What is the best way to get over fear of spiders?

Is there any way to get over the fear of spiders?

• This might sound weird, but I'm a 15 year old guy that's deathly terrified of spiders. When I was younger, they didn't bother me at all. Now, I run away ever time I see a small spider. It annoys me. Can someone help?

• Answer:

  Hey there, I used to fear spiders too, house spiders were my biggest fears. I'm sure I developed the phobia from my mother who is petrified of them, she makes such a fuss when she see's one; and being a young child I was influenced by her phobia and in turn I, myself developed it. But relax, overcoming a fear isn't extremely difficult. All it takes is courage and an open mind. Use your common sense, if you're petrified of smaller spiders (Money spiders for example) then you're going to be scared to death by a much larger spider (Tarantula: Pink Salmon) A phobia is just in your head, why be limited by something so miniscule, why let something so unimportant control your life or manipulate your thought process? Try holding some smaller spiders with a friend who is completely relaxed with spiders and can guide you through it. Somebody who knows what they're doing; it helps a lot. Another useful tip is by reading up on spiders. People are scared of them biting or darting at them, trying to attack. Learn how to read a spider's body language, learn what makes them tick, increase your knowledge - I promise you, it'll make you think differently about them. Watch videos of people handing spiders on the internet, it'll help alot! I used to be scared of spiders, so I went into a pet shop and asked to hold a 'Pink Salmon Birdeater' (Google it) - Boom, fear completely gone. I now own 2 tarantulas, B.Vagans & Green Bottle Blue. Good luck dude.