PHOBIAS

Five different types of Phobias

• Animal phobias: Animal phobias are the most common specific phobias.

• Situational phobias: Situations, such as flying, going over bridges, or of being in a closed-in place, like an elevator.

• Natural environment phobias: Examples include the fear of storms, heights, or water.

• Blood-injection-injury phobias: being injured, seeing blood, or injections

• Other phobias: falling down, loud sounds, and a fear of costumed characters, clowns.

A person can have more than one specific phobia.

OVERVIEW

The difference between normal fear and a phobia

Normal fear Phobia

Feeling anxious when flying through turbulence or taking off during a storm

Not going to your best friend’s island wedding because you’d have to fly there

Experiencing butterflies when peering down from the top of a skyscraper or climbing a tall ladder

Turning down a great job because it’s on the 10th floor of the office building

Getting nervous when you see a pit bull or a Rottweiler

Steering clear of the park because you might see a dog

Feeling a little queasy when getting a shot or when your blood is being drawn

Avoiding necessary medical treatments or doctor’s checkups because you’re terrified of needles

THE DIFFERENCE

Most commonly occurs from

• A traumatic experience with the fear

• A learned reaction, reacting the way a parent did

• Witnessing a traumatic event in someone else’s life

CAUSES

Excessive and irrational fear of something

Avoiding fear completely or having great distress when near it.

Panic Attacks• Nausea

• Dramatic increase in heart rate

• Dizziness or shaking

• Shortness of breath

Children might express fear by crying or screaming

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS

One method of treatment is Climbing the Fear Ladder.

1. Make a List

2. Build your fear ladder

3. Work your way up the Ladder

4. Practice

TREATMENT

Facing a fear of dogs: A sample fear ladder

Step 1: Look at pictures of dogs. Step 2: Watch a video with dogs in it. Step 3: Look at a dog through a window. Step 4: Stand across the street from a dog on a leash. Step 5: Stand 10 feet away from a dog on a leash. Step 6: Stand 5 feet away from a dog on a leash. Step 7: Stand beside a dog on a leash. Step 8: Pet a small dog that someone is holding. Step 9: Pet a larger dog on a leash. Step 10: Pet a larger dog off leash.

The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that about 5%-12% of Americans have phobias.

Phobias generally develop in adolescents, but can be seen in anyone.

Only 20% of phobias go away on their own

WHO IS AFFECTED

George Washington - Taphephobia (fear of being buried alive)

Woody Allen - Panophobia (fear of pretty much everything)

Richard Nixon - Nosocomephobia (fear of hospitals)

Alfred Hitchcock - Ovophobia (fear of eggs)

Sigmund Freud - Fear of Weapons and Ferns

Oprah Winfrey - Fear of Gum Chewing

Natalie Wood - Hydrophobia (Fear of Water)

Billy Bob Thornton - Several Fears

Nikola Tesla - Fear of Germs and Jewelry

Napoleon Bonaparte - Ailurophobia (Fear of Cats)

FACTS AND MYTHS

Arachnephobia or Arachnophobia- Fear of spiders.Atomosophobia- Fear of atomic explosions.Atychiphobia- Fear of failure.

Aviophobia- Fear of flying.

Batophobia - Fear of heights or being close to high buildings.Batrachophobia- Fear of amphibians, such as frogs, newts, salamanders, etc.Belonephobia- Fear of pins and needles.

Catoptrophobia- Fear of mirrors.Ceraunophobia - Fear of thunder and lightning.Chaetophobia- Fear of hair.Chiraptophobia- Fear of being touched.

Dextrophobia- Fear of objects at the right side of the body.Didaskaleinophobia- Fear of going to school.Disposophobia- Fear of throwing stuff out. Hoarding.Doraphobia- Fear of fur or skins of animals.Dromophobia- Fear of crossing streets.

EXAMPLES

Specific Phobias, WebMD.com

http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/specific-phobias

The Phobia List

http://phobialist.com/

Phobias and Fears, HelpGuide.com

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/phobia_symptoms_types_treatment.htm