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While we all contend with phobias to some degree for thousands of people
phobias can be devastating and can severely affect the person’s normal
day-to-day living. While some phobias are more common than others such
as the fear of flying, the fear of going to the dentist or the fear of
creepy crawlies such as spiders there are some phobias which are less
common such as the fear of getting germs.
Specific phobias are generally termed as anxiety disorders as they are
intense fears where a person will have fears of certain situations or
objects, while the actual object or situation won’t pose any danger the
person will react as though it does.
The majority of phobias are started at a very early age though people
have been known to develop them later in life this is more unusual. Research
has shown that specific phobias are more common in women than they are
in men and that they do appear to run in families.
Diagnosing a specific phobia
You are said to have a specific phobia if certain criteria is met and
this criteria is:
* A persistent and intense fear of an object or situation, the fear might
be felt when even thinking about the situation or object
* Anxiety begins and intensifies on immediately being in the situation
or on seeing the object in questions and this anxiety often develops into
a full blown panic attack
* Adults realise that the fear and feelings are irrational yet they still
have them
* The person will do anything to avoid the situation or object that they
have an intense fear of
* The anxiety or avoidance begins to severely disrupt the normal day to
day living of the person and interferes with school, work and social activities
Phobias can be classed into several different categories depending on
if the person has an intense fear of an object, place or situation. They
are categorized and defined as:
* Animal phobias
* Natural environment phobias such as water, thunder and lightning or
heights
* Blood, injection or injury phobias
* Situational phobias such as aeroplanes and elevators
* Various types such as vomiting, choking or illness
Treatment for phobias
While many people live with phobias without needing any treatment for
example those who fear spiders will avoid situations quite easily some
people especially if the phobia is having a detrimental effect on the
social life of the person may need to help to overcome the phobia. Treatment
for phobias will normally be behavioural therapy, in behavioural therapy
the person will gradually be exposed to the thing they fear.
Exposure to the problem will usually start off by means of pictures or
video with some therapists claiming great success with the use of virtual
reality therapy. The exposure to the problem will be faced in steps that
are manageable to the person and these steps will be taken very slowly
with the therapist sticking with one module until the fear is diminished
before moving onto the next step.
Relaxation techniques are usually taught to help the person overcome their
fear and the person can use these when facing everyday situations to help
them overcome fear.
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