Posted by Adam on October 23, 2001, at 15:51:58
In reply to Is there any kind of meds for phobias?, posted by lissy on October 19, 2001, at 9:52:53
Hi, Lissy,Speaking from personal experience, the best mousetraps are cats. They can move themselves from room to room, solving many logistical problems; they don't need to have the mice come to them, as they can smell and hear little rodents very well; and they really enjoy their job, so they're highly motivated. As an added bonus, if you feed and scratch them regularly, you've got an instant friend!
As for phobias like this, I have but two words: Behavioral therapy. Get exposed, to the therapy, and the mice, in that order. I sound like a broken record when it comes to this subject, but I'd bet real money it would be helpful for you. Behavioral therapy is at its best when applied to problems like this. It can work forever, and has no side-effects.
Best of luck! And remember, the little mices are more afraid of you than you are of them. I've even been bitten by mice more than a few times (you really have to go well out of your way to get yourself bitten by a mouse, trust me), and I've had worse things happen. Take care.
> Please help me, I feel like such a complete idiot but I am
> have been crying for 2 days and can't make myself go to the
> kitchen or basement all because of a stupid mouse! This is
> so embarassing but I have been diagnosed w/ocd a couple
> years ago but went off the meds because of weight gain and
> tiredness and had been doing okay w/all the other stuff
> like excessive worries and obsessions and had even cut down
> the counting stuff quite a bit. I have always been phobic
> of mice and toads. The toads since I was little I think
> it started because the neighborhood boys used to chase us
> girls w/the toads they catch and even put them down our
> backs so now when I encounter one I actually run away screaming
> How embarassing for a 35 year old woman Huh? My neighbors
> just laugh at me we always joke about it. I can deal w/that
> fear since it is outside. The mouse thing came about
> in my teens when we used to get mice in our house and they
> would even get into our bedrooms upstairs and I could hear them while
> I was trying to sleep and they would go in my closet and
> scratch at the door and crawl into my shoes so ever since I have been
> terrified. We have lived here for 10 years and have only
> had a mouse one other time but caught it w/in the hour.
> My kids saw it in the basement the other day and we haven't been able
> to catch it. My husband also told me he had caught one
> in the kitchen last week. So now that I know that they amble into
> the kitchen too I can't bring myself to go in there. My kids had
> to make themselves breakfast and dinner! I am frozen w/fear I can't wash
> clothes since the washer is in the basement. My husband thinks
> I am just doing this so I don't have to do work but I
> swear that is not it! I have company coming over tomorrow and
> my house is a pit because I haven't been able to clean the downstairs because
> of my fear so between my fear of the mouse and my hubby's yelling at me '
> I can't stop crying! My doctor can't see me til next week, by then hopefully
> the mouse will be gone anyway. So that won't do me much
> good. Of course my other fear is that they say just because you see just
> one that means there are probably more than just one. I can't even sleep cuz I
> think they might come upstairs to our bedrooms like our
> old house. I know I sound crazy but is there any over the counter meds i
> could get to calm me down or some kind of techniques to use to get me through
> ? Should I even bother going to the doctor anyways? There probably
> isn't anything to take just for phobias anyways. Please
> someone respond and try not to laugh at me too much.
poster:Adam
thread:81658
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011015/msgs/82088.html