Specific phobias are an overwhelming and unreasonable fear of objects or situations that pose little real danger but provoke anxiety and avoidance. Unlike the brief anxiety you may feel when giving a speech or taking a test, specific phobias are long lasting, cause intense physical and psychological reactions, and can affect your ability to function normally at work, at school or in social settings. Specific phobias are among the most common anxiety disorders, and not all phobias need treatment.
But if a specific phobia affects your daily life, several therapies are available that can help you work through and overcome your fears — often permanently.
"-phobia" redirects here. For the class of psychological disorders, see phobia. The english suffixes -phobia, -phobic, -phobe (from greek φόβος phobos, "fear") occur in technical usage in psychiatry to construct words that describe irrational, abnormal , unwarranted, persistent, or disabling fear as a mental disorder (e. G. Agoraphobia ), in chemistry to describe chemical aversions (e. G. Hydrophobic ), in biology to describe organisms that dislike certain conditions (e. G. Acidophobia ), and in medicine to describe hypersensitivity to a stimulus, usually sensory (e. G. Photophobia ). In common usage, they also form words that describe dislike or hatred of a particular thing or subject (e.
A phobia is an anxiety disorder defined by a persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation. Phobias typically result in a rapid onset of fear and are usually present for more than six months. Those affected go to great lengths to avoid the situation or object, to a degree greater than the actual danger posed. If the object or situation cannot be avoided, they experience significant distress. Other symptoms can include fainting , which may occur in blood or injury phobia , and panic attacks , often found in agoraphobia and emetophobia.
How are phobias treated?
Fear, which can be expressed innately or after conditioning, is triggered when a danger or a stimulus predicting immediate danger is perceived. Its role is to prepare the body to face this danger. However, dysfunction in fear processing can lead to psychiatric disorders in which fear outweighs the danger or possibility of harm.
Although recognized as highly debilitating, pathological fear remains insufficiently treated, indicating the importance of research on fear processing. The neurobiological basis of normal and pathological fear reactions is reviewed in this article. Innate and learned fear mechanisms, particularly those involving the amygdala, are considered. These fear mechanisms are also distinguished in specific phobias, which can indeed be nonexperiential (implicating innate, learning-independent mechanisms) or experiential (implicating learning-dependent mechanisms).
Treatment will depend on your child’s symptoms, age, and general health. It will also depend on how severe the condition is. Phobias can be treated. Your child may need: individual or cognitive behavioral therapy. A child learns new ways to control anxiety and panic attacks when or if they do happen. Family therapy. Parents play a vital role in any treatment process. School input. Meeting with the child’s school staff can be very helpful with the early diagnosis. It's also helpful in creating a coordinated treatment plan. Medicines. Some children may feel better with medicines, such as those used to stop panic attacks.
It is believed that phobias generally emerge from highly traumatic experiences. The fear that the person experiences gets transferred from one situation to the other, or reoccurs throughout life. For example, the person develops a fear of water when he sees a drowning incident that is unforgettable. Phobia and anxiety disorder are relatively common. An individual does not experience any symptoms until he comes into contact with the source of phobia. Phobia can be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy using fear reduction techniques. In many cases, antidepressant medication has proven helpful during the early stages. There are numerous objects or situations due to which someone could develop a phobia.
Other types of self-help
Unlike specific phobias, complex phobias are more likely to develop during adulthood. They are often linked to a deep-rooted fear or anxiety about a particular circumstance or situation and mental health issues such as depression, panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder are often linked. The two most common types of complex phobias are social anxiety and agoraphobia.
There are many different phobias. But, the most common types of phobias include specific phobias and social phobias.
Antidepressants are commonly used to treat depression. However, they also help to reduce the symptoms of phobias (particularly agoraphobia and social phobia), even if you are not depressed. There are different types of antidepressant. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (ssri) antidepressants are the ones most commonly used for anxiety and phobic disorders.
Types of phobias • signs & symptoms • treatments fear is a natural reaction to danger. But when your fears are so great that they disrupt your daily life, you probably suffer from a phobia. Phobias can cause overwhelming fear of animals, objects or social situations, or the complete inability to deal with a given situation, for no apparent reason. Sometimes phobias can cause fear so intense it totally disables its victims. Phobias are among the most common of all mental illnesses, and they are usually the most successfully treated.