Specific Phobias
Specific Phobias
Definition
A Specific Phobia is an intense, persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, situation, activity or event that significantly interferes with an individuals ability to function normally. The fear experienced is usually much greater than the actual danger involved. Common phobias include fear of heights, highway driving, flying insects, snakes, and needles. People with Specific Phobias try to control their anxiety by avoiding the object or situation in question.
• Though Specific Phobias can also develop in adults, in most cases Specific Phobias begin during childhood and if left untreated, can persist throughout ones life.
• Specific Phobias are the most common form of Anxiety disorders.
• They are twice more prevalent in women than in men.
Symptoms
1) The person usually realizes that the fear is irrational and out of proportion and that his/her behavior makes no sense.
2) An immediate and extreme feeling of unexplainable, fear, anxiety or panic when exposed to the feared object or situation.
3) Physical symptoms in presence of the feared object or situation may include headaches, dizziness, crying, trembling, difficulty breathing or stiffening.
4) The person experiencing the phobia goes to extreme lengths to avoid the phobic situation or endures it with intense anxiety or distress.
5) The symptoms are persistent and last for at least six months.
6) Even the anticipation of fear often causes great anxiety.
7) The avoidance of the fear-inducing situation or object interferes significantly with the persons normal routine or daily life.
8) The fear or anxiety is not a typical response in the persons social or cultural context.
Causes
1) Past Negative/Traumatic Experience
Specific Phobias can be a result of an unusually traumatic event involving the feared situation or object. For example, a person who has been previously trapped in an elevator runs a greater risk of developing a phobia of elevators, whereas, someone involved in a car accident might develop a fear of driving.
2) Learned behavior
Observing a family members phobic reaction in the same situation can cause a child to develop the same reaction.
3) Personality
Certain personality traits like being over-sensitive or more inhibited are thought to increase the risk of developing Specific Phobias.
4) Family history
Many types of phobias run in families, so having a parent or sibling with a Specific Phobia can mean being at a higher risk. However, not much is known about the genetic factors that cause and maintain Specific Phobias.
5) Displacement of Anxiety
A phobia may represent a displacement of anxiety from an external threat that elicited it to some other object or situation. For example, a Specific Phobia may be connected to an individual's conflict about aggressive thoughts and feelings. A phobia protects individuals from realizing their emotional issues (Jackson, 2002).
Types
Common types of Specific Phobias
• Animal phobias: Animal phobias are the most common Specific Phobias. Examples include the fear of dogs, snakes, insects, or mice.
• Situational phobias: These are fears of particular situations, such as driving a car, going to school or fear of enclosed spaces like elevators.
• Natural environment phobias: Examples include the fear of storms, heights, or water.
• Blood-injection-injury phobias: These include fear of seeing blood, of being injured or fear of injections and medical procedures.
• Other phobias: These include fear of falling down, fear of loud sounds or fear of clowns.
Effects
Disruption of normal life:
Specific Phobias can disrupt daily routines, limit work efficiency, reduce self-esteem, and place a strain on relationships. (ADAA)
Embarrassment:
The anxiety involved or the decisions taken to avoid phobic situations may cause embarrassment.
For example, a person forced to change career because of their inability to overcome a fear of flying.
Isolation:
Some phobias can lead to complete avoidance of social situations.
For example, people with severe phobias about being in crowds, or closed places may become complete recluses in their efforts to avoid such situations.
Depression:
Inability to cope with the phobia and feelings of helplessness and inadequacy can lead to severe depression.
Substance abuse:
The stress of living with a severe Specific Phobia may lead to abuse of drugs or alcohol.
Treatment
Most Specific Phobias can be successfully treated with one or a combination of :
1) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on changing the negative thoughts and dysfunctional beliefs that cause distress.
CBT involves techniques that assist in learning ways to cope with the feared object or situation differently.
2) Exposure Therapy
Exposure Therapy involves gradual, repeated exposure to the source of Specific Phobia and the related thoughts, feelings and sensations. Exposure Therapy is often paired with relaxation exercises.
3) Relaxation
Relaxation techniques such as breathing-retraining exercise can help individuals cope effectively with the stresses and physical reactions related to their Specific Phobias.
4) Medication: There is little research on the use of medication for Specific Phobias. However, medications such as sedatives and antidepressants are sometimes used to reduce the severity of the panic symptoms, especially if the situation feared is necessary or unavoidable.
Coping
Phobias are usually very treatable without medications or long psychotherapy.
Other steps that could help in coping with Specific Phobias include:
1) Talk openly about fears with friends and family.
2) Reach out to self-help or support groups.
3) Avoid caffeine, as it can make anxiety worse.
4) Get adequate sleep.
5) Practice Meditation.
6) Practice Deep Breathing and other anxiety-relieving techniques.
7) Exercise.
Discussion Questions:-
1) Have you or anyone you know been diagnosed with any Specific Phobia? If yes, what are the symptoms?
2) When did you first notice the symptoms?
3) How does the phobia affect your life and those close to you?
4) Have you noticed anything that seems to makes the symptoms better or worse?
References
https://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/specific-phobias#1
https://www.healthyplace.com/anxiety-panic/phobias/phobias-articles/
https://www.med.upenn.edu/ctsa/phobias.html
adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/specific-phobias
For list of phobias:
After the Batman theater shooting, I became terrified of movie theaters and auditoriums. I usually get anxiety attacks when I have to sit through a movie or play.
1) Have you or anyone you know been diagnosed with any Specific Phobia? If yes, what are the symptoms?
Yes, I have a needle/medical phobia. My main symptom is I will faint when exposed to my phobia which is why I mainly avoid anything to do with it if I can.
2) When did you first notice the symptoms?
It started in childhood and got worse as I got older, mainly due to even more negative experiences surrounding medical situations.
3) How does the phobia affect your life and those close to you?
A few years ago it got to the stage where I wouldn't even leave the house in case I was exposed to something related to my phobia. The most serious thing is I've neglected my medical needs for years because of not being able to access it due to my phobia.
For those close to me, it means they can't talk about any medical issues they're facing so I find it hard to be a good, supportive friend.
4) Have you noticed anything that seems to makes the symptoms better or worse?
I've been getting exposure therapy (desensitisation) for just over a year, and I've improved a lot - I can now cope with people sewing! (we're now moving over to more medical needles). Distraction helps me a lot, because when exposed to my phobia, my brain wants to go straight to the worst case scenario, so I need to stop it from doing that.
@LittleLotte
Thank you for answering the questions.
It must have been really difficult for you to be dealing with this since your childhood. But I am really glad you have been getting therapy and made so much progress
@politeSun Thanks. It's definitely been difficult and my health has suffered because of it but at least I realised I needed help.
@politeSun This year I am going to conquer my driving anxiety!
@ellabellie
Yay!! awesome! I wish you ALL THE BEST :)
@politeSun Thanks so much :)
@politeSun
I have an extreme phobia of injections, especially drawing blood to the point that I will even throw up from fear when exposed to it. The last that happened was when they did a blood donation at my school and I was so panicked and the smell of blood and rubbing alcohol actually made me throw up and cry and tremble.
A lot of people think phobias are just normal fears of a certain thing but they can really be inhabiliting. I haven't gotten a flu shot in several years now and I've never had blood drawn. I even refused to go for a check up out of fear of being prodded.
Thank you for making this post and educating on the subject. It'd be awesome if phobias were a subject you could pick to focus on as a member 
@TheHoneyDoll I have the same phobia, so I understand how you feel.
@TheHoneyDoll
Thankyou for sharing about your phobia. May I ask if you have tried to get help for it?
Yes most people think that phobias are just normal fears.I am happy to be able to spread some awareness about it. and I really like your idea about phobia being a topic, why dont you add the suggestion in the 7cups forum?
@politeSun
Ooo could I get a link to the forum? :) And I haven't yet. I'm in therapy for PTSD at the moment so I haven't found the time sadly or the money but I found that talking to myself in third person helped a lot with looking away! Such as "Honey is okay, Honey is getting a flu shot, it will pinch a little, it is short but will help Honey" and so on!
@politeSun,
1) Have you or anyone you know been diagnosed with any Specific Phobia? If yes, what are the symptoms? I dont have a doctor-given diagnosis, but I do suffer from Testophobia (deathly fear of taking tests and the associated risk of failure). I cant even learn that my class(es) is having a test without intense nausea and every muscle within me tensing up! While I study for the dreaded day, I need frequent (every chapter/question/minute) breaks to address headaches, fatigue and thirst/cotton mouth.
2) When did you first notice the symptoms? I remember the exact event that triggered everything. I had previously taken a science test that involved one of those horrible Scantrons. I have trouble with anything involving transcription due to my disability, so I had unknowingly filled out bubbles in a way that in no way matched what I knew/circled in the test packet (I would know based on my studying that the answer was A and circle A but accidentally fill in the bubble for C, for example). Making matters worse, all that mattered to my silly teacher was what was on the scantron, correctly done or not. Since seeing that big red 46 on the front of that packet, I do everything I can to avoid messing up even once on so much as a simple yes or no question.
3) How does the phobia affect your life and those close to you? As I mentioned, I do everything I can (and occasionally something that I cant/shouldnt be able to do) in order to avoid or pass tests, including lifes tests (everyday situations involving choices). Sometimes this causes family/social awkwardness as my perfectionism brings delays in decision-making.
4) Have you noticed anything that seems to makes the symptoms better or worse?
Better-prayer, deep relaxation, taking care of my physical self on such days, mindfulness-based work, talking it out (with everyone but Mom, because she then snaps at me about having faith (not the problem, Im very trusting otherwise!).
Worse-studying (yes, the one thing thats proven to prevent student stress makes mine worse!), hearing about tests/reading about one in a syllabus, talking to Debbie/Daniel Downers or those who spit cliches at me (as in the above Hey, have faith!).
I have a phobia of throwing up. I know it is totally irrational, but I can't help it. Every time I feel strange, even just a tickle in my throat, my brain goes crazy. Am I going to throw up? Is that normal? What if I throw up? I can't get sick! and so on. All that anxiety and worry often leads to nausea. Just my luck. The nausea makes me even more worried, and it turns into a cycle. I often wake up in the middle of the night and panic.
I have been this way ever since I can remember. My mother has a fear of it as well, but to a much lesser extent.
Does it affect my life? Yes. I avoid situations with possible vomiting. I dislike being near babies and pregnant women. I have specific routines, that in my head it seems that if I do not follow the routine exactly, I will throw up. I know that is not true, but I cannot seem to break the routine. I avoid places I threw up or saw someone throw up. I avoid foods that I ate before I threw up, sometimes many years ago. I avoid articles of clothing. This messes up my life a lot.
I can't think of much that makes this better. Hearing about someone throwing up makes it much much worse. Even typing the word throw up so many times is beginning to get to me.
Me too, you're not alone
I have never been diagnosed with a phobia but I am pretty sure I have a phobia for public speaking. I sleep terrible for days sometimes even weeks before having to do the public speaking and I almost never make it through. Sometimes I can't even start. I start hyperventilating and crying and it takes a little while for me to calm down again. It doesn't matter what people tell me, the fear is there. Like, I know there is nothing to fear. The people in my class are the nicest people I know. Nothing bad is going to happen. I'm not going to die or get injured But it doesn't help. I still feel like I put myself in harm if I have to present something. And my body reacts accordingly.
For me, I've noticed, meditation helps. Because of the meditation, I am able to sleep better beforehand, and because I'm not sleep-deprived, I can control myself better during the speaking. I know a couple of mudra's too that calm me down. Because most mudra's are pretty discrete, so people don't even notice if I use them during speaking.
Up until now, this gets me through a presentation, but still I never feel okay before or after. I feel sick to my stomach and light-headed, so I know I still hyperventilate. I'm not sure how to overcome this all, but I'm glad for this post. It makes it easier to understand what I'm going through. And it's kinda nice to know I'm not alone 
@PoliteSun
Thankyou so much for this information! I have a specific phobia of being watched while sleeping so I often avoid sleeping which of course leads to a lot of problems.
Thanks, Gabe.
I have emetophobia (fear of vomit) and have had it for 7 years. It
It's 2am so excuse any spelling mistakes or anything that doesn't make sense. 
I have two major phobias, and I guess they're both quite strange. I have a phobia of being in a car by myself and I have a phobia of being attacked by strangers in the street- more specifically being hit in the head... This last one was a significant problem for a while. When on my way home the year before last some girl, whom I don't know but I imagine has some mental health difficulties, came up behind me and whacked me in the head. She pushed me into a hedge and started screaming at me about how I was a bitch and then she ran off. I had a panic attack of course and some kind woman with a pushchair sat with me and helped me breath, and then a kind postman drove me home. I know it doesn't sound like a lot but it deeply effected me. This only took place a street away from my road and every so often I would see the same girl walk by in front of my house. It terrified me that she most likely lived on the same road as me. I contacted the police and made a statement and everything, they didn't do anything- I guess it's not a priority crime. When the policeman from the case called me to say they were closing it due to inactivity, I told him that she walks by my house at around 2pm most days. He still closed it. I think that contributed to the fact that I felt so unsafe, because she was out there right where I live- if I happen to go home at the same time then I might encounter her again and she might do the same thing. The policeman gave me a rape alarm and that definitely was a real comfort. But after that I had a real problem with walking past people on the pavement, originally I couldn't help but turn to the side away from them but after a while (since I know it's just silly) I just flinched. Most of the time now I can manage to walk past people, but a lot of the time I really have to force myself to freeze and hold myself straight and not flinch or turn away. I had a bit of a problem a while back where it transferred over to cars and whenever a car would drive by I'd be terrified they were going to throw something at me and I'd turn away and look at the ground- that caused some mild panic attacks. Now I just get irrationally scared of people and cars hitting me with something. It's not really gone away after all this time, but it's definitely improved.
The phobia of being in a car by myself is just due to the car that my mother used to have. She would often lock me in for long periods of time and the car had a motion sensor and a VERY loud alarm. In the worst instance we were actually going to look at a new car and I felt a bit sick so my mother suggested we stop at the shop and she quickly got me something to eat. Normally I would open the car door (because of the phobia) but because I was feeling sick I didn't think to until the doors were closed and I heard the car lock. I immediately paniced and started screaming but the doors were already locked. Apparantly my mother heard me screaming but didn't think anything of it. 
I tried to kick the windows out but I couldn't. I had a panic attack for the entire two hours I was locked in the car, crying and screaming and trying to get out. When she came back and unlocked the car I ran straight out and down the carpark into a corner with the trolleys and hyperventilated. A kind woman from the shop came out with a paper bag and helped calm me down. Now whenever I'm alone in a car and even sometimes when I'm not but the driver isn't there, my heart leaps and I panic (and open the door). I know it's completely irrational and neurotic to be so effected by such small things but I guess I'm just not made for living in this world...