A phobia is an enormous fear of an object, place, situation, feeling, or animal. It is a type of anxiety disorder. The word phobia is derived from the Greek word phobos, which means "extreme fear and flight". It is an involuntary action i.e. it is done without will or conscious control. Psychologically, phobia is defined as:
"A persistent, excessive, unrealistic fear of an object, person, animal, activity or situation."
A phobic person will experience intense distress when faced with the source of their phobia. This can prevent them from functioning normally and sometimes leads to panic attacks. People consider a phobia as a disease that's why they don't talk about their condition with anyone. Phobia is not a disease, actually it is a mental disorder. Like many other mental problems, it can be diagnosed and treated.
Almost all phobias can be successfully treated. Simple phobias can be treated through gradual exposure to the object, animal, place, or situation that causes fear and anxiety. This is known as self-exposure therapy.
Sometimes, people don't take a phobia and a phobic person seriously. People give silly suggestions to a person having a phobia. Many will say that you will lose your fear of something if you do this specific activity once. These suggestions do not help any person to lose his or her fear because it is not under the control of an individual in fact, it may worsen their condition if they are exposed unwillingly to any object they fear.
Aquaphobia
Aquaphobia or "fear of water" is fairly a common phobia. The severity of aquaphobia may vary from person to person. Some people are only afraid of deep water or strong waves while others fear swimming pools or bathtubs.
Some people may only fear entering the water or some may even cannot look at a large water body. But the most severe reaction that an aqua-phobic person gives is just by spraying or splashing water over them. It may caused by any previous negative experience with water. If you have been through a near-drowning experience or even a bad swimming lesson, you are more likely to develop a phobia of water.
We all know that water is an important part of our lives. Swimming and other water activities have become a common practice nowadays. It is okay to avoid such activities but avoiding water altogether may be difficult or sometimes it may feel awkward.
Nyctophobia
Nyctophobia is a phobia characterized by the "severe fear of darkness". The fear may not be related to darkness itself but to the unknown dangers that are hidden in darkness. It can cause intense symptoms of anxiety and depression.
In this phobia, our brain is triggered by the perception of what would happen in darkness. Have you ever noticed why the often dark environment is shown in horror movies? Because dark environment is used as a tool in horror and suspense movies to scare viewers.
Being afraid of the dark often starts in childhood and is viewed as a normal part of development. Most studies say that people fear night and dark because they cannot see what is around them.
Symptoms
A nyctophobic person shows severe symptoms which include:
- sweating
- trembling or shaking
- difficulty in breathing
- raising heartbeat
Social Phobia
This is the most common type of fear. It is a mental health condition in which there is an "intense and persistent fear of being watched and judged by others". Social phobia is a fear of social gatherings and fear of embarrassment in social situations. Socially phobic people want to get hidden by other people. They prefer to remain in their room or house where nobody else could see them.
People who hold this phobia make themselves deprived of social life. They could not enjoy any social activity. They avoid to go on gatherings and events. They have this fear that people will watch us and what they will think about us. Although, in today`s world, nobody has time to think about anyone still many people have this fear.
Claustrophobia
Claustrophobia is the "fear of confined spaces". Such people feel uncomfortable in narrow and closed spaces. Sometimes they may feel that walls are developing around them. The severity of this phobia varies in different individuals. Some people may just feel anxiety or some may have severe panic attacks. The most common fear that develops among people is losing control over their actions.
Claustrophobia may also interfere with your ability to do routine tasks like going to school or work because you cannot get your kind of environment everywhere.
Fears to be claustrophobic
The most common places that cause a person to be claustrophobic include:
- Closed spaces
- Tunnels
- Caves
- Elevator
This situation may also cause some severe conditions to develop like intense panic attacks and shortness of breath.
Astraphobia
Astraphobia is the "fear of thunder and lightning". Most commonly this phobia is seen in children but still some adults also suffer from it. Severe lightning and thunderstorms can trigger this phobia.
This phobia is related to any negative experience that someone has experienced in their life. If someone has experienced any hurt with a thunderstorm or they have seen someone else getting hurt by lightning or thunderstorms, they are more prone to develop this mental disorder. An astraphobic person may lose control over his actions when he is exposed to a thunderstorm.
Symptoms
People may start developing unusual symptoms like:
- sweaty palms
- uncontrollable crying
- shivering
- hiding under the bed so that they could avoid such a situation
Entomophobia
Entomophobia - "fear of insects". It is understood that why some people have a fear of insects because they can crawl and also bite. So it is normal to fear any such thing that can harm you physically.
Entomophobia can develop in some ways. One of them is by having a frightening experience or if the person believes that the insect is dangerous. For example, if the person thinks an ant is venomous, they will do anything they can to avoid getting close to it. We all know how small an ant is, and it can pose no threat to us still some people even fear those insects that they know do not harm.
Some people may fear only a specific kind of insect and some may fear of many kinds of insects. This phobia leads to a change in a person`s behavior, the person with entomophobia will avoid situations where they may encounter a specific type of insect.
Trypanophobia
In a broad sense, trypanophobia is the "extreme fear of medical treatments" but specifically it includes the irrational fears of needles. This phobia mostly prevails in children. You might have seen that children behave unusually when they even hear that they would be injecting an injection. This phobia may lessen as people grow older and gain more experience having medical procedures and injections involving needles.
If a person has to undergo a medical procedure that involves the use of injection, they are more likely to experience high blood pressure and increased heartbeat that can delay their procedure of medication. Some people also show avoidance behavior which can affect their medical treatment if they refuse to get treatment due to immense fear of needles.
Acrophobia
Acrophobia - "fear of heights". It is characterized by extreme and irrational fear of heights. Acrophobia mostly develops in response to any traumatic experience related to a height that can disturb a person mentally. It may include:
- Falling from a high place
- Watching someone else falling from a high place
- Any other negative experience in a high place
Looking down from a high place or taking a heightened ride can make an acrophobic person's head spin. Like any other irrational fear, acrophobia impairs your quality of life.
Glossophobia
Glossophobia is a subset of social phobia. It includes the "fear of public speaking". Symptoms of glossophobia vary from one individual to another. Some people may find it difficult to present something in front of an audience, or some may face problems in social interactions i.e. starting a new job, or first day at college.
These people cannot compete in the race of life. We all know how much difficult it has become to cope with this fast-paced world. Every person has to face challenges at certain points in their lives. A glossophobic person may remain deprived of many new opportunities in life because they would never want to come out of their shell to explore the world.
Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia - "fear of open spaces". Generally, it is understood to be a fear of open spaces, but it is much more complex than that. It is a type of anxiety disorder in which you fear or avoid those situations or places that make you feel trapped. Such people want to stay in their homes so that they can avoid any unfavorable places or situations as much as they can.
Like a social phobic person, an agoraphobic person cannot enjoy a simple and normal life. They cannot go wherever they want to go because their mental condition does not allow them. For those people, normal life seems next to impossible.
Conclusion
Phobias are involuntary actions. We should always understand that these are not in the control of a person. Nobody wants to do unconscious acts by choice, right? We should try to accept people along with their fears.
Specific phobias are among the most common and the most treatable of all anxiety disorders. Up to 90% of individuals with phobias of animals or injections are much improved or cured following one session of exposure therapy. Other than that, we must help people to come out of their shells and to lose their fears. Try your best so that nobody never feels uncomfortable or embarrassed because of your behavior towards them.
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