Phobias
A phobia is an intense fear of something; unlike anxiety, a phobia is a fear of a specific thing, place, object, or situation. Unfortunately, some phobias can lead to serious disruption of people’s lives, because they can actually lead people to avoid the certain things or situations that cause their phobia.
What causes a phobia?
Phobia's can be rational or irrational and can really restrict life for a person depending on what the phobia is. Some rational phobias include spiders, snakes, small spaces etc.
However some phobias are irrational and quite bizarre such as fearing things like certain foods, colours and the left side of things. However bizarre these phobias may seem, they are very real to the sufferer and can really cause major distress in their lives.
Sometimes phobias can be cause by simply having a very bad experience with something and thus developing an intense fear about it.
Sometimes though we don't quite know what brings a phobia on. Sometimes it can be related to something that we have blocked out of our mind, maybe it could be a fear that a parent passed on and sometimes there really is just no apparent reason.
What causes a phobia?
Phobia's can be rational or irrational and can really restrict life for a person depending on what the phobia is. Some rational phobias include spiders, snakes, small spaces etc.
However some phobias are irrational and quite bizarre such as fearing things like certain foods, colours and the left side of things. However bizarre these phobias may seem, they are very real to the sufferer and can really cause major distress in their lives.
Sometimes phobias can be cause by simply having a very bad experience with something and thus developing an intense fear about it.
Sometimes though we don't quite know what brings a phobia on. Sometimes it can be related to something that we have blocked out of our mind, maybe it could be a fear that a parent passed on and sometimes there really is just no apparent reason.
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What are the symptoms of a phobia?
These are just some of the symptoms that can present themselves when a person comes into contact with a phobia:
How to handle a phobia |
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Phobia's can be tricky to handle because the fear is so intense and people have been known to jump out of
windows to escape their phobia. When that adrenaline kicks in, and that intensity of fearfulness takes over, you cannot control yourself.
Desensitization is the best way to handle a phobia. Start by trying to look at a picture of your phobia for a few seconds. If you fear spiders, start by looking at a cartoon picture of one, and work it up from there. Another way is to try figure out why you fear the specific thing so much.
Think what it possesses that scares you so much. Try and compare your fear to something similar. Again using spiders as an example, try to compare it's similarities to that of another insect.
Getting diagnosed with a phobia
There is no reason to get formally diagnosed with a phobia because it's quite obvious when someone has a phobia of something. The key is to get therapy to desensitize yourself to your fear.
It is of up-most importance to get therapy especially if you fear something like dogs and cats as these animals are something that you are likely to come into contact with regularly.
windows to escape their phobia. When that adrenaline kicks in, and that intensity of fearfulness takes over, you cannot control yourself.
Desensitization is the best way to handle a phobia. Start by trying to look at a picture of your phobia for a few seconds. If you fear spiders, start by looking at a cartoon picture of one, and work it up from there. Another way is to try figure out why you fear the specific thing so much.
Think what it possesses that scares you so much. Try and compare your fear to something similar. Again using spiders as an example, try to compare it's similarities to that of another insect.
Getting diagnosed with a phobia
There is no reason to get formally diagnosed with a phobia because it's quite obvious when someone has a phobia of something. The key is to get therapy to desensitize yourself to your fear.
It is of up-most importance to get therapy especially if you fear something like dogs and cats as these animals are something that you are likely to come into contact with regularly.