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Anxiety due to social media
Treatments for phobias and their efficacy
The cause and effect of having a phobia
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Anxiety disorders are mental disorders caused by extreme or severe anxiety often caused by overwhelming worries, fears, and stress. Phobic disorder, commonly known as phobia, is a type of anxiety disorder wherein the individual acquires an excessive and irrational fear of a particular object or situation, with the fear being out of proportion to the real threat. “The word [phobia] is derived from Phobos, the Greek god of fear, whose likeness was painted on masks and shields to frighten enemies in battle.” (Passer and Smith 537) Jennifer Ong defines phobia as a heightened sense of fear. Also, according to her, psychologists assert that the fears in phobia are usually based on irrational grounds.
A fear develops into a phobia when a situation is so dreaded that a person would go to any length to avoid it. Those that possess phobia have intense unrealistic fears that are not proportional to the actual danger involved. However, even if they understood this, they have no idea on how to handle their fears face front, resulting to intensely avoiding their feared stimulus. Also, phobic individuals can pinpoint the cause of their fears (Barlow, 2001). According to Melinda Smith, Robert Segal, and Jeanne Segal, “If you have a phobia, you will probably realize that your fear is unreasonable, yet you still can’t control your feelings. Just thinking about the feared object or situation may make you anxious. And when you’re actually exposed to the thing you fear, the terror is automatic and overwhelming.” The scary thing is that phobia can hit anyone, be it adults or children. Phobia does not simply mean possessing exaggerated fear of specific stimulus (Gazzaniga et al. 564). Like other anxiety disorders, it also exhibits symptoms, such as an...
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...rflies are practically harmless, and such a case of going blind is not much heard of. He should convince himself with the idea that several people have already interacted with butterflies, and there has not been any known case that some went blind. Continuous practice and application of the said methods increase the success rate of self-treatment. Conclusively, self-treatment is considered favourable since it helps the individual overcome his own fears with his own strength, resulting to greatly surpassing his anxiety.
In addition to self-treatment, another form of psychotherapy or behavioural technique is exposure therapy. Exposure therapy is a behavioural therapy for phobia wherein the individual is repeatedly exposed to his feared object or situation. The repeated exposure eventually eliminates the individual's avoidance response or behaviour towards his phobia.
...ype of treatment available for post-traumatic stress disorder patients is psychotherapies. There are various types of psychotherapy that psychologist can use such as exposure therapy, psychoeducation or mindfulness training. In exposure therapy, the patient is recreating the traumatic event help get rid of the fear relating to the event. For example, James Francis Ryan could be put through a session where there was simulation of explosives going off or even airplane engine noises. Research by F.R. Schneier et al., 2012, found that antidepressant medication taken alongside exposure therapy was found to be more effective in treating the post-traumatic stress disorder (Sue, Sue, Sue, and Sue, 2014, p.127). Psychoeducation is also used with exposure therapy because it educates the patient with information about their disorder in order to understand it and cope with it.
The procedures leading to the acquisition and elimination of agoraphobia are based on a number of behavioural principles. The underlying principle is that of classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus (Weiten, 1998). Eliminating agoraphobia is basically achieving self-control through behaviour modification. Behaviour modification is systematically changing behaviour through the application of the principles of conditioning (Weiten, 1998). The specific principle used here is systematic desensitisation. The two basic responses displayed are anxiety and relaxation, which are incompatible responses. Systematic desensitisation works by reconditioning people so that the conditioned stimulus elicits relaxation instead of anxiety. This is called counterconditioning. Counterconditioning is an attempt to reverse the process of classical conditioning by associating the crucial stimulus with a new conditioned response (Weiten, 1998). This technique's effectiveness in eliminating agoraphobia is well documented.
According to Sharp (2012), “anxiety disorders are the most widespread causes of distress among individuals seeking treatment from mental health services in the United States” (p359).
Almost everyone alive has a fear of something whether it be heights, spiders or even clowns. Some people however have more serious issues with their fears, fears that follow them almost everywhere they go, these fears are called phobias. It is estimated that 4 to 5 percent of Americans have some type of phobia, which is an irrational fear of situations and certain objects. There are over 500 known phobias; a very common phobia is social phobia.
Having anxiety is common and a part of everyday life however; there is a huge difference between a fear and a social phobia or anxiety disorder. The difference and important distinction psychoanalysts make between a fear and a phobia is “a true phobia must be inconsistent with the conscious learning experience of the individual” (Karon 1). Patients with true phobias “do not respond to cognitive therapy but do respond well to psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic therapy” (Karon 2). Social phobia is a serious anxiety disorder that should not be taken lightly or mistaken as a fear you will simply grow out of the older you get. Social phobia has the power to destroy lives and can prevent people from living and enjoying their life to the fullest. Social phobia is a disabling condition that often starts between the ages of early childhood and late adolescence. The origins of social phobia can be linked to “traumatic social experiences and social isolation” (Hudson118-120). Social phobia is treatable however; research and statics show that not many seek help.
What would be the criteria used to distinguish between clinically significant fear and anxiety, and everyday fear and anxiety?
Everyone at some point have experience fear due to a situation that overwhelms us. This is an essential response of our bodies that can help us survive. However, when these fears are constant, they can disable an individual. Panic disorder (PD) it’s a mental illness that leads a person to have recurring panic attacks, (Strickland, 2001). Panic attacks in people with PD arise unexpectedly, situationally predisposed and / or by situations that remind them experienced dreadful events. PD can be categorized under two types: PD with or without agoraphobia. Agoraphobia is the fear of being in a situation or place in which the person thinks that would be difficult or embarrassing to escape. Some individuals develop agoraphobia after the first episodes of panic attacks; others acquire it years later, (Key, 2012).
It is never pleasant to feel anxious or distressed for any reason. However, there are several people who are diagnosed with anxiety disorders as they are very prevalent today. Mental health professionals are helping people overcome hurdles such as panic attacks, severe worry, social anxiety and other specific phobias. I think that anxiety is an emotion that everyone experiences at one time or another in their life. Anxiety can have a negative effect on an individual if it interferes with one’s daily routine and keeps them from doing what they normally do.
Phobias are considered a part of anxiety disorders, a phobia is an intense and irrational fear of a certain thing or situation. Some examples of phobias include fear of heights, insects, and even talking in front of a large crowd. The intensity of phobias differ from patient to patient but the severity of phobia...
...6. Generalization from the original phobic stimulus to stimuli of a similar nature will occur; 7. Noxious experiences which occur under conditions of excessive confinement are more likely to produce phobic reactions; 8. Neutral stimuli which are associated with a noxious experience, may develop motivating properties. This acquired drive is termed the fear drive; 9. Responses (such as avoidance) which reduce the fear drive are reinforced; 10. Phobic reactions can be acquired vicariously (Rachman 31). These theories are used to identify how people obtain phobias and other situations that may occur with phobias.
Anxiety is a term for several disorders that causes the body to feel fear, nervousness, apprehension, and worrying, "Anxiety is a word we use for some types of fear that are consequently to do with the thought of a threat or something going wrong in the future, rather than right now" (Mental Health Foundation). Many people suffer from anxiety every day, consequently most people can not pinpoint what exactly their anxiety originates from. No one likes to experience stress and anxiety, but it is just a phase of life that most humans have to overcome and become stronger. Anxiety disorders are one of the most inferior mental illnesses that affects teens and adults in the United States. Anxiety negatively affects the body and
Anxiety is a monster that most people have to deal with on a daily basis. Even though anxiety is not actually a monster it still torments thousands of people every day, leaving them weak and scared. Anxiety defined means “distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune” defined by Dictionary.com. In the epic poem of Beowulf, one could say that the townspeople had anxiety when it came to Grendel because they feared what he could do to them.
Anxiety disorder is a type of abnormal behavior characterized by unrealistic, irrational fear. These types of disorders are diagnosed two as often in women as in men. Although these disorders can be very chronic and serious, they are easily treatable. Generalized anxiety disorder is when people experience fear and worry that is not focused on one specific aspect; nevertheless, they suffer greatly with headaches, dizziness, heart palpitations, and insomnia. Obsessive-compulsive disorder, better known as OCD, involves persistent, unwanted, obsessions and irresistible urges to perform compulsions in order to relieve anxiety. Unlike other anxiety disorders, OCD consists more of anxiety and worry rather than fear itself. Many people who experience OCD are aware that there is no motive behind their actions, however their anxiety is heightened when they try to ignore the compulsions. People with such anxiety disorders often experience sensitivity to other people’s views as well as worry over their surroundings.
One of the characteristics of a phobia is a feeling that is greater than the fear of a situation or object with an exaggeration of the danger associated with the said situation or even object. This persistent fear often leads to an anxiety disorder that leads an individual to develop mechanisms that ensure one avoids the object or situation that triggers the occurrence of the phobia. Phobias can have highly debilitating effects on an individual including the development of depression, isolation, substance abuse, and even suicide. Many people take phobia for granted however, it is clear that it has the potential to impair the quality of life for both the affected and the people around them. The fact that many of the phobias are manageable using
Anxiety is part of life; everyone feels it to one degree or another during their lives. However, when that feeling of anxiety starts to take over your life, or is persistent beyond a certain time in our lives (e.g. a speech in class) then a person may have an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders are characterized by extreme distress, persistent anxiety, or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety.