is known as anti-anxiety medication. However, medications may have side-effects or withdrawal symptoms that can be severe. The most popular form of treatment is visiting a cognitive behavioral therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, hypnotherapist, or hypnotist. These therapies are also used to help patients forget what they are afraid of. Some basic therapy sessions involve making the patient stand in front of a fan, or making the patient face their fears in a safe environment. With the use of hypnotherapy, the subconscious mind of a person can be reached, potentially eliminating those fears.

Dogs may exhibit severe anxiety during thunderstorms; between 15 and 30 percent may be affected. Research confirms high levels of cortisol - a hormone associated with stress - affects dogs during and after thunderstorms. Remedies include behavioral therapies such as counter conditioning and desensitization, anti-anxiety medications, and Dog Appeasing Pheromone, a synthetic analogue of a hormone secreted by nursing canine mothers.

Studies have also shown that cats can be afraid of thunderstorms. Whilst it is very rare, cats have been known to hide under a table or behind a couch during a thunderstorm.

Generally if any animal is anxious during a thunderstorm or any similar, practically harmless event (e.g. fireworks display), it is advised to simply continue behaving normally, instead of attempting to comfort animals. Showing fearlessness is, arguably, the best method to "cure" the anxiety.

A problem with culture-bound syndromes is that they are resistant to Western-style medicine.} The standard Japanese treatment for taijin kyofusho is Morita therapy, developed by Shoma Morita in the 1910s as a treatment for the Japanese mental disorders taijin kyofusho and shinkeishitsu (nervousness). The original regimen involved patient isolation, enforced bed rest, diary writing, manual labor, and lectures on the importance of self-acceptance and positive endeavor. Since the 1930s, the treatment has been modified to include out-patient and group treatments. This modified version is known as neo-Morita therapy. Medications have also gained acceptance as a treatment option for taijin kyofusho. Other treatments include systematic desensitization, which includes slowly exposing one self to the fear, and learning relaxation skills, to extinguish fear and anxiety.

Milnacipran, a serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI), is currently used in the treatment of taijin kyofusho and has been shown to be efficacious for the related social anxiety disorder. The primary aspect of treating this disorder is getting patients to focus their attention on their body parts and sensations.

Like many other phobias, lilapsophobia can often be treated using cognitive-behavioral therapy, but if it stems from post-traumatic stress disorder, then alternative therapy may be more recommended.