A phobia is an intense and irrational fear that can and does change your behaviour. It can severely
restrict your life, forcing you to take whatever action you can to avoid the subject of the phobia.
A phobia is one of the many anxiety disorders, an anxiety is what Freud called a ’free floating fear’.
Which means that your mind will use any vehicle to focus the fear upon. Fear is a natural survival
reaction which is amplified in the phobic response.
There is literally a phobia for everything even a fear of fear itself, see panic attacks. Whilst some
reactions to things like snarling dogs are natural, being frightened of snakes in Ireland is not, as
there are no snakes.
Phobias are a symbolic focus for something else, something inside your mind and out of your
conscious control. When faced with the thing you are fearful of the fight or flight reaction engages,
Adrenalin is released into the body with its attendant panic sensations. Having a panic attack
creates anxiety which feeds the panic more, thereby creating a learned behaviour response,
which in time makes things worse.
The common phobias are:
Although you can be phobic about anything some phobias are more common than others.
Agoraphobia (a fear of being away from home) is probably the most common phobia.
Claustrophobia (a fear of being trapped or enclosed) is also very common.
It is not unusual for a sufferer to have more than one phobia, but they all have the same cause,
which in my experience has little if anything to do with the thing that the person fears.
Some estimates suggest there are 10 million sufferers in the UK,. In my experience I find it is
one of the attendant symptoms to depression, anxiety and panic attacks.
How do phobias affect you?
People will avoid at all costs the focus of their phobia, as far as possible. For some it I s easy,
whilst for others it may not be so easy ,depending upon the occurrence of the item they fear in
their life. Of course it will depend upon the severity of the fear reaction, if it is low then you may
be able to tolerate the presence , if not the close contact of the subject of your fears. Others may
not be able to tolerate seeing an image on television or in a magazine. At its worst you may be
forced to change jobs, move house even become a prisoner inside your own home.
A social phobia may stop you eating meals in front of other people, or prevent you speaking in
public,or totally withdrawing from social life.
There is a cause, remove it and the fear goes away.
