Phobias

It’s not uncommon for most people to have a fear of one thing or another. If you ask people what they are afraid of, you’ll get a wide range of responses from spiders to public speaking to even death. When a fear becomes irrational, excessive, or interferes with your life, it becomes a phobia. Phobias can make you feel extreme anxiety and put you in a state of “fight or flight”. Typically, exposure to your phobia will have you experiencing both emotional and physical sensations such as palpitations of the heart, feelings of tension, apprehension, and even full-blown panic attacks.

Phobias can affect anyone of any age and they may or may not have developed due to past experiences or trauma.

How do you know when a fear is actually a phobia?

There are 3 types of phobias:

Social phobias

At its base, a social phobia is really about a fear of rejection or being judged by making a fool of yourself (which we fear will ultimately lead to rejection). This can include being in social situations or public speaking.

Agoraphobia

This is considered a complex phobia and is defined as an extreme or irrational fear of entering open or crowded places, of leaving one’s own home, or of being in places from which escape is difficult and/or having a panic attack in public.

Specific (or simple) phobias

These are generally called simple phobias and are specific to a particular trigger such as an animal, insect, experience, or medical procedure.

You may be diagnosed with a phobia if you go out of your way to avoid the trigger and it affects how you live because you will avoid the trigger at all costs. Perhaps you turn down invitations to social gatherings and feel lonely, or maybe you take driving vacations and only dream of visiting far-away places because of a fear of flying, or you might have unhealthy teeth due to a dental phobia. Some phobias are easier to avoid than others.

Common phobias

• Acrophobia (fear of heights)
• Arachnophobia (fear of spiders)
• Ophidiophobia (fear of snakes)
• Agoraphobia (fear of open spaces, having a panic attack in public)
• Mysophobia (fear of germs)
• Cynophobia (fear of dogs)
• Aviophobia (fear of flying)
• Claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces)
• Entomophobia (fear of insects)
• Astraphobia (fear of storms)
• Trypanophobias (fear of needles)

Symptoms & signs of phobias

Some of the symptoms a person with a phobia may experience when exposed to the trigger are:

Emotional Symptoms

• Inability to function or behave normally when exposed to the trigger
• Extreme anxiety/fear
• A need to avoid the trigger
• An understanding that the fear of the trigger is irrational
• Fear of dying or losing control
• Obsession with the trigger
• An inability to control these feelings

Physical Symptoms

• Trembling, muscle tension
• Diarrhea
• Sweating
• Heart palpitations
• Nausea
• Shortness of breath
• Dizziness
• Lightheadedness