Phobia
Phobia is an irritational fear of a particular thing or situation. It is a type of anxiety disorder because anxiety is the main symptom experienced by the sufferer. Phobias are adopted to be learned emotional response. They take place when one’s fear upon an original threatening situation is transferred to another situation he or she faces, with the original fear often repressed. For example, a person may have a fear of water; this can be a childhood experience of drowning. The sufferer tries as much as possible to avoid such situations in future, hence could develop a fear of anything related to water.
Phobia can be classified into four categories:
Listing all the phobias that exist is impossible. Any development of phobia can be a result of the previous specific phobia. In the list above an explanation of one category can be as follows:
- Glossophobia is whereby a person is afraid of speaking in public.
- Gynophobia is the fear of women, which is mostly experienced in men whereby they find it hard to approach and talk to women.
- Aerophobia, this is the fear of flying.
- Androphobia is the fear of men, which is mostly experienced in women whereby they find it hard to approach and talk to men.
Causes of Phobia
Phobia can be caused by many factors, e.g. environment, mental illness, medical conditions etc. The environment can cause phobia, e.g. Some children develop phobia this is after being in unforgettable situations such as almost drowning, after an insect or animal bite etc. When a person has a mental illness, he or she may have hallucinations or delusions hence may lead to the development of a phobia. Medical conditions may cause phobia whereby a person may be recovering from substance abuse which involves regular medical checkup. As a result of this, they may develop a fear of medicine. One may be classified as a sufferer of phobia when they experience the following symptoms:
- Inability to talk in the situation.
- Increased heartbeats.
- Dry mouth.
Phobia Treatment
Phobia treatment may involve medication, therapeutic techniques or a combination of both. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the commonly used treatment for the phobia sufferer. In this treatment, the sufferer is exposed to his or her sources of fear in a controlled setting, which reduces anxiety. This treatment process majorly seeks to cite out and change negative thoughts, delusions and negative beliefs about the phobic situations. CBT is more advanced, whereby it uses virtual reality technology to expose people safely to their fears. In medication, a person is given anti-anxiety medications which help reduce the physical and emotional reactions to phobia.
Phobia can have a huge impact on a person’s daily activities whereby he or she may become embarrassed or can isolate themselves from the public due to the phobic condition. If a person is being suppressed by phobia, he or she is advised to seek medical attention.
