Phobia-An Irrational Fear
PHOBIA
“Don’t Feed
Your Fears”
“Action cures fear, inaction creates terror”
A
phobia is a persistent and unreasonable, fear of a particular object, activity
or situation that presents no actual danger or the danger is magnified out of
its actual seriousness.
Phobias
are the most common type of anxiety disorder. Common symptoms of phobia are anxiety,
sweating, trembling, hot flushes, shortness of breath, nausea, a sensation of
butterfly in stomach, numbness, a need to go to the toilet etc.
People
with phobias often purposefully avoid coming into contact with the things or
situation that causes them fear. Patient realizes that the fear is absurd but
is unable to overcome. Phobia is thus, a neurotic life style.
Phobias
are more common among females than males. Rates of phobia are about twice as
high for females as male.
Types of
Phobia
Today,
phobias are grouped into three general categories: 1. Specific Phobia; 2.
Social Phobia (Social Performance); 3. Agoraphobia (Market place).
1.
Agoraphobia: Fear of being trapped in an
inescapable place. People with this type of phobia avoid entering crowded
streets, market place or stores, driving through tunnels or on bridges, traveling
on public transportation and using elevators and lifts.
As
a result phobic individuals may begin to avoid such places and even fears to
leave their home. They go out only in the company of close relatives or friends
but even in the company of others they may continue to feel anxious.
Agoraphobia individuals are often dependent.
2.
Social Phobia
People
with this type of phobia experience fear and embarrassment in dealing with
others, fear of public speaking and of eating in public, writing in front of
others, functioning inadequately or inappropriately when others are watching.
Such
normal social fears are inconvenient, but the people who have them manage to
function adequately, since most people with these phobias keep their fears
secret.
Shyness
is often mistaken for social phobia, shy people, however, don’t experience the
terror felt by those with social phobic. The personal lives of these people
suffer greatly. They have no friends, having no one with whom to share
experiences increases their risk for stress related disorders.
3.
Specific Phobia
It
is specific persistent fear of a specific object or situation other than being
in public places (agoraphobia) or in society/socially embarrassing situations
(social phobia). People with this disorder experience immediate fear, sometimes
even pain.
Agoraphobia
(open places, market place, crowed streets/stores, using elevators, bridges,
driving through tunnels),
Hydro
phobia/Aqua phobia (fear of water)
Xenophobia
(fear of strangers)
Claustrophobia
(fear of enclosed places)
Acrophobia
(fear of heights)
Zoophobia
(fear of animals)
Aerophobia
/Aviophobia (fear of flying)
Hemophobia
( fear of blood)
Treatment
The
three major behavioral approaches are popularmethod of treatment.
I.
Desensitization has 3 phases.
a.
Relaxation training.
b.
Construction of a fear hierarchy.
c.
Graded pairing of feared objects and relaxation responses.
II.
Flooding: in flooding or implosive therapy, patients are
repeatedly exposed to feared objects or situations and are made to see that
they are actually harmless.
III.
Graded Participation or participant modeling is the most
effective modeling technique in which clients observe and repeat the
therapist’s action in the situation they fear. Therapist’s support, reasoning
and reinforcement are helpful to change a client’s behavior.
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