phobia, which way to go?

Which way to go ?
The route you take to overcome the phobia depends to a large extent on how general or how specific it is - but there are no hard-and-fast rules - you should decide what is most appropriate for you. Please notice that I did NOT say that you should chose to take the options that seem to be the easy ones - some procedures can work very well and in a short time, particularly where you only have a simple phobia, but other methods can take some time to achieve results with a more complex phobia. Trying a number of different things to see if they have an effect can also be very worthwhile.

If you have nothing else which is linked to your fear of balloons popping then by all means look around the rest of the site to see if there's anything else you would consider doing which might help, but it's possible that you can overcome the fear of balloons popping by following some of the suggestions on this site whether on your own or with the help of a group or professional therapy. A good place to start would be the section of ideas for the SIMPLE phobia.

If there are some additional anxieties which are related to the fear of balloons bursting, then you'll probably need to take further advice - by all means use any of the suggestions on this site - but they should be complemented by professional help in whatever form you feel is appropriate. If you have several phobias then you are likely to benefit from professional advice, but check out the ideas in both simple and COMPLEX sections.

If you are using some of the suggestions from this site to help with the balloon popping phobia then make sure that the people who are helping you with other areas of your life know about the phobia and what you are doing about it. There may be links between this phobia and other problems which you don't realize exist, and a good therapist will be able to understand them and provide appropriate help.