Phobias - What are you afraid of?
The word ”phobia” is a term that refers to a group of symptoms brought on by feared objects or situations.
A phobia is a persistent, irrational fear that causes a person to feelintense anxiety.
People develop phobias about many things like darkness, social situations, spiders, or blood. Agoraphobia, one of the most common phobias, involves the fear of open places. A person with agoraphobia feels anxious in places where it would be hard to escape, like being in a crowd, standing in line, being on a bridge or traveling in a car. In extreme cases, they are so immobilized by fear that they become a prisoner in their own home.
Phobias are the most common form of anxiety disorders, which affect people of all ages, at all income levels and in all geographic locations, according to a study by American the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), between 5.1 and 21.5 percent of Americans suffer form Phobias. Broken down by age and gender,the NIMH study found phobias were the most common psychiatric illness among women in all age groups and the second most common illness among men older than 25.
In some people, the response to a phobia can be fairly mild. For example, a person who has a phobia about flying might simply avoid airplanes. In other people, the phobia causes, or arises from, full-blown panic attacks with symptoms such as shortness of breath, sweating, irregular heartbeats and the shakes. Just why a person develops a particular phobia is not always clear. There appear to be both biological and psychological reasons.Psychologists classify phobias with other anxiety-caused problems and theorize they are a response to separation or loss. Heredity appears to play a role, and so does brain chemistry.
http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/didyouknow/phobia.asp
Our Favorite Phobias, from A-Z
http://www.factmonster.com/spot/phobias.html
• Acrophobia: fear of heights
• Agoraphobia fear of crowds, public places, or open areas
• Ailurophobia fear of cats
• Algophobia fear of pain
• Anglophobia fear of (or hatred for) England or anything English
• Aquaphobia fear of water
• Arachnophobia fear of spiders
• Aviophobia fear of flying in an airplane
• Ballistophobia fear of missiles, bullets, or being shot
• Bibliophobia fear (or mistrust) of books
• Claustrophobia fear of enclosed spaces
• Cynophobia fear of dogs
• Francophobia fear of (or hatred for) France or anything French
• Germanophobia fear of (or hatred for) Germany or anything German
• Gerontophobia fear of old people or old age
• Hemophobia fear of blood
• Logophobia fear of words
• Monophobia fear of being alone
• Necrophobia fear of death or dead bodies
• Nosophobia fear of disease
• Nyctophobia fear of night or darkness
• Ophidiophobia fear of snakes
• Paraskavedekatriaphobia fear of Friday the 13th
• Philophobia fear of love or falling in love
• Phobophobia fear of developing a phobia
• Photophobia fear of (or sensitivity to) light
• Pyrophobia fear of fire
• Russophobia fear of (or hatred for) Russia or anything Russian
• Sitophobia aversion to food
• Taphephobia fear of being buried alive
• Technophobia fear of advanced technology
• Thalassophobia fear of the sea
• Thanatophobia fear of death
• Toxiphobia fear of being poisoned
• Triskaidekaphobia fear of the number 13
• Xenophobia fear (or hatred) of foreigners, strangers, or things that are
foreign or strange
• Xylophobia fear of forests or wooden objects
• Zoophobia fear of animals
How to Overcome a Phobia
Overcoming a phobia entails learning how to relax and calm yourself so that you can gradually face the feared object or situation and feel less afraid.
Instructions
• STEP 1: Explore exactly what it is you are afraid of about the object or situation. Is there some underlying reason that you are avoiding the object or situation? Is there something you gain by avoiding the object or situation (besides avoiding the fear or anxiety)?
• STEP 2: Learn how to relax and calm yourself. There are many ways to do this. Here is one method: Take a slow deep breath into your belly to the count of six and then breathe out slowly to the count of six. Practice this daily for five minutes; increase over time to 20 minutes.
• STEP 3: Make a list starting with the feared object or situation - for example, driving on freeways. Then, write down what object or situation would be slightly less anxiety-producing - for example, driving on small highways.
• STEP 4: Explore exactly what it is you are afraid of. Is there some
underlying reason or past event that causes you to avoid an object or
situation? Is there something you gain by avoiding it (besides avoidingthe fear or anxiety)?
• STEP 5: Learn how to relax and calm yourself. There are many ways to do this. Here is one method: Take a slow, deep breath into your belly to the count of six and then breathe out slowly to the count of six. Practice this daily for 5 minutes; increase over time to 20 minutes.
• STEP 6: Make a list starting with the feared object or situation’for example, driving on freeways. Then, write down what object or situation would be slightly less anxiety-producing’for example, driving on small highways.
• STEP 7: Continue making a list of items that are slightly less
anxiety-producing than the previous item for example, driving on big,
busy streets, then driving on less congested streets, and so forth.
• STEP 8: Get into a relaxed state using whatever method you have been practicing. Starting with the least anxiety-producing item on your list (the last item), imagine yourself in that situation as vividly as possible while continuing to breathe and stay relaxed.
• STEP 9: Go on to the next item up. Visualize yourself in that situation while continuing to practice relaxation and calm yourself.
• STEP 10: Work up the list, imagining yourself in each situation while continuing to practice remaining relaxed and calm. Only go to the next item when you can successfully stay calm imagining the previous item.If one of the items produces too much anxiety, stop the exercise and come back to it later. Start at the beginning of your list each time, and progress as far as you can. It may take you several sessions before you progress to the top of the list.
• STEP 11: Write down all the thoughts you have when facing your
phobia, such as ’I’m going to die,’ ’I’m going to have a heart attack’ or ’I can’t breathe.’
• STEP 12: Write down alternative thoughts that would help you calm
down, such as ’I am not going to die,’ ’I can breathe’ or ’I can relax.’
• STEP 13: In real life, put yourself in the least anxiety-producing
situation on your list (the last item) and practice relaxing and calming yourself just as you imagined. Include telling yourself the alternative thoughts to help you calm down.
• STEP 14: Work yourself up to your most feared situation or object (your phobia) while practicing being relaxed and calm.
http://www.ehow.com/how_13312_overcome-phobia.html
