A phobia is an irrational or intense fear of either an activity, a situation, a place, a person, an object or animal, but the good news is that there is a Phobia Treatment available for most phobias. Phobias shouldn’t be confused with simple fears, such as being afraid of a lion as that is a normal protective reaction to preserve human life. Fear is only classed as a phobia when people start to organise their life around either avoiding the things they are afraid of, or become highly stressed when faced with their phobia.
I have a very good friend who at certain times just can not be in a crowd. As such she tries to avoid being in that type of situation. I have also seen her having the overwhelming need to run away when she found herself in that situation as it caused her great anxiety. It causes within her a high state of anxiety and can often lead to panic attacks. To most people this is a simple activity, yet to her it has a massive impact on her social life.
There are some fairly simple phobias which can be easily treated, such as a fear of dogs, insects, creeping animals, dentists and flying. Some are more complex though such as having a social phobia or agoraphobia, the fear of open or public spaces. My friend in the above example suffered from that and the only place she wanted to be when that happened was in her home.
Social phobia or social phobia anxiety can be a very restrictive fear as it can impact on many social situations, such as work, family gatherings such as weddings, or having to perform tasks such as public speaking. Generally people suffering from a social phobia, are essentially afraid that they will let themselves down or humiliate themselves in public. Some of the milder symptoms are blushing, sweating and breathing heavily.
Phobias do not just impact on a particular type of person. They can happen to anyone irrespective of creed, sex, age or upbringing. I know in my own case that when I was younger, around the age of eight, I had a bad and painful experience with a dentist. That impacted on me to a great extent. It left me with a dental phobia and when I say that, it affected me to the extent that I would simply not even walk past a dentist’s surgery if I could avoid it. It is common that simple phobias like this happen in early childhood, and quite often disappear on their own as the person gets older. Sometimes though as in my own case these do cause problems in adulthood.
Phobias can start at any age and for a variety of reasons but it is fairly certain we are not born with any phobias, so at some stage in our lives we develop these. For the purpose of treatment of phobias that is a good thing as if they have been developed, they can be treated. The more complex phobias usually start as we grow older whereas the social phobias I have discussed often begin during the teenage years and agoraphobia from around sixteen to the early twenties. Complex phobias typically can continue for many years, but there are treatments available.
The good news is that almost all phobias can be cured by various treatments. Sometimes this is done by a process known as exposure or desensitization where the person is gently introduced to their fear. It is always recommended that this is done in a controlled manner and in a step by step method. In some cases other treatments can be used including hypnosis, hypnotherapy, counsel ling, psychotherapy or cognitive behavioral therapy.
I have had people inquire if their phobia can be cured by medicine and it is more likely that medication would be prescribed to deal with the anxiety caused by the fear, rather than dealing with the actual phobia itself. I hope this has given you a better understanding of what a phobia is and at least brought you the good news that there is a Phobia Treatment available for you.
