What are phobias, why are you afraid
Phobias involve every time inexplicable appearance of a feeling of intense fear and irrational, when one is faced with a situation, activity or object.
Phobias are caused by a real threat, but rather an exaggeration in the mind and imagination of the person who feels this fear. Several million people worldwide suffer from at least one phobia. The vast majority of people with a specific phobia realize that feelings of anxiety and fear are not justified, but you can not control. Here are some types of phobias and their classification according to their nature.
The main types of phobias
Were identified hundreds of different phobias. When we refer to phobias, which are included in the anxiety disorders, they are divided into three categories:
- agoraphobia – intense anxiety in public places
- social phobia – fear of social avoidance and
- specific phobia – an irrational fear of specific objects or situations.
Agoraphobia. People with agoraphobia experience a sense of fear when they are in public places – banks, waiting rooms and shops. Fear becomes more intense at the thought could not escape from that public place. Agoraphobia affects more women than men – the ratio is 2 to 1. Untreated, this phobia can cause people to isolate themselves hit in your home. Specific treatment, 9 of 10 patients overcome this phobia.
Social phobia. To suffer from social phobia is more than being shy. People with this phobia are experiencing extreme anxiety reaction than others and will ask different types of questions before acting:
- What will others think of my actions connected?
- What I’m saying is appropriate?
- What will others think of me?
For untreated social phobia often leads to avoidance of social contact, it can have a negative impact on a person’s social relationships.
The most common types of phobias
Zoophobia. Zoophobia is a general term encompassing a group of specific phobia involving animals. Examples include: Arachnophobia – Fear of spiders, ofidofobia – fear of snakes, ornitofobia – birds and apifobia fear – fear of bees. These phobias often develop in childhood and sometimes disappear with age.
Claustrophobia. Claustrophobia is the abnormal fear of being in enclosed spaces. A person can not get claustrophobic elevator, tunnels or other tightest spaces. These people often seek to place near exits or windows inside – ways in which the feeling of fear can be tolerated, but not disappear completely.
Acrophobia. Excessive fear of heights is acrophobia and manifests as severe anxiety. People with acrophobia might have a panic attack just by climbing the stairs. Sometimes the fear is so great that the affected person can not even move.
Phobias cause people to change the way they live, in order to avoid the object of their fear. Moreover, they try to hide their own fears of others. Some people with phobias have problems in social, school or they can even lose their jobs. In this respect, it is important to undergo specific medical treatments or therapies to combat phobias.