‘225’ takes an intrepid look at fear

Fears. We all have them. When your response to fear gets out of whack, you have a phobia. Professionals like Tom Davis are trained to help you overcome phobic fears. A professor in LSU’s Department of Psychology and co-director of child services at the Psychological Services Center, Davis studies and treats fears and phobias. Research of the sort that Davis just completed, on treating phobias in children, shows that what works is a carefully paced, gradual exposure to the fear. “By gradually confronting the fear and getting a positive response at each step, you realize that bad things don’t happen, or those aspects aren’t as bad you thought they would be,” Davis says. Read the 225 magazine cover story and find out what frightens some Baton Rouge residents here.