Phobia- symptoms, causes, types and treatment

 

Phobia is a combination of anxiety symptoms that causes an irrational fear of certain things that aren’t as frightening as it seems to the person.

 Normal people might find such fears unreasonable but for the patient, it is the case of life and death. 

Symptoms

The reason behind such fears can be little or not rational at all. This does not in any ways means that those bouts of fears are not genuine. Common symptoms include nausea, trembling, increased heartbeat, sweating, dizziness, panic attack, breathlessness, choking and sometimes patients fall down unconsciously.

Causes

After several researches, it has been found that fears or phobias do not develop later in life. Most phobias develop early in life and due to some incidents, people, environment, genetics and sometimes life choices. 

The reaction caused by the exposure of those substances cause anxiety or distress and can lead the patient to certain serious consequences. 

Overcoming phobias even for adults is a very difficult thing to do because they are different from normal fears. They are more serious and can affect the normal functioning of a human. Therefore, phobias in them remain for a lifetime.

Categorizing phobia

Phobias are numerous because there are numerous things on this planet and there are different people as well. The reason as of why a person fears a certain thing and does not fear the other is still a mystery. Some people suggest the cause of certain phobias are incidents that happened in childhood and some suggest the nature of the person.

Categorizing phobias under some parameters will also be a difficult job because of the diversities in those but I will try to cover a few under my characterization.

1.          1. Animal phobia- Animal phobia is one of the most common types of phobias. It is called zoophobia as a whole.

Some common animal phobias are;

·       Fear of dogs is called Cyanophobia

·       Fear of spider is called Arachnophobia

·       Fear of reptiles is called Herpetophobia

·       Fear of birds is called Ornithophobia

2.      2. Natural phenomenon phobia- Normal people might not find natural environment fearsome but for a few people it is a matter of life or death.

·       Fear of thunder and lightning is called Astraphobia

·       Fear of gravity is called Barophobia

·       Fear of tornadoes and hurricane is called Lilapsophobia

·       Fear of childbirth is called Lockiophobia

·       Fear of death is called Necrophobia

·       Fear of rain is called Ombrophobia

·       Fear of fire is called Pyrophobia

3.        3. Situational phobia- This phobia sounds real and is indeed a real phobia amongst people.

·       Fear of darkness is called Achluophobia

·       Fear of heights is called Acrophobia

·       Fear of crowds is called Agoraphobia

·       Fear of confined spaces is called Claustrophobia

·       Fear of accidents is called dystychiphobia

·       Fear of speaking in public is called Glossophobia

·       Fear of illness is called Hypochondria

·       Fear of social evaluation is called Sociophobia

4.       4.  People phobia- Some people are fearsome of other people in certain attire, character, role, professional etc.

·       Fear of men is called Androphobia

·       Fear of people or society is called Anthropophobia

·       Fear of clowns is called Coulrophobia

·       Fear of dentists is called Dentophobia

·       Fear of teenagers is called Ephebiphobia

·       Fear of women is called Gynophobia

·       Fear of doctors is called Iatrophobia

·       Fear of beautiful women is called Venustraphobia

·       Fear of strangers is called Xenophobia

5.       5.  Inanimate phobia- As the name suggests, this phobia is due to any inanimate object.

·       Fear of numbers is called Numerophobia

·       Fears of books are called Bibliophobia

·       Fear of clocks is called Chronomentrophobia

·       Fear of computers is called Cyberphobia

·       Fear of houses is called Domatophobia

·       Fear of rooms is called Koinoniphobia

·       Fear of paper is called Papyrophobia

·       Fear of school is called Scolionophobia

·       Fear of technology is called Technophobia

6.          6. Medical phobia- Fear of medical objects, equipment, biological things, therapeutic or pathological processes etc comes under this phobia.

·       Fear of Angina or choking is called Anginophobia

·       Fear of disorder is called Ataxophobia

·       Fear of pain is called Algophobia

·       Fear of injections is called Trypanophobia

·       Fear of blood is called Hemophobia

·       Fear of germs is called Verminophobia

7.       7. Phobia due to some consequences- This phobia category is quite vague but I think this will cover those fears that have a reason unlike other phobias.

·       Fear of riding in a car is called Amaxophobia

·       Fear of being touched is called Aphenphosmphobia

·       Fear of being alone is called Autophobia

·       Fear of being ridiculed is called Catagelophobia

·       Fear of marriage is called Gamophobia

·       Fear of the dark is called Nyctophobia

·       Fear of speed is called Tachophobia

·       Fear of speaking in public is called Glossophobia

·       Fear of being stared at is called Scoptophobia

Treatment

Phobias can cause unnecessary hustle inside the brain and hence is very important to overcome. Some fears can be cured by consulting doctors. Some fears lead to other mental health issues and consulting specific professionals is necessary.

It is advised to consult a psychologist or mental health professional. Exposure therapy is the most effective therapy registered to cure phobias. 

The doctors mainly focus on eventually talking the patient out of it and exposing them to such fear. Overcoming a respective phobia is very difficult but it makes the quality of a patient's life to improve. 

Medications also help relieve the fear but it reduces the anxiety symptoms instead of completely overcoming it. 

  Society and fear

     People usually mock those in fears and irrelevantly question their personality.

Men in our society are accused of being unmanly if they possess such fears. Masculinity has nothing to do with being scared. A human is made in such a way who is scared of something or the other. But the societal pressure does not give enough space to real human beings to express their true fears. 

There is a phobia called Phobophobia which is a fear of phobia. This and other above-mentioned fear of judgement tells a lot about us humans judging other humans at every point of life.

There are many mental health issues that are caused just because we are scared of people judging us. If we can overcome those fears, we can cure many mental health problems easily.