What
is Phobia
If you are afraid of something, then
you are not alone. Because there are many people who are afraid of something
like you. Even I am also afraid of something.
Just think that you’re scared of
heights or you hate cockroach, then someone is talking about them. What will
you feel? Obviously, you will feel nervous or uncomfortable. Don’t worry this
is normal and many people feel this way.
What if cockroaches scare you too much
that you would not go inside your room? If this happens then your fear is too
much to handle. In today’s post we will learn more about phobias.
Our post will cover these terms
- Ø Definition
- Ø Symptoms
- Ø Classification
- Ø Causes
- Ø Treatment
Phobias
Phobia is a Greek word which means
fear. It is one kind of anxiety disorder. And it is more than a simple fear of
something. Actually phobia means an intense fear of something. And this fear
can be of specific objects, situation or any activity.
Person who has phobia become so fearful
if they even think about the objects or situation they dread. So they mainly
try to make them comfortable by avoiding it or think about it.
This intense feeling of fear prevents
them from functioning normally in their everyday lives. So it becomes hard for
them.
Symptoms
The person who has phobia will experience
some kinds of symptoms. Some symptoms of phobias are actually rapid heartbeat,
nausea, trembling feelings of unreality also.
Some common symptoms across all the
phobias are uncontrollable anxiety when exposed to a source of fear, not being
able to function properly when face with the source of fear and a feeling to
avoid the source of fear at any cost etc.
When they exposed to the object they
fear, they likely to experience these physical effects like dry mouth,
sweating, a chocking sensations, headache, chest pains, confusion etc.
These symptoms are shown in adults. In
children, they are mainly try to throw tantrums, hide behind parents or cry too
much.
Classifications of Phobia
Psychologists believe that phobia is
mainly used to refer to the fear of a one particular trigger. Maximum phobias
are related with multiple phobias. The fears of phobia can be related to
natural environment, animals, specific situations and medical treatments.
Phobias are classified into three
categories. These are
- ·
Specific
Phobias
- ·
Agoraphobia
and
- ·
Social
Phobia
Specific Phobia
Specific phobia is an intense fear of a
specific objects or situation. When a person is exposed to the situation or
objects, they experience immediate fear. Some common specific fears are fear of
spiders, fear of heights, fear of snakes etc.
Agoraphobia
Those who are suffering from
agoraphobia are mainly afraid of being in public places or such situations
where it would be difficult to escape or they should not get help.
They sometimes get panic attacks.
Female suffer twice as frequently as male. And they develop this in their 20s
or 30s. Sometimes people even feel afraid to get out of their home. They have
an increased risk of panic disorder.
Social
Phobia
Social phobia is the profound fear of
public humiliation or being judged by others in a social situation. But we
cannot mix it with shyness. It is uncomfortable for someone who is suffering
from social phobia to go to a large social gathering.
Agoraphobia and social phobias are
called complex phobias because their triggers are less recognized and people
find it harder to avoid the triggers.
Causes of Phobias
Actually it is true that no can tell
you what exactly cause phobia. But psychologists are trying to find out it. And
evidence tends to support the behavioral explanation.
Behaviorists believe that people with
phobias learn to fear through conditioning. And they use classical conditioning
to acquire it. Once they acquire the fear then they try to avoid the objects,
situation or events and make it more problematic.
Another way they think that is
modeling. And in this way they acquire fear through observation of some people.
Just imagine of a girl whose brother is afraid of dogs and he always expresses
his fear to his sister, so eventually here is a chance that the girl will also have
a fear of dogs.
Treatment of Phobias
Every models of psychology has a
treatment method for phobias. But psychologists use behavioral techniques more
than any other.
It was specific phobia which was
treated successfully. Systematic desensitization, flooding and modeling are
used to treat specific phobias. These approaches are called exposure therapy
together because in all of them people are exposed to the objects or situation
they are afraid of.
Systematic
desensitization is
a process in which people learn to relax while gradually facing the situations
or objects they fear. And in flooding,
therapists believe that if clients are exposed to the objects or situations repeatedly
and made to see that they are harmless then they will stop to fear them. In
this technique, no relaxation techniques are used.
In modeling, therapists play the role
to confront the feared objects or situations and the person who feared observes
it. Medications are not useful in the treatment of specific phobias.
Medications and counseling are used in
the treatment of agoraphobia and social phobias.
So, in this post you got to know about
some information related to phobias. Now we know what is phobia, what causes
them, its classification, symptoms and treatment? Tell me what makes you
afraid.
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