I don't have any phobias but I'd be interested to know if anybody has managed to overcome fears/phobias with greater knowledge. The closest experience I've had is that I started to enjoy the taste of mushrooms (which I previously found repulsive) after taking a mycology class. I realised that what I found repulsive about mushrooms was partially due to ignorance (they're an odd food to categorise). Insects and spiders are odd, difficult to categorise beasts too, so perhaps knowledge would help in addition to exposure.