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Characteristics of Phobias - Coggle Diagram
Characteristics of Phobias
Phobias are a type of anxiety disorder . Anxiety is an emotion all people experience and is a natural response to potentially dangerous stimuli , but phobias characterised by by uncontrollable , extreme , irrational and enduring fears and involve anxiety levels that are out of proportion to any actual risk
As many sufferers attempt to deal with phobias themselves , it is difficult to estimate what the occurrence rate is , but about 10% of people will suffer from a phobia at some point , with females have twice the incidence of phobias as males
Most phobias originate in childhood , but lessen in strength during adulthood
Generally people with phobias have insight into their condition as they realise their fear reactions are irrational , but they cannot consciously control them
Symptoms
Behavioural
Avoidant/anxiety response - as confrontation with feared objects and situations produces high anxiety responses , efforts are made to avoid the feared object and situations in order to reduce the chances of such anxiety responses occurring
For example if someone has a fear of ghosts they do not take a short cut home through the graveyard at night
Disruption of functioning - anxiety and avoidance responses are so extreme that they severely interfere with the ability to conduct everyday working and social functioning
For example , a person with a social phobia will find it hard to socialise with others , or indeed interact meaningfully with them at work
Emotional
Persistant/excessive fear - phobias produce high levels of anxiety due to the presence of or anticipation of feared objects or situations
Fear from exposure to phobic stimulus - phobias produce an immediate fear response , even panic attacks , due to the presentation of the phobic object or situation
Cognitive
Recognition of exaggerated anxiety - generally phobics are consciously aware that the anxiety levels they are experiencing in relation to their feared object or situation are overstated
Simple phobias
Occur where sufferers have fears of specific things and environments , like astraphobia ( the fear of thunderstorms ) , and coulrophobia ( the fear of clowns )
Animal phobias - eg arachnophobia ( fear of spiders ) or mottephobia ( fear of moths )
Injury phobias - eg haematophobia ( fear of blood ) or scotomaphobia ( fear of blindness )
Situational phobias - eg aerophobia ( fear of flying ) or gephydrophobia ( fear of bridges )
Natural environment phobias - eg hydrophobia ( fear of water ) or nephophobia ( fear of clouds )
Social phobias
A commonly experienced type of phobia , and involve being over anxious in social situations , like having to talk in public
Social phobias involve the perception of being judged and feeling inadequate
Social phobias therefore often find conducting meaningful relationships difficult
Performance phobias - being anxious about performing in public , like playing at a concert or eating in a restaurant with other
Interaction phobias - being anxious about mixing with others , like going on a date or having an interview
Generalised phobias - being anxious about situations where other people are present , like being in a crowd or at a football match
Agoraphobia
The fear of leaving home or a safe place , it is another type of common phobia and often occurs with panic attacks , where sufferers experience panic first and the anxiety generated makes them feel vulnerable about being in open spaces
Can also be brought on by simple phobias such as a fear of contamination or social embarrassment
The natural avoidance response is to find and stay in a safe place , generally the home
Animal phobias tend to have the earliest onset , followed by other simple , social phobias and the agoraphobia
Phobias can either be learned from experience or genetically transmitted
