Having a phobia about something is very different from everyday worries or stresses.
The majority of individuals experience stress and anxiety at certain times, like when lecturing in front of a massive gathering of individuals.
Patients who have phobias possess so much dread that it is difficult to do routine tasks, like attending work.
Acquiring a phobia involves getting stressed about being close to the object, participating in the situation, or performing the activity.
It also involves being nervous about the object, situation, or task itself. Patients with phobias keep away from what they are nervous about so they won't get concerned and worried.
Five Kinds of Phobia
Natural environment phobias, like being nervous about violent storms or lightning is a type of phobia. Other kinds of phobia include:
- Blood-injection-injury phobias, like becoming afraid of blood or having an injection (shot).
- Animal phobias, like being afraid of dogs.
- Situational phobias, like elevators and bridges.
- Additional phobias, like being nervous about choking or vomiting. Other phobias in younger patients are: being nervous about loud disturbances or people in costumes, like clowns.
Approximately ten percent of people have experienced a phobia at some point. Females are twice as likely as males to possess a phobia.
A lot of individuals who suffer from phobias also have additional illness like a panicking disorder, clinical depression, or drug abuse.
Causes of Phobia
The etiology (cause) of phobias, has still not been completely discovered. If a person has a family member with a phobia, he is more likely to possess a phobia. Occasionally, an individual can have a phobia when he or she:
- Had something frightful occur in his or her life, like getting bitten by a cat.
- Had a scare in a certain situation or location, like inside an elevator.
- Witnessed something bad occur with someone else, like watching a patient fall off the roof of a home.
- Witnessed someone else who was extremely scared of something, like riding in an plane close to an individual who is afraid to fly.
- Found out about something bad occurring, like a airplane crash.
Phobias often begin when an individual is a young patient or an adolescent. Children suffer from more animal phobias, natural surroundings phobias, and blood-injection-injury phobias than adolescents or grownups.
Situational phobias ordinarily begin when a patient is an adult. Female patients occasionally have phobias at a younger age than males do. If a patient has a single phobia, he or she has more tendency to suffer from additional phobia as well.
Treatment of Phobia
The form, or class, of drugs referred to as benzodiazepines (like alprazolam or diazepam) is usually given to deal with the stress and anxiety of certain phobias.
Beta-adrenergic blockers (like Tenormin or propranolol) are occasionally given to address the medical symptoms of getting stressed and concerned about a phobia, like suffering from a rapid heartbeat.
Beta-adrenergic blockers are given for blood-injection-injury phobias. The medications may also be given for performance panicking, like fear of lecturing in front of a gathering of individuals.
Regrettably, a lot of people do not ask for therapy for anxiety illnesses. The patient may not seek therapy whenever he believes the signs and symptoms are not serious enough or that he could work things out on his own. However, acquiring treatment is crucial and very important for dealing with phobia.
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References:
"Phobias." Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. (DSM-IV-R). 4th Ed. American Psychiatric Association. Washington, DC, 2000.
Cutis GC, et al. "Specific fears and phobias. Epidemiology and classification." British Journal of Psychiatry. 1998; 173:212-7.
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