Content

• Steps
• Warning

The fear of birds (English: Ornithophobia) is the absurd and extreme fear associated with birds when in reality there is no danger. This fear provokes anxiety and tends to lead to avian avoidance behaviors. You may experience fear or phobia and physical anxiety symptoms such as a rapid heartbeat, sweating, and you may also feel powerless around birds. . However, if this fear interferes with going to work in the morning or makes you choose the longest route to avoid seeing birds, it affects your normal life. Therefore, you should consider getting help, such as facing them on your own or seeking professional treatment.

Steps

Part 1 of 2: Prepare a strategy to overcome your fear

1. 

   
   
   Learn about exposure therapy. The most effective way to begin to eliminate your fear of birds is to be with them. The goal of exposure is to gradually reduce the fear response through prolonged exposure. Research shows that contact therapy — in its many forms — is highly effective for phobias. There are many different types of exposure therapies available, and the usual approach is to start with the ones that cause the least amount of fear. Exposure therapies that can help you overcome your fear include:
   • Imaginary exposure - It's about closing your eyes and imagining birds or a situation where you are with birds in vivid detail.
   • Real exposure - This type of exposure means dealing with your fears in real life. In this case, you will be with real birds.

2. 

   
   
   Think about why you are afraid of birds. Most phobias are a "conditioned" response, meaning you experienced it through your external environment. Not that you were born afraid of birds. Take a moment to explore the origins of your fear of birds.
   • Journaling helps, because writing down your thoughts will help you process information more slowly and thoroughly.
   • Review your most recent bird fears. Was there an experience that caused you a lifelong phobia of birds?
   • Are you always afraid of birds? If not, recall the most positive or normal memories you had of your birds before they became a source of your fear.

3. 

   
   
   List the triggers of your fear. When you feel discomfort, you will not be able to control the stress nor get rid of it until you fully understand its origin. What particular bird traits cause you the greatest fear? Here are some common triggers of avian phobia:
   • They flew down from above
   • The way they flap their wings
   • The way they walk on the ground
   • The fear of getting infected by contact with birds can carry the disease
   • The way they approach humans in search of leftovers

4. 

   Create a hierarchy of your phobias. Creating a hierarchy will give you a route to get rid of your fear of birds. It is simply a list of activities related to birds. This list usually begins with the species you find the least intimidating and ends with the species you find most frightening. Your personal hierarchy will be unique, based on the specific species you fear or what triggers your fear. Remember that you are an expert in experiencing your fear, so creating a hierarchy will help. This fear hierarchy can also serve as a way to track your progress as you move from one level of exposure therapy to another. Here's an example of a hierarchy of fear of birds:
   • Draw a bird
   • Look at black and white photograph of a bird
   • Look at color photo of a bird
   • Watch a bird video with no sound
   • Watch a bird video with sound
   • Look at a bird in backyard with binoculars
   • Sit outside where there are many birds
   • Visit a bird exhibit at the zoo or in a pet store
   • Take part in a bird show or give it a good bird feed
   • Take care of a friend's pet bird

5. 

   Get familiar with your bird's discomfort scale. Another useful tool that can measure your progress is the discomfort scale. This scale is used to track your level of discomfort with each exposure. It gives you the basis for evaluating the impact of each rank in your bird's fear hierarchy, as well as showing you when you are ready to move on to the next level. Consider the following discomfort scale:
   • 0-3: At level 0, you are completely comfortable, at level 3 you feel a bit frightened, which is noticeable, but at this level nothing affects your normal life.
   • 4-7: At level 4, you're a little scared, and this feeling starts to make you a little bit uncomfortable. At level 7, you are quite frightened, and this feeling starts to affect your ability to focus and function in a certain situation.
   • 8-10: At level 8, you are extremely frightened and unable to concentrate due to the exposure. At level 10, you are on the verge of an extreme fear, which can lead to panic.

6. 

   Decide on the progress toward your goal in the hierarchy of fear. In addition to exposure therapy, you can also decide the pace of your therapy. Here are the two common speeds you can control your exposure:
   • Hierarchical Exposure - This method is more common and requires working slowly according to your hierarchy, and you only progress to the next level of the ladder when these contacts don't scare you. . You will advance to the next step of the hierarchy when your current discomfort level is 0-3.
   • Flooding - This is when a person starts with items on top of the fear hierarchy with the items they find most annoying. If you are interested in this method, you should probably do it under the guidance of a therapist instead of alone.

7. 

   Familiarize yourself with relaxation techniques. As you make your way through the fear hierarchy, the stress response is sure to emerge. These relaxation techniques will help you stay calm throughout the exposure. Keeping your mind relaxed, focusing on breathing, focusing on relaxing the muscles can reduce panic to 7 on the discomfort scale.
   • You can find more information on how to stay calm during an exposure through articles on how to calm down.
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Part 2 of 2: Overcoming the fear of birds

1. 

   Expose your bottom first target in your fear hierarchy. For most people, the entry at the bottom of the fear hierarchy will be handled through imaginary exposure. Start by simply closing your eyes and fantasizing about a bird.
   • Remember that your hierarchy is just for you. Your fear may be the imaginary exposure that produces zero on the discomfort scale, but for others it may have to start with imagining a cartoon bird because of a bird. Real birds can scare them to level 8.

2. 

   Continue with the imaginary exposures of your hierarchy. Let's start with simple pictures of different birds on the 0-3 scale of the discomfort scale, continuing with the rest of the imaginary scale. Also, try to describe the events you imagine by verbally describing the truth, which will help you have more realistic experiences. You can think of it like this:
   • You describe birds by visualizing them perching on the phone line outside the house or the back fence.
   • Imagine you are in a situation, like in a park with birds 6 meters away.
   • Imagine yourself feeding the ducks or the geese bread at the lake.
   • Finally, imagine you are actually taking care of a friend's pet bird.
   • Maintain the imaginative exposure in your hierarchy until you feel your fear fade away.
   • If in your hierarchy of fears, watching a video of a bird is lower than imagining facing a bird, then you can still do it in that order. You don't have to do the imaginary exposure first if your hierarchy isn't in that order. Honestly ask yourself which order works best for you.

3. 

   Expose yourself to virtual items that are on your fear hierarchy. For most people, virtual exposure to birds is a higher level in the hierarchy of fear than imagined. As you can imagine birds and yourself surrounded by birds that don't make you feel too anxious, keep exposing yourself to the next few items in your fear hierarchy. Virtual exposures to birds that produce a fear response include:
   • Draw birds (start with sketching small birds, then draw more details with the big birds)
   • Look at pictures of birds (first black and white image then color image)
   • Listen to the recorded birdsong
   • Watch a bird video (start with a video with no sound then move on to a video with audio)
   • Remember to make a brief note of discomfort on the discomfort scale for each step. Your goal is to lower the discomfort level to less than 3 (hopefully zero) for each virtual exposure.

4. 

   Try real-life contact with birds. The goals at the top of the hierarchy are often hands-on experiences with real birds. Once you have mastered the visualization and virtual exposure to birds, try exposing them in real life that you believe will produce the least amount of fear. It's as simple as using your binoculars watching a bird outside a window (you're in a safe place in the house, of course).
   • Once you get used to seeing real birds within the uncomfortable 0-3 range of the scale, try opening the windows and observing them.

5. 

   Watch a bird from the open door. Once watching a bird through the window no longer has a strong effect on you, then try the next step — In this case, walk out the door. Walk and watch the birds around. Note that if the distance from you to the door that generates an unpleasant reaction is higher than level 3, stop there. Stand there watching the birds until you start to feel the fear disappear, go on with more steps. Move closer to the birds while controlling your comfort level.

6. 

   Keep doing the more realistic exposures in the hierarchy. Basically, the top items of your fear hierarchy will depend mostly on your particular fear, as well as the levels of fear you want to overcome. Your ultimate goal might be to pass through a flock of pigeons without panicking, while another's goal might be to take care of a friend's pet bird without anxiety. . Continue with the rest of the goals in your hierarchy by being in direct contact until you feel better, and your discomfort scale drops to 3 or lower.
   • If you find yourself struggling, remember that you can always change your fear hierarchy. For example, standing in front of a parrot's cage no longer upsets you, but the thought of dealing with a larger bird alone is still frighteningly frightening. accompany me to a pet store and take care of smaller birds, like macaws.

7. 

   Consider consulting a doctor who specializes in exposure. If you're struggling between the ranks of your hierarchy, you can't figure out how to get it right — or you simply want to try contact therapy under the guidance of a specialist — take a look. consider seeing a therapist, who has specialized knowledge of these fears. In addition to helping you figure out the best way to organize and approach your hierarchy of fears, the therapist can also provide you with knowledge of “systematic desensitization. ) ”. This process combines graded exposure with relaxation exercises under the guidance of a specialist.
   • In addition, your doctor can help you learn cognitive behavioral therapy techniques, in which you will gain knowledge of how your thinking processes increase your fear of birds. This way, you can become more aware of your (unreasonable) fearful thoughts, and you can change them before they produce a fear response during the exposure.
   • Research has shown that many people have had success with self-exposure, but it is more successful with the practice of this method under the guidance of a specialist. One study found that 63% of people who took the contact method alone maintained their progress, while up to 80% of people who successfully maintained progress through professional guidance. family. So if you've been having trouble overcoming your fears on your own, seek professional help.
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Warning

• If your fear still does not go away and / or becomes overwhelming, consider seeing a doctor or talking to a therapist. In addition to teaching you the right treatments to help you overcome your fear, your therapist can also prescribe anxiety medications to help ease the process of exposure therapy. than.