Understanding Phobia: Causes, Symptoms, and Management

What is it?

phobia is an irrational fear reaction. People dealing with phobia, can experience a deep sense of panic when they encounter the source of the fear. There are several options of fear such as a fear of a certain place, situation, or object. A phobia is usually connected to something specific and not a general fear.
The influence of a phobia to a person vary from annoying to severely disabling. People with phobias most of the time understand that their fear is irrational, but they’re unable to do anything about it. Such fears can interfere with work, school, and personal relationships.

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Additional names

This group contains additional names:
- Glossophobia
- Acrophobia
- Claustrophobia
- Aviophobia
- Dentophobia
- Hemophobia
- Arachnophobia
- Cynophobia
- Ophidiophobia
- Nyctophobia
- Ophidiophobia

Signs & symptoms

The most common symptom of a phobia is a panic attack. Features of a panic attack include:
- Racing heart beat
- Shortness of breath
- Inability to speak
- Dry mouth
- Nausea
- Trembling or shaking
- Chest pain or tightness
- Dizziness or lightheadedness
- Profuse sweating

Diagnosis

According to the DSM, specific phobia diagnosis includes questions like presence of marked and persistent fear that is excessive or unreasonable, cued by the presence or anticipation of a specific object or situation.In addition, there should be an immediate anxiety reaction, which might reach the severity threshold of a panic attack on exposure to the feared object or situation. The situations or objects are avoided or endured with intense anxiety or distress. This avoidance or endurance with distress interferes significantly with the person’s normal routine, academic functioning, or social activities or relationships

Treatment

Treatment can involve therapeutic techniques, medications, or a combination of both.
Medications such as:
- Beta blockers
- Antidepressants
- Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
- Monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI)
- Tricyclic antidepressant (TCA)
- Tranquilizers- such as Benzodiazepines

In advance people can add Behavioral therapy like:
- Desensitization
- Exposure therapy
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

☝️ This is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult with your physician before making any medical decision.

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Source of Information - We analyze big data of more than 23 million patients de-identified medical records from the following sources:

National Institution of Health ∙ World Health Organization ∙ University of Illinois hospital