Understanding Phobias
From a psychological standpoint, phobia is defined as an extreme, unrealistic and irrational fear of a specific object or situation. Since anxiety is the main symptom faced by the person suffering, phobias are categorised as an anxiety disorder.
A person that has a phobia will try to avoid that particular object or situation as much as possible. And they might go to great lengths to avoid it.
Phobias are generated from genetic and environmental factors. Children with a close family member that have an anxiety disorder are at a likelihood of developing a phobia. It also originates from distressing experiences whereby fear was built by a primary threatening situation, with the primary fear often repressed or forgotten.
Furthermore, people with medical conditions and health concerns generally have phobias. And those who experienced traumatic brain injuries have a high occurrence of getting phobias.
There are three major types of phobia; specific phobia, social anxiety disorder and agoraphobia.
The most common form of phobia is specific phobia. It is also known as simple phobia as they are associated with a recognisable cause that may not regularly transpire in an individual’s daily life. They may fear specific animals (eg: spiders, cats, worms, frogs); people (eg: midgets, doctors, clowns, dentists); environments (eg: high places, dark places, thunderstorms); or situations (eg: driving in any vehicle, flying in a plane, exposure to a confined space).
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Social anxiety disorder or social phobia is an extreme fear of public embarrassment and being singled out or judged in a social situation. It can lead to self-isolation and avoidance of social gatherings or situations such as concerts, eating in public, using public toilets and doing presentations. People with social anxiety disorder become especially anxious with the presence of people who are unfamiliar to them. This phobia is not similar to and should not be confused with shyness.
Agoraphobia is a fear of public places or situations that an individual would find it arduous or humiliating to escape. Agoraphobics fear being in large crowds and confined spaces. Hence, they would probably avoid going to concerts, the cinema, being in an elevator or in a public transport. They would rather stay in their homes than be in social situations. Many agoraphobics also suffer from panic disorders and uncomfortable physical symptoms.
Both social phobia and agoraphobia are known as complex phobias as they bring a more damaging effect on the individual’s life as compared to specific phobias.
When a person with a phobia are exposed to their fear, the horror is instinctual and it gets quite overwhelming. They would not be able to control their fear reactions. The fears are unreasonable and illogical to someone who does not have it. However, it can cause tremendous anxiety and distress to the person who has it.
Some anxiety-related physical symptoms that they may experience are sweating, difficulty with breathing or heavy breathing, trembling and shaking, heart palpitations, dizziness, chills or hot flashes, pins and needles, chest pains and nausea. Since they are not able to control their reactions, their body might also freeze up, rooting them on the spot. Even though all they want is to get away from the terror.
As someone who has ailurophobia – the fear of cats, I would always find a way to avoid places that are littered with cats, even if I have to take a longer route to my destination. Having this condition does not necessarily be caused by being bitten by cats but it is actually the tremendous fear that they will jump on me, or get close to me in general. Being an ailurophobe comes with teasing and being made fun of which in no way helps with getting over this fear. Personally, it is a petrifying experience to be “confronted” with a cat. I would literally feel anxious and uneasy and start to show some symptoms stated above.
Another phobia that I unfortunately have is trypanophobia – the fear of medical needles. It comes from a horrible experience I had when I was hospitalised. Having trypanophobia does not get easier as I have been hospitalised for more than once. And the first thing that gets me really anxious is getting poked with needles.
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As a person who has anxiety, having phobias would always trigger the symptoms that comes right before a panic attack. The only way for me to avoid it is trying my best to avoid situations that basically involves cats and needles. However, it is not as easy as it sounds sometimes.
My advice for individuals who knows anyone with a phobia is to try and comprehend their reasons in avoiding their fears. It might seem illogical but it should be respected. Their fears should not be taken as a joke or be look down upon. It might already be humiliating for some people to admit that they have a phobia.
Just as anyone might wonder why we cannot just not be fearful, we may feel helpless for being unable to manage our fears. And this makes us feel the inability to have control over our whole life.
