It is known as “phobias” to excessive, irrational and uncontrollable fears or fears, exaggerated or disproportionate with respect to the object or the situation that causes them. These are some of the strangest that have been described.
Euphobia: aversion to receiving good news.
Colpophobia: aversion to genitalia, especially female.
Macrophobia: pathological fear of long waits.
Dromophobia: aversion to crossing the street.
Phronemophobia: aversion to thinking.
Mnemophobia: irrational fear of memories.
Catisolophobia: aversion to sitting.
Phalacrophobia: pathological fear of baldness.
Sequipeladophobia: aversion to long or complicated words, especially to make a mistake when pronouncing them.
Ophthalmophobia: aversion to being stared at.
Fear of heights, spiders, crowds, flights, and small spaces are just a few typical examples that cause anxiety in many people, but when do those feelings produce the extreme reactions that turn into phobia?
Phobias are persistent and irrational fears of certain objects or situations that pose little or no danger. Phobias occur in a number of ways. The fear associated with a phobia can focus on a particular object (specific phobia) or be a fear in a public setting (social phobia). Some other examples of phobias include spiders, tunnels, heights, highway driving, water, and blood.
If a person has to speak in public, for example, they may experience a rapid heartbeat and sweaty hands. Most people experience certain fears with mild to moderate intensity, but the fear is over. For people with a phobia, fear is extremely intrusive and can disrupt normal life, interfering with work or social relationships to varying degrees of severity. Anxiety disorders are not just a case of “nerves.” An anxiety disorder cannot be overcome with willpower alone, nor can symptoms be ignored or dismissed. Fortunately, there are effective treatments to help people with phobias.
Can a person with a phobia have other physical and emotional illnesses?
People with phobias, particularly social phobia, can also experience addiction and substance abuse problems.
Many people with social or specific phobia become so anxious that they experience panic attacks , which are intense and unexpected outbursts of terror accompanied by physical symptoms. As more such panic attacks occur, people with phobias can take extreme measures to avoid situations where they fear another attack will occur or where help is not immediately available. This avoidance action, similar to that of many panic disorder patients , can eventually develop into agoraphobia, the inability to move beyond a known and safe environment due to intense fear and anxiety.
Diagnosis and treatment of other disorders are critical to finding effective phobias treatment.
Causes
It is unusual for a phobia to begin after age 30, and most begin during early childhood, adolescence, or early adulthood. They can be caused by a stressful experience, a frightening event, or a parent or household member with a phobia that a child can “learn” about.
