Phobias: How can I overcome the fear of snakes?

Well you need to practice something called "systematic desensitization". If you have a good therapist in your area I suggest you visit them or else here's the "super-simplified" explanation. You basically need to get comfortable with being exposed to increasingly more and more information about snakes and finally the snake itself ( under expert supervision of course) You could maybe start with looking at pictures of snakes over the internet or National Geographic. If that's not anxiety provoking enough move to the next 'tier' of anxiety. That could be petting a plastic snake that is extremely life like. The key is that as you get comfortable with each step you're ready to move on to the next...... Best of luck!!!!

I believe this fear is very common. I was not afraid of snakes until I stepped on one in tall grass, and it wrapped around my ankle. Many years later, I lived in a house that was close to a hibernactum for garter snakes, so they were very numerous in my yard. I wanted to enjoy my garden, so set about to just observe them, to the point that I gathered the courage to pick one up. Mistake. I thought I was ready for it, but the motion of the snake writhing and twisting in my hand brought it all back to me. After that episode, I determined that I would be just as well off admiring their beauty without trying to pick them up. So on the way to my garden patch, I walked very heavily, to alert the snakey denizens of my yard!

Yes, it's actually quite simple: learn as much as you can about them. I studied snakes when I was much younger, because, quite frankly, I didn't believe other people when they told me that I should either avoid or kill all snakes because they are dangerous. When I met the girl who became my wife, she had to learn very quickly about wild creatures because I love the bush. She learned the hard way, by me picking up all manner of creepy, ugly, crawly creatures, handing them to her and telling her to examine them minutely. She soon learned that I would never give her anything that would harm her in any way, so she learned to appreciate them and understand them. She regards almost all the denizens of the bush, from solifuges to Egyptian cobras and bats of all kinds as "cute"(!) and has absolutely no fear of them, even when they crawl over her. She  knows that snakes will do her no harm if she just keeps still and watches them, but she won't hesitate to pick up the harmless ones she recognises. If she can't identify it, she'll describe it to me to find out what it is. She leaves the catching and releasing of the deadly ones to me, though.