Regarding the fear of snakes

- I would like to debate that topic and, I would even go as far as saying that in the garden of Eden the devil took the form of a serpent. "First encounter with a snake"
However when I had an appointment with my doctor a few years back, we were talking about my tarantulas and he told me of a guy who had arachnophobia, and his shrink told him to go and buy a G.rosea. Needless to say the guy has a collection of Tarantulas now

Facing fears does indeed somehow have an effect.
I had a fear of heights and flying in an aircraft. Planning my trip to London was mayhem as I wanted to go to the UK with a boat! Long story short I was finally sitting in a British Airways airplane.
Now remember I had a phobia, and there was trouble with the movies etc on display. While the airplane was taxing to the takeoff tarmac all seemed fine. Almost to perfect. "There was no way I was going to take a chill pill and the sleeping pill had no effect, I was WIDE AWAKE". Eventually we were up and flying through rising hot air pockets "which makes the plane bounce

" and the screen installed at the back of each seat had white noise all over, which got me totally freaked out. I wanted to kiss the ground after landing, but being in the UK meant a lot of traveling via airplanes and so, I eventually loved sitting next to a window, and always made sure I had a window seat, just to marvel at the golden clouds. Now ... I miss flying