The first thing to know that these types of specific fears often tend to diminish as we do the overall good somatic trauma work in general. That being said, there are definitely some ways to work with fear of specific situations, and they revolve around the principle of titration.

The first thing to try is, when you are in a state where you do NOT feel activated at all, and your surroundings are safe, to use your imagination. What happens if you simply imagine the thing you are afraid of? Very often this will produce the same kinds of sensations as one might experience when actually in the situation, though sometimes they may be milder, kind of like an echo of the full experience.

So, if that perks things up, then good! You can now work with those sensations using all your somatic tools and know how. You can pendulate between the imagined scenario and orienting to the actual environment around you, you can find out where the uncomfortable sensation is happening in the body and work with principles like tense and relax, or diaphragm work, or maybe some healthy aggression is needed. Follow your impulses and work with what arises.

There are often further ways of titrating the experience and applying the same process. Say you have fear of driving – ok, then after working solely with the imagination, go and actually get behind the wheel, but don’t start the engine. Just sit there and again imagine driving, but this time work the gas and brake, put your hands on the wheel, etc… – bring in some of the somatic actions associated with driving in the actual environment. Next time maybe you start the engine, but don’t go anywhere. then you go for a drive just around the block, pulling over and stopping at any point and working with the experience. This kind of approach can apply to many situations.

Another thing to try is to bring in a safe ally during these explorations, and then to bring that person with you during the actual experience. So perhaps, if you have a fear of being around a lot of people, you ‘practice’ going to the mall in the ways described above, with your ally present, and you share with them your experience. Then you try actually going to the mall with them, knowing you can sit and work somatically, or leave, at any time, with them there to support you.

This type of titrated approach, bridging between the imagination and the real experience with titration and support, can be very effective!