Phobias are often regarded as irrational fears, rarely recognised for what they are as anxiety disorders. According to Harvard Health Publishing, it is “a persistent, excessive, unrealistic fear of an object, person, animal, activity or situation.” Typically, this is dealt through either avoiding what triggers the fear, or enduring it with distress.
Within this article, we will be diving into the quirks and oddities of phobias, looking into real examples of more serious cases, their causes and how it’s possible (surprisingly!) to do our part in dealing and overcoming them.
Examples of Phobias
Phobias are divided into two key categories: complex and simple phobias. Like the name suggests, simple phobias are those that are commonplace; one we are more familiar with eg. animal phobias (dogs, spiders), environmental phobias (heights, germs), situational phobias (visiting the dentist, flying) or bodily phobias (blood, vomit).
The top five most common phobias include: arachnophobia (intense fear of spiders/other arachnids), ophidiophobia (intense fear of snakes), acrophobia (intense fear of heights), aerophobia (intense fear of flying) and cynophobia (an intense fear of dogs).
On the opposing end of the spectrum, complex phobias tend to be more difficult to deal with; these leave exaggerated and disturbing aftereffects. Manifesting during adulthood they are often associated with deep-rooted anxiety about a particular situation (with prevalent examples including social phobia and agoraphobia.)
Social phobia, explanatory in itself, is the intense fear of social situations. This can be displacing to an extent where people begin avoiding events, places and people just to avoid triggering anxiety attacks. Their fear of being watched or humiliated by others leads naturally to extreme difficulty in completing even the most mundane of tasks including simply eating a meal. This can oftentimes cause people to avoid social situations entirely thus having an extremely debilitating effect on wellbeing/ability to function.
Conquering your Phobia
The cause of a phobia is unclear – typically developing during childhood, adolescence or early adulthood, they are often linked to a frightening event/stressful situation. This is however, about the extent to all we know regarding the origin of phobias!
The best treatment for overcoming phobias is a form of therapy called exposure therapy. The treatment goal isn’t to completely rid your fear, rather it is to improve the quality of your life so you are no longer limited by this anxiety. As you learn to better manage and recollect your thoughts/feelings/anxieties, your fear will slowly dissipate and thus relinquish its control over your life. This is accomplished through repeatedly placing oneself face to face with the source of your phobia, a goal achieved through incremental steps (baby steps!). A fear of riding up elevators could progress from simply thinking of entering the elevator, to looking at pictures, going near one and eventually stepping into it.
In extreme cases, medicine may be used to fend off especially crippling phobia. Beta blockers form a resilient shield against adrenaline’s fight-or-flight induced effect (a large contributor to phobia symptoms) including: high blood pressure, a pounding heart as well as shaking voice/limbs all of which are instigated by anxiety. Sedatives are also a way to go (though less encouraged) helping you relax by lowering your anxiety. One caution to take note of is their addictive nature – avoid using these to prevent drug dependence!
Research: Rou Zhao Design: Teresa Yan
Comentarios