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Phobia
What is phobia? Phobia is described as an extreme, irrational fear of a specific object or situation. It is also classified as a type of anxiety disorder, since anxiety is the chief symptom experienced by the sufferer. Phobias are thought to be learned emotional responses. It is generally held that phobias occur when fear produced by an original threatening situation that is transferred to other similar situations, with the original fear often repressed or forgotten. An excessive, unreasoning fear of water, for example, may be based on a forgotten childhood experience of almost drowning. The person accordingly tries to avoid that situation in the future, a response that, while reducing anxiety in the short term, reinforces the person's association of the situation with the onset of anxiety. In today’s society, everyone suffers from some type of phobia. They would fall into one of three categories: Agoraphobia, Social phobia, or specific phobia.
The first category, Agoraphobia, the person suffers from "irrational anxiety about being in places from which might be difficult or embarrassing." How many times have you been in a situation that made you feel uncomfortable or that you really did not want to even go because you felt under the weather? This shows that you might have this type of phobia.
Social phobia is an "irrational anxiety elicited by exposure to certain types of social or performance situations, also leading to avoidance behavior." Many people, in the world today, suffer from this phobia. Public speaking is the leading fear in today’s society. People will go to the high extremes to get out of a speech or an event where they are the center of attention. How many times have you been nervous about giving a speech in front of your class?
The last category is specific phobia. This phobia is a "persistent and irrational fear in the presence of some specific stimulus which commonly elicits avoidance of that stimulus, i.e., withdrawal." This category also has many subtypes which include animal type, natural type, blood- injection- injury type, situational type, and other type. Some examples of these phobias would be: situational type is induced by "a specific situation, such as public transportation, tunnels, bridges, elevators, flying, driving, or enclosed spaces.
One of the most common anxiety disorder is social phobia, which can sometimes be interchangeable with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). Marc de Rosnay, and others, states that Social Anxiety Disorder is characterized by a clearly noticeable fear and avoidance of most social situations where the individual may be put under scrutiny by others, and by fear in such situations, the individual will behave in an embarrassing manner (de Rosnay). One of the most notable feature of social phobia is that it has an early onset, as early as 7-9 months in most cases. The characteristics of having social phobia, or social anxiety disorder, is that the individuals are shy when meeting new people, quiet in a large group, blush easily, and often avoids making eye contact. There are a lot of concerns/problems with having social anxiety disorder. As a group, individuals with anxiety disorders had the largest burden of role disability compared to other common mental health conditions, exceeding the burden for mood disorders and in some cases, substance abuse (Grigorenko).
A phobic disorder is marked by a persistent and irrational fear of an object or situation that presents no realistic danger. Agoraphobia is an intense, irrational fear or anxiety occasioned by the prospect of having to enter certain outdoor locations or open spaces. For example, busy streets, busy stores, tunnels, bridges, public transportation and cars. Traditionally agoraphobia was solely classified as a phobic disorder. However, due to recent studies it is now also viewed as a panic disorder. Panic disorders are characterised by recurrent attacks of overwhelming anxiety that usually occur suddenly and unexpectedly (Weiten, 1998).
Characteristics of agoraphobia are a marked fear or anxiety about two or more of the following: "using public transportation" like cars, planes, trains, and buses; "being in open spaces" like a market, a parking lot, a bridge, or ship; "being in enclosed places" like a store, a theater, or an elevator; "standing in line or being in a crowd"; or "being outside of the home alone." (APA, 2013, pg 217) This fear differs from other phobias in that the fear is not the specific place or thing, but the person is afraid that they might not be able to leave or get help if they panic or are incapacitated or have embarrassing symptoms or situations. This might be because of other medical conditions such as vomiting or inflammatory bowel symptoms. Older adults might fear falling. Children might fe...
anxiety and panic attacks, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (1). Many of these symptoms cause people to avoid contact with the outside world, thus thrusting them deeper into their fears.
Conquering phobias is a specialty of hypnotherapists. A phobia is a compulsive fear of a specified situation or object (Knight 2). A few types of phobias are fear of open spaces, fear of snow, fear of the cold, fear of marriage, fear of insanity, fear of being alone, fear of darkness, fear of disease, fear of beards, fear of birds, fear of being stared at, fear of bein...
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.
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...
There are three kinds of phobias: simple phobia, social phobia, and panic attacks. Simple phobias, also called specific phobias, are fears of a specific thing, such as spiders or being in a closed place. Most simple phobias develop during childhood and eventually disappear. Specific phobia is a marked fear of a specific object or situation. It is a category for any phobias other than agoraphobia and social phobia. The categories of specific phobias are 1. situational phobias such as: fear of elevators, airplanes, enclosed places, public transportation, tunnels, or bridges; 2. fear of the natural environment such as: storms, water, or heights; 3. animal phobias such as: fear of dogs, snakes, insects, or mice; 4. blood-injection-injury phobia such as: fear of seeing blood or an injury, or of receiving an injection. (Wood 520).
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
Social anxiety disorder is also known as social phobia. It is defined as the fear of social situations that involve interaction with other people. It is the fear and anxiety of being judged and evaluated negatively by other people or behaving in a way that might cause embarrassment or ridicule. This leads to feelings of inadequacy, self-consciousness, and depression. The person with social anxiety disorder may believe that all eyes are on him at all times. Social anxiety disorder is the third largest mental health case issue in the world, and it can effect 7% of the population (15 million Americans) at any given time.
How has public speaking become so feared? “In a study [of 9,000 people] that concentrated on fears in a social situation, their top ranking fears were public speaking, speaking up in class, meeting new people, talking to people of authority, important exams or interviews, going to parties and talking to strangers”(Lucas, 2012, pg. 9). This question has always perplexed me, because I too suffer from a fear of speaking in public. But after reading chapter one of The Art of Public Speaking, I understand now that it is a blend of different subjects that make public speaking seem so unappealing. Stephen Lucas opens this chapter on the power of public speaking, by saying “Throughout history people have used public speaking as a vital means of
Introduce Topic: A phobia as defined by medicalnewstoday.com, “is an irrational fear, a kind of anxiety disorder in which the sufferer has a relentless dread of a situation, living creature, place or thing.”
All of us at one point in our life have had a fear of something, whether it’s public speaking, trying something new for the first time, or even presenting just like we're all going to be doing. I'm sure most of us will be nervous and we try our best to get rid of that feeling. Some people have Social anxiety which is known as social phobia. It is the fear of social interaction with other people and of being judged and looked down upon. It can also be a fear of embarrassment. This leads to feelings of inadequacy, self-consciousness, and depression. Social anxiety is an issue that affects many individuals as it should be taken more seriously and should not be considered as a weakness. Moreover, individuals with social anxiety should not be judged
Social anxiety is a common personality disorder, it is caused by excessive and unreasonable fear of social situations. This type of anxiety is triggered by the fear of being judged by others, based off of who they are or how they behave. People who suffer from social anxiety tend to experience distorted thinking, leading to fake accusations about the outcome