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| Phobias & Anxieties Disorder |
Phobias A phobia is an irrational fear of a specific situation, activity or object. The phobia compels the sufferer to avoid whatever is feared because with it comes a number of troubling symptoms such as: 1)Anxiety 2)Rapid heartbeat 3)Sweating 4)Hot or cold flashes 5)Choking, smothering feelings 6)Shaking 7)Dizziness, faintness 8)The need to flee the situation 9)Panic attack, sometimes (Ask.com) Some phobias are very common and you know them but some are so unique, that you cannot even guess by their name what they mean. Here are a few of them that I found on the internet! Myrmecophobia (Fear of ants) Peladophobia (Fear of becoming bald) Pogonophobia (Fear of beards) Clinophobia (Fear of going to bed) Geniophobia (Fear of chins) Anthophobia (Fear of flowers) Aviatophobia (Fear of flying) Porphyrophobia (Fear of the color purple) Odontophobia (Fear of teeth) Phronemophobia (Fear of thinking) Lachanophobia (Fear of vegetables) Phobophobia (Fear of fear) Pantophobia (Fear of everything) Arachnophobia (Fear of spiders) Agoraphobia (Fear of open spaces) What Types of Phobia are there? Phobias are generally classed into 3 different groups: 1.SIMPLE PHOBIAS - could be called a single phobia. Includes things like a fear of flying, heights, spiders and has been known to include seemingly innocent objects like fruit. (Fruit? - Ed) 2.SOCIAL PHOBIAS - these are things to do with situations in public. Includes things like eating or speaking in public and generally leads to the person being afraid that they will do something horrendous or something bad is going to happen which will make other people look on them badly. 3.AGORAPHOBIA - this is often called claustrophobia. Includes things like a fear of enclosed spaces, using buses and trains, even just leaving the house. Agoraphobics often think that if they are put into their feared situation that they will collapse or lose control. Having an escape route generally relieves the situation a little in milder agoraphobics, as indeed it does with Social Phobics. How Many People Suffer from Phobias? Because people tend to be a bit secretive about phobias it's hard to know exactly what proportion of people have phobias. Although about 1 in 9 people seems like a good estimate. Also, Phobias are common in children up to about the age of six. How do People Develop Phobias? The exact cause of phobias is not known, although one of the more common sense theories around suggests that phobias are learned fears. That is not to say that one major event triggers them off, in fact, very rarely is this the case. Typically, they may arise in peoples' teenage years, out of childhood fears, or around the time people are becoming more independent. But don't worry, you don't necessarily need to know the cause to be able to treat it. Through search engine Ask.com | ||||||||||||||||
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Recently I found an article about phobias and their cure. The following article talks about one of those: Laugh Yourself Calm If you're looking for more coping tools to add to your recovery kit, don't forget about the healing powers of laughter. Laughter reduces stress; it's as simple as that. It might not be a cure for your disorder, but it certainly can't hurt to experiment with a chuckle or two. Catherine Ripplinger Fenwick's Healing with Humour cites numerous psychological studies which demonstrate the mental health benefits of laughter. Most beneficial to people with anxiety disorders is laughter's ability to reduce stress. Fenwick describes what happens in the body during laughter, a process which includes "relaxation of the muscles." The focus of Fenwick's article is laughter's role in the healing process. Stress reduction through laughter means quicker healing and a stronger immune system. If laughter can be a benefit physically, it's easy to see laughter's positive effects on our mental health. If you need ideas for adding laughter to your life, Fenwick's article provides 12 excellent suggestions for doing so. Humor: An Antidote for Stress is an article written for nurses (but helpful to all) by Patty Wooten, RN BSN CCRN. Like Fenwick, Wooten calls upon medical research to support the theory that laughter can reduce stress. Detailing laughter's effects on the body, Wooten concludes that "positive emotions can create neurochemical changes that will buffer the immunosuppressive effects of stress." Additionally, some initial studies have shown that laughter can actually increase our sense of control, a benefit to people with anxiety disorders who often feel so out of control. Wooten's main premise is that laughter can help reduce the high stress of those in the nursing field; those benefits can be easily transferred to others in need of stress reduction. "Illness is certainly not a laughing matter," points out neurologist Dr. Barry Bittman in his article Integrating Humor into Health Care. He's right, and anxiety disorders are no laughing matters, either. However, as Bittman points out, humor can can be a "therapeutic strategy" and a "powerful and effective tool for coping." Although the main purpose of Bittman's article is to advise health professionals on how to use humor in their doctor-patient relationship, the layperson can see how laughter is a benefit to the healing process. Most particularly, Bittman cites research which found that laughter can diminish "levels of cortisol and stress hormones that are responsible for triggering elevated blood pressure, heart rate and a host of other stress-related responses." Whether or not your health and mental health professionals are using humor in your treatment, you can begin to incorporate humor and laughter into your daily life. If you haven't found yourself laughing in a while, begin at the beginning. Think back to when you did laugh more, and try to remember what you made you laugh. The most basic of humor tools are probably television and movies. Rent some old favorites or watch some syndicated re-runs to get those laughing muscles back in shape. If you feel up to it, you can take a look at some mental health humor available online. 30 Ways to Handle Stress invites you to take an unconventional approach to stress relief. Mental Health Net's Humor of the Day is a worthwhile place to visit for a daily smile at life. If you're concerned about whether or not you're normal, Pendulum Resources can help with Are You Normal??? and What is Normal? Pendulum Resources can also help you determine whether or not you have any Cyber Disorders, such as "Lurking Disorder" or "Chronic Posting Disorder." Would you rather hang on to all your stress than work to diminish it? The De Anza Health Office offers some helpful advice in How to Stay Stressed. If you're looking for more general humor, take a peek at About.com's Comedy channel. Mike Durrett's Humor site can help you find humor of all kinds on the Internet and off. A particularly interesting feature on Mike's site is GuideHumor, a collection of links to other about.com humor pages featuring jokes related to specific topics. Start with a smile, add a little chuckle, and soon you'll be laughing the stress away. It's OK to laugh. Be good to yourself. You can find more info @ About.com People deal with phobias in a variety of ways, from rearranging their lifestyles to accommodate their fears to ignoring them and living normally. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another web article that I read on the Internet was about another cure of phobias - Hypnosis. See if tha t is interesting and send me your comments! Panic, anxiety and phobias are very related problems that many individuals come to a hypnotherapist for. There are two types of phobias---Social Phobias and Simple Phobias. Social Phobias are not shyness. Rather it is the fear of embarrassment or humiliation that may occur when eating, drinking, speaking or engaging in any other activity in front of others - a fear that results in avoidance behavior. Social Phobias have national health consequences. Many social phobics turn to alcohol or illegal drugs for temporary relief from their fears. Simple Phobias are fears of dogs, snakes, driving, heights, etc. This type of phobia can greatly effect how one goes about their daily life and may guide them in making decisions. Both types of phobias can be treated very effectively with hypnosis. The technique that I have found most effective is systematic desensitization. A hypnotherapist would treat a phobia by having the person concentrate on recognizing and removing the symptoms. Under the guidance of the hypnotherapist, the client imagines these situations progressing from the least to the most traumatic. Clients are also taught simple relaxation techniques that help them to remain calm. Because hypnotherapists vary in experience, background and education in psychology, only those who are qualified should venture in treating individuals with panic, anxiety and phobias. | PHOBIAS & HOW PEOPLE DEAL WITH THEM | ||||||||||||||||
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| A little bit more about phobias. Shyness |
Shyness remains anxiety disorder of the decade According to the American Journal of Psychiatry, "If the 1980's were considered to be the decade of anxiety, most would agree that panic disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder received the greatest attention. The 1990's are sure to be another decade of anxiety, but we can expect other anxiety disorders to take the limelight, particularly social phobia (severe shyness)." Millions of individuals suffer from this problem or other "hidden" social handicaps. They run the gamut in degrees of suffering. The most common example is fear of public speaking, the number one phobia in this country. Also common, is uncontrollable anxiety surrounding interaction with an authority figure. Each can be stifling and often have serious ramifications. Consider, also, the following examples: Teenagers who develop school phobia because of underling social fears. Young adults who are pathologically over- dependent on their parents. Children who do not talk because of social anxiety (elective mutism). Individuals who are behaviorally paralyzed because of difficulty with social skills. Aspiring executives and professionals whose careers are stifled because of job related social anxiety. Married persons who are emotionally debilitated by social fears. Individuals whose only friends are their computers and televisions. Adults who are debilitated by panic and symptoms of blushing and sweating. Adults who never date and are involuntary virgins. Eating disorder sufferers whose problems stem from social anxiety. Estimates range that from 3 to 12 percent of the overall population suffers from social phobia or extreme shyness. Most individuals who are affected never seek help because of fear of humiliation and embarrassment. For thisreason, social phobics are very much an unstudied population. Those who do seek help often receive inappropriate or ineffective treatment. Most current treatment of social anxiety is based on medication. For many individuals this just breeds further dependence, which itself is a big part of the problem. The by-products of social anxiety include depression; self medication, with alcohol usually the drug of choice; an inability to compete in today's stressful society characterized by poor performance and a lack of productivity, and often family distress. When people hear the word "shy," they often think of children. The reality is that most people who seek help for this problem are adults. The common response to children with this problem is "They will grow out of it." In cases where the problem is substantial, it worsens over time. It is important to grasp some basic concepts about the two closely related dynamics of shyness and social anxiety: Both terms describe a learned response to social interaction. I refer to this fear response as interactive inhibition. When interactions are inhibited by social anxiety, a person is unable to get as much out of life as is possible. When individuals who have this problem think that "shyness" is an unchangeable personality trait, they are creating a major obstacle for themselves that stands in the way of fulfillment and productivity. The reality is that shyness is social anxiety. Social anxiety is a learned response and habit that can be broken. Furthermore, at the risk of being controversial, as an individual begins to understand that social anxiety is a combination of attitudinal, emotional. behavioral, and physical responses, it will be understood that there actually is no such thing as shyness. Rather what was understood as "shyness" is actually social anxiety, a psychophysiological response that can be learned to be controlled. In other words, it is a way of reacting, not an unchangeable instinct that has chosen the person in question! BERENT ONLINE Tips for shy types... Make yourself do things you fear -- attend a party, go on a date. Be ready with conversation starters from current events, movies, books. Set specific goals, such as: "Today, I will say hello to three co-workers." Avoid using alcohol or drugs as social lubricants; they could become crutches. Consider one of the many self-help books on shyness; individual or group therapy; or one of several medications that new studies show may help certain shy people. Sources: Jonathan Cheek, Wellesley College; Bernardo Carducci, Indiana University Southeast; Lynn Henderson, Shyness Clinic, Portola Valley, Calif.; Jonathan Berent and Associates, Great | ||||||||||||||||
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