Interesting article. Researchers found that in many cases, a spider phobia could be cured in just one session (though some cases can take a couple weeks to cure, one researcher noted).

http://www.livescience.com/20468-spider ... erapy.html

Interesting read!

A single 2-hour session may not be enough, but it is true that specific phobias like arachnophobia respond very well to exposure therapy. (They are among the most treatable mental illnesses.)

Feelings, memories, fears are encoded via neuro tracts in the brain. If the neuro pattern is laid down during the "fight or flight" response, the chemicals present at that time in the brain make the neuro tract very strong and may take more work/time to change. There are a number of methods that will over write those patterns and or disconnect them. Most phobias are easy and fast to cure in one to two sessions.

While phobias are included in the manual that is used to diagnose mental conditions, I would not put them in the category of a "mental illness" but more condition that any of us can have and many people do. What is not known by most is that the more one talks about the phobia or event that sets a neuro pattern the stronger it becomes. Turns out that our grandmothers who told us to forget it and move on were right.

A phobia is an irrational, intense, and debilitating fear -- I think it's fair to classify that as a mental illness/disorder. Unfortunately, there is such a stigma attached to mental health problems that few people want to be labeled that way.

I am not discounting phobias. They indeed can be intense and debilitating. They also are very treatable which is why I see them more as a treatable, curable condition unlike things like Schizophrenia which is a progressive condition that usually renders people significantly disabled. I agree that there still is much stigma attached to mental health problems which may keep people from getting spider phobias resolved.