When to seek help for phobias and fears?

Emobileclinic Trending Topic: Phobia

 
Almost everyone has one irrational fear or two. For most people, these fears are minor. But when fears become so severe that they cause tremendous anxiety and interfere with your normal life, they’re called phobias. The good thing is that phobias can be managed and cured. Self-help strategies and therapy can help you overcome your fears and start living the life out of fear.

What is a phobia?

A phobia is an intense fear of something that, in reality, poses little or no actual danger. However, we can develop phobias of virtually anything. Most phobias develop in childhood, but they can also develop in adults. If you have a phobia, you probably realize that your fear is unreasonable, yet you still cannot control your feelings. Just thinking about the feared object or situation may make you anxious. And when you’re actually exposed to the thing you fear, the terror is automatic and overwhelming.
Understanding your phobia is the first step to overcoming it.
It is important to know that phobias are common, having a phobia does not mean you are crazy!

Types of Phobias

Specific phobias: Fear of particular objects or social situations that immediately results in anxiety and can sometimes lead to panic attacks. Specific phobia may be further subdivided into five categories: animal type, natural environment type, situational type, blood-injection-injury type, and other.

Animal phobias: examples include the fear of snakes, spiders, rodents, and dogs.
Natural environment phobias: examples include fear of heights, storms, water, and of the dark.

Blood-Injection-Injury phobia: this is the fear of blood, injury, or needles, or other medical procedures.

Situational phobias: fears triggered by a specific situation, including social situations. Examples include fear of enclosed spaces (claustrophobia), flying, driving, tunnels, and bridges.
Agoraphobia: a generalized fear of leaving home or a small familiar ‘safe’ area, and of possible panic attacks that might follow. It may also be caused by various specific phobias such as fear of open spaces, social embarrassment (social agoraphobia),

fear of contamination (fear of germs, possibly complicated by obsessive-compulsive disorder) or PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) related to a trauma that occurred out of doors.

Social phobia: it is also known as social anxiety disorder, is fear of social situations where you may be embarrassed or judged. If you have social phobia, then you may be excessively self-conscious and afraid of humiliating yourself in front of others. Your anxiety over how you will look and what others will think may lead you to avoid certain social situations you’d otherwise enjoy.

Signs and symptoms of phobias

The symptoms of a phobia can range from mild feelings of apprehension and anxiety to a full-blown panic attack. Typically, the closer you are to the thing you’re afraid of, the greater your fear will be. Your fear will also be higher if getting away is difficult.
The signs and symptoms of a phobia include but are not limited to;

• Difficulty breathing

• Racing or pounding heart

• Chest pain or tightness

• Trembling or shaking

• Feeling dizzy or lightheaded

• A churning stomach

• Hot or cold flashes; tingling

• sensations

• Sweating

• Emotional signs and symptoms of a phobia

• Feeling of overwhelming anxiety or panic

• Feeling an intense need to escape

• Feeling “unreal” or detached from yourself

• Fear of losing control or going crazy

• Feeling like you’re going to die or pass out

• Knowing that you’re overreacting, but feeling powerless to control your fear

When to seek help for phobias and fears?

Although phobias are common, they don’t always cause considerable distress or significantly disrupt your life. For example, if you have a snake phobia, it may cause no problems in your everyday activities if you live in a city where you are not likely to run into one. On the other hand, if you have a severe phobia of crowded spaces, living in a big city would pose a problem. If your phobia doesn’t really impact your life that much, it’s probably nothing to be concerned about. But if avoidance of the object, activity, or situation that triggers your phobia interferes with your normal functioning, or keeps you from doing things you would otherwise enjoy, it’s time to seek help.

As a general rule, self-help is always worth a try. The more you can do for yourself, the more in control you’ll feel—which goes a long way when it comes to phobias and fears. However, if your phobia is so severe that it triggers panic attacks or uncontrollable anxiety, you may want to get additional support.
The good news is that therapy for phobias has a great track record. Not only does it work extremely well, but you tend to see results very quickly, sometimes in as a little as one to four sessions.