What is a Phobia?
A phobia is an overwhelming and debilitating fear of an object, place, situation, feeling or animal. Phobias are more pronounced than fears. They develop when a person has an exaggerated or unrealistic sense of danger about a situation or object. If a phobia becomes very severe, people may organise their life around avoiding the thing that’s causing them anxiety. As well as restricting their day-to-day life, it can also cause a lot of stress.
Is a phobia a anxiety disorder?
Yes, a phobia is a type of anxiety disorder. You may not experience any symptoms until you come into contact with the source of a phobia. However, in some cases, even thinking about the source of the phobia can make a person feel anxious or panicky.
However, if you have a complex phobia such as agoraphobia, leading a normal life may be very difficult.
Types of phobias
There are a wide variety of objects or situations that someone could develop a phobia about. However, phobias can be divided into two main categories:
Specific or simple phobias
Complex phobias
Specific or simple phobias
Specific or simple phobias centre around a particular object, animal, situation or activity. They often develop during childhood or adolescence and may become less severe as you get older.
Common examples of simple phobias:
Animal phobias - such as dogs, spiders, snakes, or rodents.
Environmental - such as heights, deep water and germs.
Situational phobias - such as visiting the dentist or flying on an airplane.
Bodily phobias - such as blood, vomit, or having injections.
Sexual phobias - such as performance anxiety or the fear of getting a sexually transmitted infection.
Complex phobias
Complex phobias tend to be more disabling than simple phobias. They tend to develop during adulthood and are often associated with deep-rooted fear or anxiety about a particular situation or circumstance. The two most common complex phobias
Someone with agoraphobia will feel anxious about being in a place or situation where escaping may be difficult if they have a panic attack. The anxiety usually results in the person avoiding situations such as:
Being alone
Being in crowded places, such as busy restaurants or supermarkets.
Traveling on public transportation
Social phobia, also known as a social anxiety disorder, centres around feeling anxious in social situations. If you have a social phobia, you might be afraid of speaking in front of people for fear of embarrassing yourself yourself and being humiliated in public. In severe cases, this can become debilitating and may prevent you from carrying out everyday activities, such as eating out or meeting friends.
What causes phobias?
Phobias don’t have a single cause, but there are a number of associated factors. For example:
A phobia may be associated with a particular incident or trauma.
A phobia may be a learned response that a person develops early in life from a parent or sibling (brother and
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).
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
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...
Simple phobias include irrational fears of things like animals such as dogs, cats, or the most common snakes. Specific phobias are centered around specific situations such as small spaces, claustrophobia, or heights, acrophobia. Social phobias are irrational fears of interactions with other people. For example, a person might have a social phobia of public speaking or fear of embarrassment. Another form of social phobia is agoraphobia which restraints a person from being in unfamiliar, open or closed spaces, typically resulting in panic attacks. These different types of phobias have two things in common; they are irrational, and they are treated in similar
Phobias are irrational fears that create interference within an individual’s daily routine. There are individuals who suffer from a phobia linked to pretty much any object or place imaginable. Each phobia has a specific name, for example, a fear of spiders is the phobia known as arachnophobia. There are phobias linked to flying, heights, germs and millions of things in between, each with its own name. A phobia is a category of anxiety disorders which can induce a panic attack. A panic attack is the direct result of the individual
Phobias vary from every person because everyone has a different perspective on an object or situation. However, there are three main types of phobias. These three main types of phobias are agoraphobia, social phobia, and specific (feared) phobia. Agoraphobia is the fear of a situation where there is no escape or assistance is not available. Social phobia is the fear of being judged/scrutinized by people and having to socialize or interact with others. While, specific phobia is a persistent fear marked by an atrocious association to an object or situation.
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.
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).
Phobias have been in existence for many years. Phobias date back to the works of Hippocrates, a prehistoric Greek physician (Korgeski, 2009). The works of Hippocrates are still debated today. In The Seventh Book of Epidemics, one of the publications by Hippocrates, he studied an individual and he interpreted a condition that the person portrayed. The results of the observation were that the individual was petrified of the sound of a flute, if he wasn’t intoxicated. He noticed the individual was fine during the day listening to the flute but during the night hours everything was different (Korgeski, 2009). From this observation and the work of Hippocrates helped contribute to the creation of term phobia. The word phobia was formulated from a Greek god. Phobus, the son of Ares, means panic and fear (Atsma, 2000). The term phobia was used to describe psychological problems and it was used discreetly in the 1800s.
Phobias have been in existence for many years. As humans we fear things that are life threatening and unnatural. Someone who has an irrational fear of something is considered a phobia, which is an extreme illogical fear or dislike of something. Fear is a very common emotion which distinguishes from phobia regarding the severe distress someone with a phobia goes through. Fear is a rationalized and instinctive emotion that comes in response to a threatening situation. The reaction caused by fear can be managed. Phobias can hinder someone’s life. People who struggle with phobias constantly avoid the object of fear, and will do anything required not to see it. It’s hard to directly to clearly figure out the cause regarding
The concept can be better understood through the example of a woman observed by researcher and psychiatrist Fraser Kent. This arachnophobic woman was so afraid of spiders that she would sweep, dust and vacuum twice a day to make sure spiders never settled in her home. She would clean, and then burn any bags coming from the grocery store to make sure that none entered the house from outside (2). This is an example of a person with OCD and a phobia. The obsessive-compulsive was birthed from her phobia. This greatly altered everyday life for her as she was fearful of leaving her house unless she knew her environment would be spider free. Unfortunately this is not an isolated case; there are many examples of the everyday lives of people worldwide that display the hardships of having a phobia and trying to lead a normal life. There are an estimated 26 million Americans alone living with a phobia. This ...
Phobophobia shares the same symptoms as panic attacks and generalized anxiety disorders. More specifically they include: dizziness, obsessive thoughts, persistent worrying, fear of fainting, desire to flee certain situations, sweating, heart pounding, tension, faintness, loss of bowel movement, and the alienation of close friends and family. Severe anxiety is the main symptom of fear of phobias, which is often characterized by an adrenaline rush. This, results in symptoms associated with stress and the belief that there are more phobias to fear. And since they are bothered too much with any experience that may be caused by phobias, people with phobop...
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).
Main Point 1: There are three main categories of phobias. The first category is Specific Phobias which are known as simple phobias. Specific phobias or simple phobias are usually fears about specific situations, living creatures, places, activities, or things. Examples of simple phobias is dentophobia (dentists), aerophobia (flying), claustrophobia (small spaces), and acrophobia (heights). The other two categories are Social Phobia and Agoraphobia. These two are known as complex phobias. The article “What is a Phobia?”, describes them as complex phobias because “they are linked to deep-rooted fear or anxiety about certain situations, incidents or circumstances, which make them more disabling than simple phobias.” Social phobia is also referred to as social anxiety disorder. Social phobia may be defined in which a person has an excessive and unreasonable fear of social situations. (Webmd.com) A person with social phobia finds being in social situations very difficult to handle with because of the lack of social skills or experiences that person may have. Going out to social events such as parties or functions may cause anxiety to a person with social phobia. There is that fear a person has of being embarrassed in public. People with this phobia may be afraid of a specific situation such as public speaking. Medicinenet.com defines “agoraphobia” as “a fear of being outside or otherwise being in a situation from which one either cannot escape or from which escaping would be difficult or humiliating.” The results of agoraphobia are anxiety and panic attacks. People with agoraphobia sometimes confine themselves inside their own home when symptoms are
We all have our fears, rather it be flying or driving. However, when a phobia is present the individual has extreme irrational fears that interfere with their quality of life. For example a fear of heights may limit an individuals living or employment choices. If this individual is offered the job of a lifetime, however, the office is located on the twentieth floor; they will refuse the job due to the fear of heights.