Meet Dr. Robin Zasio

Animal Planet chatted with Dr. Robin Zasio about My Extreme Animal Phobia, how she started helping people with anxieties, her own fears and more. Learn more about how animal phobias work, how they can be cured and about Dr. Zasio!

What motivated you to get into this field?

I got into this because it was by a fluke thing. My direction was in forensic psychology and at the time when I graduated from school, I needed to find an internship and there really wasn't much in Sacramento and I just kind of came by this internship at an OCD clinic. And two weeks later, I changed my entire path. Because I began to do the exposure therapy, which is obviously what we're doing with our people with animal phobias, they do the behavioral treatment and their lives literally just change so rapidly because as they begin to do things differently they begin to feel better, so for me, what was so empowering to get into this field was literally just seeing people's lives change so quickly.

Anyone in particular that motivated/inspired you?

It was the experience of working with the people and seeing how they were afraid of these things that didn't even exist but their lives were being controlled by it. And it was just so wonderful to help people overcome their fears. So it was really the patients that inspired me so much.

Why did you pursue the shows? How can the show help people who are watching?

A few reasons. One is it's the first show of its kind talking about this fear. We know that people are afraid, but there's never been extensive media to help promote awareness and education around the treatment for animal phobias and how real it is and the impact on people's lives. And I think why I was so excited about this show, was thinking about all the people we would help and all the opportunities we would be giving people that otherwise they would never have. I mean, you know as well as I the cost involved in not just doing a show, just trying to pay for a therapist and how much it would cost for all the hours of therapy that they got. So, thinking that we were giving people opportunities that they would never otherwise have, and then being able to promote it via media to be able to say "Hey, look, this is something that's real. There are a lot of people out there who are suffering, this is what the treatment looks like and it works." And for those people who are out there suffering too, to see that "Oh my gosh, I don't need to be ashamed and embarrassed and there is treatment."

Can you explain the difference between having a fear of something and having a phobia? What signs can people look for?

Basically, when someone has what would be diagnosed as a phobia, which is an actual diagnosis, the main criteria that we look at is that their lives have been impacted in some way. Whether it be personally, educationally, vocationally, whatever it is, that there has to be a level that they're being impacted. You know, people can have fears, but if it doesn't, you know, alter your life, alter the lives of those that you love, and you're doing what you want to do, when you want to do it, yeah, all of us can be fearful of things, but as long as it doesn't impact us, then it doesn't go to that level where they're phobic and they're going to need clinical therapy.