Phobia is an irrational uncontrollable fear, persistent manifestations of various fears. Traditionally, fear is an ancient companion of humankind. Most scientists believe that the feeling of fear is common to all higher animals, and, to a larger extent, to human beings with their finely developed psyche (Popescu 2013), 406. But if an animal can only be afraid of specific dangers, then a human being thanks to his imagination and the ability to analyze the environment has learnt to experience fear ahead of time (Popescu 2013), 406.
What are people afraid of? Of course, each person has various reasons to feel fear for something. But such fears can be summed to a few types, specific to a particular society. In each society, phobias can tell a lot about the society itself. Thus, in most relic pre-class societies people are most afraid of supernatural forces: the wrath of powerful supernatural beings and witchcraft (Stravynski, Bond and Amado 2004), 428.
Phobias are traditionally considered in the framework of obsessive-compulsive disorder related to disorders of thinking. Obsessions are the kind of experience when a person experiences fears, doubts, thoughts, desire and action against his will. Despite the critical attitude to such phenomena, a person cannot get rid of them (Marcovitz 2009), 28.
Symptoms of Phobias
In frightening situations, at least two of the following symptoms of anxiety are to be present, one of which must be in the top four of the following (Milosevic and McCabe 2008), 53:
· increased or rapid heartbeat;
· sweating;
· tremors or trembling;
· dry mouth;
· difficulty in breathing;
· feeling of suffocation;
· pain or discomfort in the chest;
· nausea or abdominal discomfort;
· feeling of dizziness, instability or fainting;
· derealization (a feeling that things are not real) or depersonalization (feeling of unreality with respect to their own "I");
· fear of losing control;
· fear of dying;
· hot flushes or chills;
· numbness or tingling sensation.
Several types of phobias are distinguished. From a scientific point of view, there are three types of phobias in the world (Marcovitz 2009), 32.
1. Simple (or specific) – a person is afraid of very specific things;
2. Social phobia is a fear to do anything publicly. Social phobia – it is when people try to avoid places with many people in order not to compromise oneself.
3. Agoraphobia. Those suffering from agoraphobia are victims of a complex phenomenon based on the fear of unfamiliar places.
According to the age, phobias can be divided into three types (Rogers and Kevin 2000) 32.
1. Children's phobias. For example, every child experiences fear of negative characters of fairy-tales. Many children have a common fear of darkness and other common fears.
2. Teenage phobia. As everybody knows a person's identity during puberty is being formed. Almost all teenagers have unstable nervous system. But this is not surprising, because at this age they encounter a large flow of information, much homework, problems of personal life and issues with hormones. The most common phobia in adolescence is phobia of death, phobia of intimacy, fear of relationships with the opposite sex. All these phobias usually fade away over the time. However, if a certain phobia was left from the child or adolescent period, it shall not remain a life-long diagnosis, but it is important to eradicate it (Rogers and Kevin 2000) 34.
3. Parental phobia. Almost all parents are subject to a variety of fears related, one way or another, with the child. These include the fear that the child gets lost, is stolen or beaten. Young families experience phobia of responsibility. But there is nothing surprising, because to bring up a good man is not a simple matter.
Causes of phobias
Disorders of the vestibular apparatus often causes phobias. A person suffering malfunctioning of the vestibular apparatus develops uncertainty, which later develops into a phobia or anxiety (Stern 2005), 13.
Also, another cause of a phobia can be also emotional stress that a person had experienced as a child. Mainly childhood experiences are stored in our memory vividly. Therefore, in certain moments, childhood fears start to emerge in the memory and further develop. Almost everyone has something to remember from their childhood. Many are afraid of water, heights, darkness, loneliness, because as a child survived some terrible event associated with it (Stern 2005), 15.
Fears that emerged in the course of some unpleasant situations, already in adulthood transform into phobias. Fears are most common among people who are emotional and very sensitive. It is worth emphasizing that it is the people with a weak psyche who are most prone to the formation and development of phobias (Stern 2005), 17. Phobias can occur among people with a rich imagination, because it is difficult for them to distinguish the real from the imaginary danger. For such people, it is more difficult to resist these negative feelings than people with more stable and strong mentality. People who are exposed to such fear, are actually afraid of what does not exist. After all, a phobia is a fear of fear itself. An individual is simply afraid to be afraid (Stern 2005), 18.
It is clear that the problem of phobias must be fought. But the question arises whether this can be done. Well if not to fight them, then it is possible to act on them. There are two basic ways to influence phobias (Ross 2010), 34:
Therapeutic (with the help of health care);
Psychological (psychological impact).
In addition to traditional treatments such as beta-blockers, antidepressants, other sedatives and behavior therapy, of a great theoretical and practical interest is the therapeutic effect of meditation. Therapy to restore emotional and mental balance focuses on changing one`s reaction to the object or situation that causes someone`s fear (Nardo 2002), 20. Gradual introduction to the causes of one`s phobia can teach a person to conquer such fears. For example, if a person is afraid to fly by an airplane, he or she will be able to make progress in therapy if such a person switches from thoughts about the flight to direct action: a person might start looking at the aircraft pictures, attending the airport, sitting in a plane and, in the end, flying somewhere (Nardo 2002), 21.
Meditation has long been used as a means of self-regulation, psychological correction, therapy and psychotherapy. At the heart of this application, there are data that this technique has a positive impact on the psychosomatic disorders associated with stress and anxiety. A large number of scientists` efforts have been put to studying the possibility of using meditation to reduce fears, phobias, stress and hypertension (Chong and Hovanec 2012), 64.
All the studies point out the successful impact of meditation under a variety of syndromes: fear of closed spaces, exams, loneliness, a heart attack, anxiety, chronic pains of different nature, rehabilitation after a serious illness, such as heart attack, such psychosomatic diseases such as bronchial asthma (Metcalf and Metcalf 2009), 15.
Bibliography
Chong, Elaine S and Erin M Hovanec. 2012. Phobias. New York: Rosen Pub.
Marcovitz, Hal. 2009. Phobias. San Diego, CA: ReferencePoint Press.
Metcalf, Tom and Gena Metcalf. 2009. Phobias. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press/Gale Cengage Learning.
Milosevic, Irena and Randi E McCabe. 2008. Phobias. London: Penguin Books.
Nardo, Don. 2002. Anxiety And Phobias. New York: Chelsea House.
Popescu, Beatrice. 2013. "Exposure Therapy For Phobias". Europe’S Journal Of Psychology 9 (2): 406-408.
Rogers, Paul and Gournary Kevin. 2000. "Phobias: Nature, Assessment And Treatment". Mental Health Practice 3 (8): 32-35.
Ross, Jane Daun. 2010. "Coping With Phobias And Paniccoping With Phobias And Panic". Nursing Standard 25 (2): 30-35.
Stern, Richard S. 2005. Mastering Phobias. London: Penguin Books.
Stravynski, Ariel, Suzie Bond, and Danielle Amado. 2004. "Cognitive Causes Of Social Phobia: A Critical Appraisal". Clinical Psychology Review 24 (4): 421-440.
