--- description: Viewing subliminal images of spiders can help arachnophobes better control their fears, according to a Feb. 6 paper. Here, other notable studies exploring how people can learn to overcome crippling phobias. title: How to Treat Phobias image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How to Treat Phobias by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 9, 2017 10:30 AM CUT by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 9, 2017 10:30 AM CUT THERAPY A separate study published on Feb. 6 found that cognitive behavioral therapy helped reduce symptoms of patients with social phobia. The therapy increased brain activity in areas that regulate emotions. MONEY In a 2016 study, neuroscientists used reward therapy to help the human brain overcome phobias, by giving subjects money every time brain activity linked to a particular fear was detected. PILLS Arachnophobes given beta blockers–a heart medication also used to treat anxiety–after being exposed to spiders were able to overcome their fear better than control groups, according to a 2015 study. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4664996/how-to-treat-phobias/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4664996/how-to-treat-phobias/"},"headline":"How to Treat Phobias","datePublished":"2017-02-09T10:30:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:13:28.656Z","description":"Viewing subliminal images of spiders can help arachnophobes better control their fears, according to a Feb. 6 paper. Here, other notable studies exploring how people can learn to overcome crippling phobias.","url":"https://time.com/4664996/how-to-treat-phobias/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4664996/how-to-treat-phobias/","name":"How to Treat Phobias"}}]}] ```