Phobias

Sometimes people confuse fear and phobia. But these two things are actually different. Fear is a normal and healthy part of life. Fear plays an important role in keeping us from entering harmful situations and helping us decide when to get out of situations that are not necessarily the best. It does not take over our lives or cause us to become irrational. A phobia, however, twists the normal fear response into something that is difficult or impossible to control.

 

A phobia is defined as an irrational and intense fear of a specific object or situation. Phobias vary in severity from person to person. Some people are able to manage their symptoms and face the feared object, albeit with a great sense of terror. Others are motivated by the phobia to avoid the feared situation, sometimes at great personal cost.

 

Phobias can be divided into three types:

·        specific phobia (fear of a specified object or situation)

·        social phobia (fear of social situations)

·        agoraphobia (fear of being tapped in an inescapable place or solution)

Although the symptoms of each type will vary, there are some symptoms common to all phobias. These include:

Terror: A persistent and overwhelming fear of the object or situation. 
Physical Symptoms: Dizziness, shaking, palpitations. 
Obsessive Thoughts: Difficulty thinking about anything other than the fear. 
Desire to Flee: An intense instinct to leave the situation. 
Anticipatory Anxiety: Persistent worrying about upcoming events that involve the phobic object or situation.

I would like to speak about two phobias: arachnophobia and social phobia.

Arachnophobia: An abnormal and persistent fear of spiders. Sufferers from arachnophobia experience undue anxiety even though they realize the risk of encountering a spider and being harmed by it is small or nonexistent. They may avoid going barefoot and may be especially alert when taking showers or getting into and out of bed. This phobia tends to affect women more than men.

Social Phobia is a condition characterized by a marked and persistent fear of social or performance situations in which embarrassment may occur. Exposure to the social or performance situation almost invariably provokes an immediate anxiety response. Most often, the social or performance situation is avoided. In many people, the social phobia is limited to one or more specific social situations, such as public speaking or stage fright.

Researchers are still unclear on exactly what causes phobias. The latest studies show that there is likely a complex interaction of factors including genetics, brain chemistry, environmental triggers and learned behavior.

Speaking about the treatment of phobias, there are currently two major theories on how best to treat phobias, based on differing beliefs about the nature of mental illness. One of them suggest treatment by medication, other one – by therapy.

To sum up, phobia is the thing that really burden people life. It’s a big problem which is necessary to be solved.

Reference: http://psychology.about.com/od/phobias/a/phobialist.htm