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Posted on July 29, 2023 by Insight Clinic

What is Phobia?

Phobia is an anxiety disorder that causes an individual to experience excessive and irrational fear about an object, place, animal, situation or medical treatment. 

Phobia differs from general anxiety disorders as anxiety is the feeling of worry, nervousness, distress or discomfort when faced with an unknown or dangerous situation. In comparison, a phobia may cause panic attacks, nausea, vomiting or dizziness due to something specific like an object that causes no real threat or danger. 

Types of Phobias:

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), there are five types of specific phobias: animal type, injury type, natural environment type, situational type, and other types. 

Examples:

Fears related to animals/insects:

• Dogs (cynophobia)
• Spiders (Arachnophobia)

Fears related to injury:

• Seeing blood (hemophobia)
• Needles or injections (trypanophobia)

Fears related to the natural environment:

• Water (hydrophobia)
• Thunder and lightning (astraphobia)

Fears related to situations:

• Enclosed spaces (claustrophobia)
• Speaking in public (glossophobia)

Other types of fears:

• Choking (Anginophobia)
• Clowns (Coulrophobia)

What are the symptoms of Phobias?

• Shortness of breath
• Sweating
• Accelerated heartbeat
• Dry mouth
• Nausea
• Confusion

What causes these Phobias?

Many phobias develop during early childhood, teenage years or early adulthood due to a negative and distressing experience or panic attack related to a specific situation, object, environment, injury etc.

• An example of this may be a child who got bit by a snake a couple of years ago may develop a phobia of snakes.

It can also develop in children due to genetics through a close relative with an anxiety disorder. Moreover, some individuals are vulnerable to developing a phobia than others.

Treatments:

When treating and helping individuals manage their specific phobia, we use exposure therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

Exposure Therapy:

Exposure therapy is a form of psychotherapy used to overcome and break the pattern of avoidance behaviour and fear that developed for the specific phobia. This is done through a gradual exposure to the stimulus that causes fear in a controlled and safe environment. 

The goal of the treatment is to change the individual’s response to the situation, object, environment etc. For example, if a person is afraid of dogs, the therapist would ask them to look at pictures of dogs, then giving a dog a treat, eventually leading them to pet a dog or letting several dogs lick their face. 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT):

Cognitive behavioural therapy or CBT is used to help people learn how to change and identify negative thinking patterns that cause avoidance or destructive behaviours and emotions. When treating a specific phobia, we focus on changing the way you think about your fear to manage them and thus changing your avoidance behaviour when encountering phobic stimuli such as a dog or enclosed spaces.