What Medication is best for Phobias?
There are no medications that will simply make your phobia disappear overnight. That said, the use of the medications described above for anxiety and panic attacks can make challenging your phobia much easier, possibly to the extent where it just melts away. Certainly if a going in an elevator causes you to have panic attacks, using a benzodiazepine tranquiliser will quite possibly significantly help. You should remember though that it might well not always be practical to take a tranquiliser each time you go in a lift. Therefore, medication should only be one aspect of your phobia treatment, it should be combined with a phobia therapy or treatment programme.
Likewise if you are on a SSRI which is helping with anxiety and/or panic attacks challenging phobias may well also be easier, as your overall anxiety levels will be lower.
Unless you have agoraphopbia I would suggest you try to tackle your phobia without SSRIs and use tranquilisers such as benzodiazepines (valium, xanax etc) sparingly. The ultimate aim is of course to respond to the stimulus in a normal healthy manner, without outside help. Using valium short term though can be helpful on your pathway to recovery.
