A certain phobia w almost disabling anxiety

Stinkbugs.

Okay, so, I know a lot of people who don't like them but I HATE them to the point where I am having a very difficult time dealing with them. It stems from yrs ago I lived in a place infested w them and had experiences of smelling one-strong and looking and looking for it before finally seeing one on my armpit and totally freaking out.

Every single time they're on me I freak out...

Now I have a 2 yr old and I have to control myself when he's around and I see one because I don't want to transfer my anxiety to him..

But lately theyve been in the house more and more. Last night I saw one right before I was ready to go to bed and I just locked it in the room it was in and had hubby deal with it in the a.m. when he got home... but tonight- just now and another night this week he was already gone to work and I was no where near going to bed and I saw one on the ceiling in the living room. So... I wrapped a coffee can and a chair and trapped it in there that way. But what's scary is how I act before I go to do this... my heart rate gets sky high and I start almost shaking. I'm on the verge of a near panic attack and takes me forever afterwards to calm down.
These are the types of things I used to need to take benzoes for but I'm trying not to do that... and the whole thing may seem silly. Like, oh she's just afraid of bugs. But it's really beyond that. It effects my life and I think it's way beyond normal fear.

 

you could do therapy I suppose, but that would probably cost you some money

I think that exposure therapy is one way to deal with the situation. If you gradually increase your level of contact, you might not freak out so much.

The stink bugs don't bite, and mostly they seem pretty mellow.

Maybe there is a book on dealing with phobias

 

I've found out that the more brave and calm I have to be for kids/grandkids the better I get with fears like this.

 

I totally understand what it's like to have a phobia like that. I'm not afraid of stinkbugs(to me, they are just unpleasant to be around), but of something else. The anxiety I experience upon encountering one has my muscles freeze and lock up, my skin turn pale, my body break out in a cold sweat, and has my mind in a state of panic. I don't have any kids right now, but have thought of possible future events where, one day, my kids discover one of these creatures and proudly and innocently show me what they've found. I definitely would hate for my future kids to see me freak out like that, and in turn associate the creatures with something negative.

I DO recall experiencing an improvement of my condition for a short period of time when I was a teen. In a way it served as a variation of exposure therapy, but it was done not by a shrink but by someone who just had a really positive outlook on nature. He'd pick one of those creatures up and just be so casual and chill about it. In fact, it wasn't even "therapy" at all. It was just someone showing me there was nothing scary about these things. But he and I lost touch and the phobia came back with a vengeance. Now I just try like a motherfucker to stay as far away from them as I possibly can. What's fortunate about it is that not many people are afraid of them. So, if I ever DO freak out somewhere, there's bound to be someone who can help me out, lol. xD