how to get rid of phobias?

Lemon

Lemon

funny
I have some weird phobias, mostly because I listen to scary stories and whenever I hear sounds, I think it's a murderer or someone that broke in. For example, when I woke up this morning, I heard a bunch of noises like someone was there, but it was actually one of my cats messing around with stuff. And if I hear paranormal stories, I'm in fear of seeing a ghost or something outside my window with long, black hair dripping over her face. And don't forget the sightings. For example, a killer standing out in the woods at night with a butcher knife. It's just hard for me to fall asleep now, and I usually get afraid because my both my mom and dad's houses have woods surrounding them, so anything could happen. Any way to get rid of these phobias?
 
For anything paranormal there's always rationality. If science can't detect anything, then it doesn't exist. Ghosts leave virtually no trace and have nothing detectable about them, and therefore it's more likely that they don't exist at all.

Everything to try to explain why we can't detect it, it's always ad hoc. You might as well say there's an invisible dragon in my garage.
 
Baby Luigi said:
For anything paranormal there's always rationality. If science can't detect anything, then it doesn't exist. Ghosts leave virtually no trace and have nothing detectable about them, and therefore it's more likely that they don't exist at all.

Everything to try to explain why we can't detect it, it's always ad hoc. You might as well say there's an invisible dragon in my garage.
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Phobias don't always listen to rationality. It's the "what if" that's scary. Ghosts, for example, have never been proven to exist, but have never been disproven, either. Although logic would suggest that ghosts don't exist, from the perspective of a person with a phobia, the chances are not exactly 0%. That uncertainty can oftentimes be unnerving.

At least that's my guess :P
 
Phobias originate from the area of your brain that doesn't conduct rationality well, similarly to how it handles emotions (and yeah, fear is an emotion). Phobias are a naturally selected trait that helped us survive in the wilderness before we became industrial, and while it may helped us back then, it hinders us today as it's not as useful. However, from my personal experience, thinking that there's always a logical explanation for everything helps bring comfort to me. I know for a fact ghosts don't exist, because, scientifically, we would have detected traces of them by now, either directly or indirectly. We have technology powerful enough detect little itty bitty neutrinos, as well as atom activity, even back in the times where the plum pudding model of the atom is accepted, and we can detect supernovas from galaxies billions of light years away, as well as projection rotation curves of galaxies to explain dark matter, but there's zero traces of paranormal aside from anecdotes from people, and people can have really faulty memory as well.

It helps to understand skepticism and what works in this world, so it's easier to cope with these intense emotions.
 
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