Phobias
Phobias
Dr Howard LeWine, Chief Medical Editor at Harvard Health Publishing wrote in an article for Harvard Health that “a phobia is a persistent, excessive, unrealistic fear of an object, person, animal, activity or situation. It is a type of anxiety disorder. A person with a phobia either tries to avoid the thing that triggers the fear, or endures it with great anxiety and distress.”
Phobias are an irrational fear about something. Some conditions such as fear of flying can be perfectly understandable. However, other phobias like the fear of clowns or of seemingly harmless items that wouldn’t bother most people can be much more difficult to understand and manage.
For someone who has never suffered from persistent unrealistic fears it might be a struggle to take seriously someone who experiences this type anxiety disorder, but phobias can have a devastating effect on a person’s wellbeing and suffering from a phobia can lead someone to a place of having to adapt their lifestyle and indeed their whole life in order to avoid being confronted with their deepest fears.
And within the population of those with phobias some people can cope with their phobias without it taking over their life. For others, it can cramp their style and even keep them from living a full life. The worst kind of phobias, such as agoraphobia, can mean the end to social activities and a loss of confidence. This type of social phobia can, in its most extreme, keep people house ridden, or just make people feel overly anxious about going out and meeting new people.
According to Dr. LeWine, some phobias are very specific and limited. For instance, a person may fear only spiders (arachnophobia) or cats (ailurophobia). In this case, the person lives relatively free of anxiety by avoiding that which they fear.
In some cases, phobias can create problems in a wider variety of situations. Someone with acrophobia, or a fear of heights, can experience phobic symptoms by driving over a high bridge or looking out the window of a tall building. Someone with claustrophobia, or the fear of confined spaces, can experience distress in an elevator or a small restroom. People with these phobias may need to alter their lives drastically. In extreme cases, the phobia may dictate the person's employment, job location, driving route, recreational and social activities, or home environment.
Interestingly, childhood phobias occur typically between five and nine years of age. These childhood phobias tend to last for just a short while. Later in life is when most longer-lasting phobias develop. Adult phobias last longer and they are less likely to go away on their own. Some form of treatment is usually required to overcome the condition. Untreated phobias can lead to an increased risk of other types of psychiatric illness, especially other anxiety disorders, depression as well as substance abuse.
Fear or Phobia
Speaking of phobia, are fears and phobias the same? Although fears and phobias are closely related, there are key differences.
Fear is a natural emotional reaction when you believe there is a real and imminent danger. For example, becoming scared during a lightning storm makes sense. This fear serves to prepare you to take cover and gather necessary emergency supplies. This fear likely lasts until the storm is over.
A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder. Phobias trigger overwhelming anxiety even when it’s clear you aren’t in danger. For instance, just seeing a spider on TV can make you very anxious if you have the condition noted above, arachnophobia.
Fear may develop into or be a phobia when you experience overwhelming anxiety that doesn’t match your true level of danger. When you have a phobia, just thinking about your fear can trigger sudden and intense anxiety.
A phobia generally causes fear of a specific situation or object. A phobia could also lead you to spend a lot of time worrying if you’re going to run into your fear. You might go out of your way to avoid places you think you might encounter it, even if this causes you to put unrealistic limits on your daily life.
Types of Phobia
There are three major types of phobia: specific, social anxiety disorder and agoraphobia.
Specific phobias are also known as simple phobia. This is the most common form of phobia. People may fear specific animals (such as dogs, cats, spiders, snakes), people (such as clowns, dentists, doctors), environments (such as dark places, thunderstorms, high places) or situations (such as flying in a plane, riding on a train, being in a confined space). These conditions tend to run in families.
People with social anxiety disorder fear social situations where they may be humiliated, embarrassed or judged by others. They become particularly anxious when unfamiliar people are involved. The fear may be limited to performance, such as giving a lecture, concert or business presentation. Or it may be more generalized. A phobic person avoids many social situations, such as eating in public or using a public restroom. Social phobia seems to run in families. People who have been shy or solitary as children, or who have a history of unhappy or negative social experiences in childhood, seem more likely to develop this disorder.
Agoraphobia is a fear of being in public places where it would be difficult or embarrassing to make a sudden exit. A person with agoraphobia may avoid going to a movie or a concert, or traveling on a bus or a train. Many people with agoraphobia also have panic symptoms or panic disorder. Panic involves intense fear plus uncomfortable physical symptoms, such as trembling, heart palpitations and sweating.
Interesting Phobias
Megalophobia. Megalophobia is the fear of large objects. The object in question can run the gamut from large ships to airplanes and large animals to towering sculptures. There are a number of different things that can trigger feelings of fear and anxiety for a person who has megalophobia. Some people may experience symptoms in the presence of a wide variety of large objects, while others may only have these feelings when they are around specific triggers. You may be afraid of very large animals, stationary objects, or massive man-made objects.
Acrophobia. Acrophobia is a condition in which the individual experiences an intense fear of heights. A person with acrophobia experiences intense fear and anxiety when they think of tall heights or are positioned at a significant height. A certain amount of concern around heights is normal for all people, and most people are more cautious than usual when they are at a significant height. Most of us can feel uneasy or a bit shaky if we look down from a tall height, such as from a bridge. But people with acrophobia experience intense and unreasonable fear when they’re faced with heights, including everyday tasks such as climbing a flight of stairs, standing near a balcony, or parking a car in a multiple-floor parking garage.
Nyctophobia. Nyctophobia is an extreme fear of night or darkness that can cause intense symptoms of anxiety and depression. Being afraid of the dark often starts in childhood and is viewed as a normal part of development. Studies focused on this phobia have shown that humans often fear the dark for its lack of any visual stimuli. In other words, people may fear night and darkness because they cannot see what’s around them.
Autophobia. People who have autophobia, or monophobia, have an irrational, extreme fear of being alone. A person may experience this fear when they're alone. Some people may have autophobia even when they're with other people. In this case, the fear centers on worries about isolation. They may feel alone in a crowd. Autophobia is not an official diagnosis. It does not appear in the manual that clinicians use to diagnose mental health conditions, called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM 5). Instead, it falls under the category of specific phobias as noted above, which are fears or anxiety about a specific object or situation. Other names for autophobia include eremophobia, monophobia, and isolophobia.
Hypnotherapy for Phobias
If you are suffering from a phobia, the first thing to remember is that you are not alone. Statistics show that one in ten people have a phobia of some sort.
Sometimes medication is used to help control the anxiety that comes with a phobia, but this doesn’t address the underlying condition, just the symptoms. And chemical therapy is not a route that some people want to take given the potential side effects. And again, medication does not address the reasons behind the phobia.
A hypnotherapist can help an individual to understand where their phobia began and provide the tools and strategies to manage their greatest fears and change their attitude towards them. Hypnotherapy is also extremely useful for helping people to better manage the anxiety that is associated with phobias.
If you suspect that you suffer from a phobia and would like to explore ways to obtain relief call for a complimentary consultation today.
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