is exposure therapy the only way to resolve a fear of bugs?
(my main question is in the title, but this part's mostly a vent/context)
i didn't think it was a full-on phobia, but i really think it's too severe to be a fear. i'm sorry if this isn't taking things seriously enough, i could just be overreacting, but i thought i might as well try. i really don't know. i've been really scared of bugs for a while now, but not my whole life. i actually loved them as a kid. the worst part is, for some reason, i'm just fine looking at them on a screen, and can actually like seeing them. i really like them on paper, too. i appreciate them deeply. but when i see something, even an ant, i'm horrified. i either freeze entirely or run away. i'm an adult now and i'll probably be moving out soon, and one of the worst bugs for me (centipedes) are incredibly common in the area. just now (the reason i'm posting this) i was just going to grab something for a headache, and as i was coming back to bed, i saw something really big on the stairs, like a giant mosquito. it looked like the insect from this one movie i keep seeing clips of online, where it buries its way into a guy's leg and the doctors have to pull it out, i think it was a comedy or at least had comedic elements (that's not important though, i only realized as i was typing this). i was using a flashlight to see, so it must've just been the angle, because it turned out to be a centipede. i didn't get another look at it or anything, i just woke my dad up to take care of it (another reason this life isn't sustainable for me, i'm a grown ass woman asking my dad to help in the middle of the night???), but as he was getting up, i was really nervous, asking him to put on a jacket and thick shoes and everything so if it was something venomous he'd be fine, and the whole time i was horrified something would happen, despite us living in a place that would never have that as a concern at all. i really hate it and i don't know what to do.