Got lead certified recently, but I pretty much drop a grade when climbing lead - I’m not as confident and I overgrip.
I’ve done lead falls, I know how to do 'em well, and yet… as someone who’s done top rope for many years, it’s scary not feeling the tension (however small) of a rope pulling your harness up.
Find routes that you can climb in 2-3 attempts in redpoint style and climb to the fall on each attempt. Only move to a knew route when you climbed it or it is really to hard. After a time you get confident with falling
Lead more, or toprope but ask your belayer to keep a bit more slack once you’re up a bit on the wall
I dont think you ever really overcome that fear. It is like a muscle you have to continuously train.
Exposure therapy. The more falls you take, the less anxiety you’ll feel when facing the next fall.
Unfortunately, the fear comes back over time if you don’t take falls, so you need to keep doing it. As they say, if you’re not falling, you’re not trying hard enough.
The more falls you take, the less anxiety you’ll feel when facing the next fall.
I have experienced the opposite. The longer I’ve been leading, the more afraid of falling I become.
