Phobias or fears are deeply rooted in some individuals, so much that they hamper their day to day life. There are many great books with self help techniques available on this topic. These are known to help one overcome the anxiety faced each time one is confronted with an object of their dread. Here I will be enlisting the top 10 phobia and anxiety books which are readily available online and in stores.
These books might not instantly cure your phobia, but they can certainly help the brain obliterate all the bad things it has learned over the years and make your life a lot easier.
1. The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Edmund Bourne
This is a book which has sold a million copies and helped many people recover from anxieties, obsessive compulsive disorder, phobias and other anxiety issues. The therapeutic techniques suggested herein are holistic in nature and proven to help readers overcome anxieties without use of drugs and antidepressants. The book focuses on eating the right foods, tips for stopping panic attacks, as well as relaxation techniques to use when confronted with fear. Patients with OCD, bipolar disorder, depression and obsessive compulsive disorders must read this book. Kindle also available.
2. Anxiety Disorders and Phobias: A Cognitive Perspective by Aaron Beck and Gary Emery
This is a book mainly for students of psychiatry as well as experienced practitioners. Through theoretical and practical approaches, this book simplifies many complex concepts related to anxieties and phobias. It includes topics like social anxieties, specific and social phobias, post traumatic stress disorders, depression etc. In the latter half of the book, the authors deal with details of CBT or cognitive behavior therapy. For laymen with general knowledge of psychology, this book may be a bit intense.
3. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David D Burns
This is the third book on my list and it focuses not just on phobias, but on other mental issues like extreme guilt, pessimism, procrastination, as well as low self esteem. The award winning author stresses upon the fact that most of these conditions can be overcome through Cognitive Behavior Therapy- which he explains in an easy-to-understand and simplified manner. The author believes that the mind creates moods through its thoughts; so by simply focusing on changing thoughts, one can manage one’s moods.
4. When Panic Attacks: The New, Drug-Free Anxiety Therapy That Can Change Your Life by David D Burns
The same author as above, this time his focus is on healing anxiety without the use of drugs. Also, this edition focuses more on panic attacks and phobias unlike Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy which only focuses on moods in general. Some reviewers have mentioned that there is not much of a difference in the two books. However, many practitioners and doctors have themselves used this book in their practice as a guide to treating patients with anxieties and fears. On the upside, it also focuses on chronic worrying, fear of public speaking, writer’s block, procrastination, and PTSD. Read this book if you are at the ‘lowest point’ in your life.
5. Shyness and Social Anxiety Workbook: Proven, Step-by-Step Techniques for Overcoming your Fear by Martin Antony
Not just dealing with phobias, this is a book for every person suffering from various social anxieties. It deals with self evaluation to help the sufferer overcome his/her fear and shyness. Get enough self confidence and overcome social awkwardness through step-by-step helpful hints and tricks. If you are a person suffering from fear of making eye contact, or is unable to ask the right questions or make friends through effective conversations, then this book is for you.
6. Freeing Your Child from Anxiety: Practical Strategies to Overcome Fears, Worries, and Phobias and Be Prepared for Life – from Toddlers to Teens by Tamar Chansky Ph.d.
It is not just adults, teens and children also suffer from anxieties and full blown panic attacks. Childhood is a time to be happy and carefree. However, some incidents leave indelible marks on young minds. Every parent must read this book to understand whether their child’s stress is normal, simple episodes without long term implications. Additionally, the book has easy, fun and effective tools to help youngsters break free from patterns of fear and worry for leading happier lives. The first half of the book has basic psychological information to help every parent. The latter half deals with common childhood anxieties like separation anxiety, panic disorders, clinginess etc. It also uses bullet points, review methodologies, images and logical representations to make implementation of these core topics easier. In short: this is a book for every parent.
7. Mastery of Your Anxiety and Panic: Workbook (Treatments That Work) by David H. Barlow and Michelle G. Craske
Do you suffer from heart palpitations, trembling, nausea, shaking, and the urge to cry or flee when faced with certain situations or objects? Then this is the book for you. First of all; Mastery of Your Anxiety and Panic helps you understand that you are not the only one dealing with such panic attacks; there are millions of phobics around the world. While this workbook is not a magic pill to cure anxiety, and certainly much effort will be needed on your part, it is vital that you use the changes given in the workbook to change your life around. You can even follow this book while undergoing other psychotherapies like CBT, hypnotherapy etc. The exercises and the education sections in the book are recommended for phobics as well as counselors treating phobias.
8. Anxiety Cures: How to Cure Anxiety, Calm the Mind, and Get to the Root of Your Worries by Nathan Arthur
This is available in Kindle edition and has been hailed as one of the best practical tools for dealing with phobias. It is recommended not only for patients but for people who have loved ones suffering from anxieties and phobias. The book can help family members understand the difference between simple fear and panic and the mental and physical effects phobias can have on the sufferer. It has great recommendations and tips to work towards being phobia free for good.
9. The Anxiety and Worry Workbook: The Cognitive Behavioral Solution by David A. Clark
Looking for an uncomplicated and fast read on understanding your anxiety disorder? Then The Anxiety and Worry Workbook is for you. The suggestions in the book are sure to help every panic attack sufferer overcome the condition through easy-to-follow self help techniques. Besides, there are many medical and non medical treatment options that are proven to give permanent anxiety relief.
10. Meditation for Beginners: Relax your Mind, Energize your Body, Relieve Stress and Achieve Deeper Awareness by Sonali Perera
More and more psychiatrists are recommending mind body techniques to help patients overcome their anxieties and phobias. Meditation is one such powerful ancient technique that can help release stress, relax the mind and also positively influence overall health and well being. The book discusses the Chakra system which is the energy center in the body. Imbalanced chakras cause illnesses, both mental and physical. By balancing and aligning the 7 chakras, one can overcome all diseases. Beginners to meditation can avail of simple techniques given in the book. People suffering from anxieties and social phobias can overcome dependence on drugs and therapy by using simple steps given in this brilliant book.
I hope these books will help you overcome your phobia and anxiety. Here is one more book that might interest you (more as entertainment than curing your fear). I bet you will love The Pop-Up Book of Phobias.
rick says
There is some blockage going on in my head. My overall health is declining and I’m in no condition to even travel. And I don’t have any money. How do I get help when I don’t have any money?
Sonsi Rae says
I had a panic attack when I applied for a job promotion at work because of my self doubt of being able to handle the job so I emailed my boss and told her to please disregard my application for advancement. I believe this was due to past bullying I had encountered at my previous employer. Plus I had only been on my new job for 3 or 4 weeks and I knew 1 of the people in another department were displaying a negative opinion of me. I was bullied on my last job and I thought if I took the promotion (if it was offered to me) and was having problems, everyone would talk about me and either make fun of me or bully me. Now I find out that the other girl who applied for the job was, at one time, going to lose her job because of her negative attitude and SHE got the job promotion! I feel terrible about my poor decision making and if I could turn back time, I NEVER would have backed out of possibly getting an interview for this once in a lifetime promotion. I will probably be working afternoons now forever, instead of the day shift I had hoped for.
Michelle says
I have several phobias. Cats, dogs, bridges, darkness, dying, sleeping due to nightmares, loud noises, work, and people sitting and walking up close to me. I’ve been in mental health now since 2005. Some phobias have gotten worst over time. I have panic attacks and extremely real like nightmares. Hopefully reading some of this material will help shine a light on things for me. I do like individual therapy much better than group therapy. Group therapy sometimes frightens me because too many people be in there and I don’t like that feeling of being congested into a little room and you always have that one who loves to talk disrupting the class when I’m suppose to be learning.
victoria says
I am a 20 year old girl and I’ve been avoiding dating. I tried dating a guy when I was doing my first year but I panicked the moment I started to fall in love with him. I get anxious every time I get attached to people and my heart raises when I start loving them. the thought of being vulnerable and in love makes me feel like I am gonna have panic attacks. my chest starts to hurt every time I think of loving someone.
Chris says
Hi Victoria. Its sounds exactly like me but with the difference that I’m 25 year old boy. I have this kind of problem from my teenage years. Have you found some kind of solution. It would be very helpful if you give me some advice. Thanks
Makenzie Mckoy says
You have aphenphosmphobia this is the fear of intimacy: being touched and loved.
Hritik says
Hi I’m Hritik. Actually I’m good in studies but somehow when my semester comes I’m unable to study. At that time lots of negative thoughts come in my mind, I keep overthinking. Not only that, I have many other fears, like when people make noise by horning their vehicles. I also have a very low self confidence. Please help me.
MrSam Tiha says
I work as a barber in my own barbershop, everytime i have a police officer as a customer, i feel scared. When i start cutting the hair my hands are shaking and my heart is palpitating. What kind of phobia it is? and how do i overcome this fear?
Anthony Kennedy says
When i was a teenager i got in trouble with the law a few times but have been law abiding for the last 40 yrs. I had on two occasions been arrested by mistake and the police seemed to just want to charge anyone near the scene, they got the right guy eventually but it made me very wary of them.
Anna says
I am guessing you have Capiophobia. It’s the fear of policemen or high officials.
Bilal Jafris says
I am having Trypophobia .
When i look at holes i feel like sick and uncomfortable.
I hope this all will help me to get rid of this.
Mia says
My name is Mia and I am a 12 year old girl. I have a SEVERE fear of spiders. My score came back as like 57.7% which is like I think 40% above normal. I get really sweaty and I start to cry just thinking about being under one. We have a rabbit hit that I had to go into and there were tiny spiders just hanging out all over the ceiling, I am already shaky and feel little bugs crawling all over me just by typing about spiders. Um, I would beg my sister to feed my rabbits for me because I was crying and shaking and was getting all sweaty, just by the thought of having to go in there. Some other reason was that some times there was a huge spider, like as big as my palm, 2 1/2 in. Wide, and tall, I couldn’t stand it, it took me fifteen minutes to even consider actually going in, then another 10 to finally do it and trust me, those were some of THE WORST MOMENTS IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. I seriously hated my sister for going over to her friends house, and was very mad at my mom for not letting my 16 YEAR OLD SISTER help me, how could I ease this fear, I go to bed and worry about spiders, and have intense dreams about them, and they aren’t positive!
Anna says
If you are unsure of the type of phobia you have, my best guess would be Arachnophobia. I am sorry that you had to go through that but I hope you will get the help you need
Svetlana says
For all people who have Phobias, Anxieties and deep fears – in most cases its coming from your Past Lives, trauma experiences both as physical and emotional. The best healing modality is to do past life regression session with a professional.
acubed2001 says
I am usually afraid of public speaking. I do not like being singled out to talk to people but I go ahead and do it anyway if I have no way of escape. I am learning to overcome this fear everyday by facing it.
I also do not do well with rats and snakes, can’t stand them.
Robet says
Jacob, thank you very much for accepting me here, now I am doing research about Somniphobia. I have read the brief description about it on this site, but I still need the writer, the publisher and the date it’s published. I do hope you can share that information to me ASAP
Jacob says
Hi Robet
Please check your mail, thanks.
Hitakshi says
Hello Sir,
Myself Hitakshi , i am a 21 year old girl and i have a fear of darkness. I cant sleep alone at night. I want my mom to sleep with me. In fact , i want a small dim light to be lit till i sleep.. please help me to overcome this fear..
Mia says
I have a similar fear, my twin sleeps in the same room as me but sometimes she sleeps with my other sister, butter have a night light that puts a gentle glow onto most of the room, but our closet always scared the heck out of me because it was the only thing not illuminated, but I just don’t look, and what REALLY helps me, is pulling my covers over my head close my eyes, and think about unicorns, and cats.
Mia Bryce says
Same here. Same situation, my twin sleeps in the same room as me, always has, but sometimes she’ll be at a friends house, or sleep with my older sister, and we have a nightlight, and our closet is slightly illuminated, but, I can just make out a dark mass, in the corner, which also scares me to death,. even though in the morning, I look and it’s just my sisters stuff piled up. I know what things are yet I feel like there is something lurking on my room, waiting. So, what I do, is, when I used to live in Franklin, Our room was upstairs, and connected to a GIANT room that leads to the main floor, so I used to sneak out, and snatch up, politely, one of our kittens, and bring him up to my top bunk with me, and cuddle it until I fell asleep. Of course now I can’t do that, unless my cat is already on my bed. So then, I just pull the covers over my head, leaving a little hole for air to come in, but covering my eyes so that I won’t see anything dark, and scary lurking around our room. It works as long as I relax my face, because you may notice when you are scared and trying to fall asleep, you squint really hard, but it’s very hard for you to easily fall asleep like that, so relax your face, calm down, and try to listen for everyday noises, like if your parents stay up late, listen for the t.v. Listen for the coffee machine, listen for your cats playing, your dogs playing, your parents talking. just find something you know, something familiar not in the room besides your siblings. It really helps me and actually drowns out all of my fears until I fall asleep usually. So, there is my suggestion, and for adults, again, listen for familiar noises, focus, relax your face and your eyes, and drift off into I don’t give a crap, peaceful sleep realm. :)
Sok Ly says
Me too, I like you, too. But I fear the windows and ghosts every night and I can’t sleep alone. How can I overcome it?
colby says
same here
Anna says
It’s totally ok to have a night light, I do and so does my 49 year old “friend”. Everyone is scared of something and I personally think it’s safer because of a incident with no lights and a stair way that happened to me.
Jeff Hartson says
I am an anxiety patient myself and really found this book Anxiety Disorders and Phobias: A Cognitive Perspective helpful.
jayb says
I am scared of Race Bike sounds in the CBD. Currently i am 32. Slowly this fear starts scaring me for small things like switch on a light also. I am struggling to come out of these fears. Sometimes i want to stay in a lonely quiet place without any sounds.
Dennis Simsek says
Feeling good is a great book I agree. These are great recommendations that I think will educate sufferers, and non on what anxiety is, how to deal with it when the time comes.
billy says
I am a 19 year old boy and i have what might be severe thanatophobia. Just thinking about death sets a massive tear stream down my face. I have had 2 severe panic attacks and i was very determined to see my GP. I was sent to therapy that still happens today. Your website said my fear had epilepsy links, so i think that my phobia stems from that, as i am a former epileptic. I am so glad i came on your site.
Denise Brown says
My son is 11 years old, he has a severe anxiety of rain and is continually checking the weather. This fear is effecting his school life and subsequently has missed a lot of data in the last 3 months, he doesn’t like to be indoors when it does rain, he feels safer outside.
Pamela Camp says
It is such a relief to read all these comments and know that I am not alone. I am 54 now but have suffered from ergophobia since I was a teenager – probably about 17. This started at school and at first I had a fear of forms and filling out applications for universities so I didn’t. I cannot tell you how this phobia affected my life so much. Remember this was in the late 70’s so people were not so open to admitted to such problems and phobias weren’t recognised so much. I kept quite about this deep seated fear and turned to alcohol as an immediate relief. This, of course is not the answer but I didn’t know any other way and was too afraid to tell anybody of my problem feeling I was stupid. I did a secretarial course but was a useless secretary as I panicked from day one of any job. This phobia drove me to an early marriage at 22 with somebody I should never have married and doomed to failure and divorced at 30. I married somebody so I didn’t have to work and was financially dependent on him. Yes, that is how dangerous and debilitating this phobia is. Honestly, this is NOT laziness – we all want to work and fulfil our potential. I used to freeze anytime somebody mentioned the word work and used to look at people who did even the most mundane jobs and wonder ‘How can they work?’ It is irrational thinking but you can’t help it. Today, I have insight into my problems and will read some of these books to help with me with my anxiety. Thank you everybody for sharing. Pamela
Ladybug says
My son and I both have a fear of calling businesses. What’s that about? And also for me if a business calls me I can’t answer the phone. Believe it or not I am researching what all I need to hike the Appalachian trail. Maybe because I am tired of worrying about making or answering the phone among other things. However I will be gone soon. I would like help for my son.
Emma says
I’m ten years old and suffer from a terrible fear of fire. It’s two am here and I just woke up from a nightmare. I’m shaking because I had a fire at someone else’s house and now I’m worried that something is gonna happen, help me please.
RAStheinventor says
I’m just ten so I can’t help you much but READ THE BOOKS and stay away from lighters.
Brenda garcia says
I have had anxiety since I was 15, I am 31 now. Boy, everything I’ve been through, you wouldn’t even imagine the years of torture. I am glad to say I have total control now. I still have it very strongly but am managing a normal life. Bipolar and anxiety don’t blend but I’m alive. Best luck to you all, you can do it! How? Good question. Accept yourself, seek the help you need, fight hard against it and take control. If I can do it, so can you.
johnson says
hello,
which did you use to control your anxiety??
Isabel says
I’m a 23 year old woman and I have been suffering from panic attacks and anxiety since 2009. It’s terrible. I was in a very toxic relationship for 3 years and I am almost positive that’s the reason why I suffer from this disorder. It stops me from doing very simple tasks and activities. Situations where I have zero control, like being stuck in traffic or having to stop at a red light is a total nightmare. It only happens if I’m alone, which is very weird. I do want to overcome this huge obstacle and move on with my life, get it back to normal like it used to be. Thank you so much for posting this, I’m so happy I came across your website. I’m going to check out the books :)
Yvonny says
Isabel, this happened to me some years ago and I sympathize. My triggers were the same. Two things helped me. One was knowing that the body can only sustain a panic attack for two minutes. After that the symptoms will subside (they may come back, of course, but you will have some breathing space). The other was learning that after approximately 45 mins of low-level anxiety, it will go away completely. So, if you can drive close to home (and towards the tails end of rush hour maybe), you will start out panicky and end up calm. That, more than anything else, enabled me to overcome it. I also carried some meds as a crutch but was able to leave them at home much later. I kept them with me long after I needed them as the fear of a panic attack is very strong!
Jo-Anne Lucas says
I am intensely terrified of any sudden bang. Thunderstorms, give me a place where I don’t have to see it. Balloons, not at my party, and fireworks, I love looking at them, but the noise gives me heart palpitations.
I think this was very much learned behavior. Both my mother and an elderly aunt were also afraid of them. It wasn’t until my mother got terminal cancer that she learned to appreciate the power of thunderstorms, but when she died, she passed along this horrible phobia. I actually chose not to have children because I did not want them exposed to this. I also have refused to move to places like Florida and Chicago where I know I could easily get a job in my field of interior design because of the violence of the storms. I have been through therapy and hypnotism and neither has helped. I hope that joining this Facebook page I’ll learn about how to tame these fears. Thank you for reading.
Bobbie says
Jo Anne, you have described my life perfectly. I struggle with all those anxieties about loud noises. I have earplugs with me at all times. And I live in Florida, so the summers are a very anxious time for me. I’m ready to find some ways to live at ease with sudden loud noises!
Robin says
I’m really glad I’m not the only one who can’t stand loud sudden noises!
My eardrums have ruptured (right twice, left once), and I’m terrified of that happening again.
Bad noises send me into a crying, hyperventilating panic attack.
I’ve been taking Pascoflair when I know I’m going to feel anxious, and that works like magic.
But I still get panic attacks when someone whistles sharply.
I hope you’re able to find some relief. I’ll be joining that page as well, I think.
Jane Harper says
What a relief to read other people with the fear of loud noises. I am not as bad with thunder storms although I don’t think we have such violent storms in the UK as you do in USA. My fear prevents me from going to parties just in case there are balloons, fireworks or champagne bottles and has prevented me from joining my god children for their birthday parties.I don’t have children and I now think that this fear has been the reason. I have tried therapy and NLP neither have been successful. I just hope talking to other people in the same boat will be helpful.
Enya says
I would think I would have an anxiety disorder because I don’t!
Daniel Awuku says
This is new to me. I believe my life is going to change for the better.