"As with other phobias, arachnophobia can be treated with exposure therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (cbt). In cognitive behavioral therapy, the therapist tries to replace the negative automatic thoughts associated with spiders with more rational thoughts. A therapist may use systemic desensitization to treat arachnophobia. “this is the method of learning relaxation techniques and then confronting our fears from what we fear the least to what we fear the most,” dr. Manavitz explains."