A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder that causes an individual to experience extreme, irrational fear about a situation, living creature, place, or object.
When a person has a phobia, they will often shape their lives to avoid what they consider to be dangerous. The imagined threat is greater than any actual threat posed by the cause of terror.
Phobias are diagnosable mental disorders. The person will experience intense distress when faced with the source of their phobia. This can prevent them from functioning normally and sometimes leads to panic attacks.
Types of Phobia
A phobia is an exaggerated and irrational fear. The term ‘phobia’ is often used to refer to a fear of one particular trigger. However, there are three types of phobia recognized by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). These include:
1. Specific Phobia
This is an intense, irrational fear of a specific trigger.
2. Social Phobia, or Social Anxiety
This is a profound fear of public humiliation and being singled out or judged by others in a social situation. The idea of large social gatherings is terrifying for someone with social anxiety. It is not the same as shyness.
3. Agoraphobia
This is a fear of situations from which it would be difficult to escape if a person were to experience extreme panic, such being in a lift or being outside the home. It is commonly misunderstood as a fear of open spaces but could also apply to being confined in a small space, such as an elevator, or being on public transport. People with agoraphobia have an increased risk of panic disorder.
Specific phobias are known as simple phobias, as they can be linked to an identifiable because that may not frequently occur in the everyday life of an individual, such as snakes. These are therefore not likely to affect day-to-day living significantly.
Other types of Phobias
Many people dislike certain situations or objects, but to be a true phobia, the fear must interfere with daily life. Here are a few more of the most common ones:
1. Glossophobia
This is known as performance anxiety, or the fear of speaking in front of an audience. People with this phobia have severe physical symptoms when they even think about being in front of a group of people. Glossophobia treatments can include either therapy or medication.
2. Acrophobia
This is the fear of heights. People with this phobia avoid mountains, bridges, or the higher floors of buildings. Symptoms include vertigo, dizziness, sweating, and feeling as if they’ll pass out or lose consciousness.
3. Claustrophobia
This is a fear of enclosed or tight spaces. Severe claustrophobia can be especially disabling if it prevents you from riding in cars or elevators.
4. Aviophobia
This is also known as the fear of flying.
5. Dentophobia
Dentophobia is a fear of the dentist or dental procedures. This phobia generally develops after an unpleasant experience at a dentist’s office. It can be harmful if it prevents you from obtaining needed dental care.
6. Hemophobia
This is a phobia of blood or injury. A person with hemophobia may faint when they come in contact with their own blood or another person’s blood.
7. Nyctophobia
This phobia is a fear of the nighttime or darkness. It almost always begins as a typical childhood fear. When it progresses past adolescence, it’s considered a phobia.
8. Arachnophobia - This means fear of spiders.
9. Monophobia - This is the fear of being alone
10. Cynophobia - This is a fear of dogs.
11. Ophidiophobia - People with this phobia fear snakes.
12. Driving phobia - Fear of driving a car
13. Emetophobia - Fear of vomiting
14. Erythrophobia - Fear of blushing
15. Hypochondria - Fear of becoming ill
16. Zoophobia - Fear of animals
17. Aquaphobia - Fear of water
18. Acrophobia - Fear of heights
19. Escalaphobia - Fear of escalators
20. Tunnel phobia - Fear of tunnels
Causes
Genetic and environmental factors can cause phobias. Children who have a close relative with an anxiety disorder are at risk of developing a phobia. Distressing events, such as nearly drowning, can bring on a phobia. Exposure to confined spaces, extreme heights, and animal or insect bites can all be sources of phobias.
People with ongoing medical conditions or health concerns often have phobias. There’s a high incidence of people developing phobias after traumatic brain injuries. Substance abuse and depression are also connected to phobias.
Phobias have different symptoms from serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. In schizophrenia, people have visual and auditory hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, negative symptoms such as anhedonia, and disorganized symptoms. Phobias may be irrational, but people with phobias do not fail reality testing.
Risk Factors
People with a genetic predisposition to anxiety may be at high risk of developing a phobia. Age, socioeconomic status, and gender seem to be risk factors only for certain phobias. For example, women are more likely to have animal phobias. Children or people with a low socioeconomic status are more likely to have social phobias. Men make up the majority of those with dentist and doctor phobias.
Symptoms
A person with a phobia will experience the following symptoms. They are common across the majority of phobias:
- A sensation of uncontrollable anxiety when exposed to the source of fear
- a feeling that the source of that fear must be avoided at all costs
- not being able to function properly when exposed to the trigger
- acknowledgment that the fear is irrational, unreasonable, and exaggerated, combined with an inability to control the feelings
A person is likely to experience feelings of panic and intense anxiety when exposed to the object of their phobia. The physical effects of these sensations can include:
- Sweating
- abnormal breathing
- accelerated heartbeat
- trembling
- hot flushes or chills
- a choking sensation
- chest pains or tightness
- butterflies in the stomach
- pins and needles
- dry mouth
- confusion and disorientation
- nausea
- dizziness
- headache
A feeling of anxiety can be produced simply by thinking about the object of the phobia. In younger children, parents may observe that they cry, become very clingy, or attempt to hide behind the legs of a parent or an object. They may also throw tantrums to show their distress.
Treatment
Phobias are highly treatable, and people who have them are nearly always aware of their disorder. This helps diagnosis a great deal.
Speaking to a psychologist or psychiatrist is a useful first step in treating a phobia that has already been identified.
If the phobia does not cause severe problems, most people find that simply avoiding the source of their fear helps them stay in control. Many people with specific phobias will not seek treatment, as these fears are often manageable.
It is not possible to avoid the triggers of some phobias, as is often the case with complex phobias. In these cases, speaking to a mental health professional can be the first step to recovery.
Treatment for phobias can involve therapeutic techniques, medications, or a combination of both.
Medication
Antidepressants and antianxiety medications can help calm emotional and physical reactions to fear. Often, a combination of medication and professional therapy is the most helpful.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most commonly used treatment for phobias. It involves exposure to the source of the fear in a controlled setting. This treatment can recondition people and reduce anxiety.
The therapy focuses on identifying and changing negative thoughts, dysfunctional beliefs, and negative reactions to the phobic situation. New CBT techniques use virtual reality technology to expose people to the sources of their phobias safely.
Conclusion
Phobias can be a source of genuine and ongoing distress for an individual. However, they are treatable in most cases, and very often the source of fear is avoidable. Overcoming phobias can be difficult, but there’s hope. With the right treatment, you can learn to manage your fears and lead a productive, fulfilling life.
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