Anxiety Disorders Fears and Phobias
Anxiety Disorders: Fears and Phobias Phobia is defined as “an extreme, irrational fear of a specific object or situation” (“Phobia” 1). The definition of “Anxiety, a feeling of dread, fear, or apprehension, often with no clear justification” (“Anxiety” 1). ... The reason for this is that a phobia is a type of anxiety disorder, but the main focus of this paper is phobias. There are many thoughts on what causes phobias and anxiety disorders, however even the experts have not been able to pin it down to one cause. The purpose of this paper is to give information about phobias and the effects that phobias may have a persons everyday life. One theory is that phobias are learned from past experiences or are “learned emotional responses” (“Phobia” 1). ... Just on a factual note, many phobias have more than one name. Other phobias have yet to be linked with one specific cause because there can be more than just one. ... If that is the case, could it mean that phobias are transferred through genetics? ... ) Other phobias have just not had enough evidence to suggest a cause. Sometimes what people may perceive as stress, can actually be anxiety, not an anxiety disorder. This long-term period of anxiety with no actual cause is known as general anxiety, or “free-floating” anxiety (“Anxiety” 1). Phobias are broken down into three main groups consisting of social phobia, agoraphobia, and specific or simple phobias (“Anxiety disorders” 1). Social phobia “causes extreme anxiety in social or public situations,” that’s the short description. ... This problem may also be related to feelings of inferiority and low self-esteem, and can drive a person to drop out of school, avoid making friends, and remain unemployed (“Anxiety disorders” 2). Social phobia is often confused with shyness, however extreme anxiety is not experienced in social situations, and shy people don’t normally try to avoid embarrassing social situations. Social phobia often goes hand in hand with depression, and/or substance abuse (“Anxiety disorders” 2). Like all phobias, social phobia is a real disease (just as real as cancer), therefore, as a disease, it has symptoms. ... People suffering from social phobia may: ª view small mistakes as more exaggerated than they really are ª find blushing as painfully embarrassing ª feel that all eyes are on them ª fear speaking in public, dating, or talking with persons in authority ª fear using public restrooms or eating out ª fear talking on the phone or writing in front of others (“Anxiety disorders” 2).