My friend continues not to be bothered by scary thoughts. It is now six years after he completed Exposure therapy. He was telling me he was in a Kinko's the other day making xeroxes, and on a table next to his copier was a pair of scissors. He smiled and laughed to himself, never missing a beat xeroxing. He was musing how if this was 2001-2003 he would be freaking out, and the anxiety would have been through the roof. At Kinko's he had no scary thoughts whatsoever!
My message is: he overcame the scary thoughts and continues to do so. So can you!