Phobia: – This is derived from the name of the Greek God Phobos, who frightened enemies. Phobia means a disrupting fear minded avoidance that is out of proportion to the danger posted by particular object or situation and is recognized by the sufferer as groundless. Such fears are unconscious and this may be towards height, cold place, snake or spider and many more can be in the list.
Some samples of Phobia are
- Claustrophobia- fear of closed space
- Agoraphobia –fear of public space
- Acrophobia- fear of heights
- Ergasiophobia –fear of writing
- Pnigophobia-fear of chocking
- Taphephobia-Fear of being buried alive
And all the terms may create hellenologophobia, which means fear of scientific terms.
There two key areas to understand phobia
- Specific phobia
Examples of specific phobia – fear of seeing blood, height, lizard etc. This is with respect to an individual scared to face certain stimulus.
2) Social phobia
Social Phobia is a persistent, irrational fear generally linked to the presence of other people, or any activity to be carried in front of other people. Some example of social phobia are public speaking, eating in public, fear of how other people perceive the way I talk, dress or use of public lavatory. Hence people with social phobia may avoid having public encounters.
Panic Disorder:-Recurrent panic attack involves a sudden onset of psychological symptoms such as dizziness, rapid heart rate, trembling, accompanied by terror and feeling of impending doom; sometimes accompanied with agoraphobia that I may not get support in a crowed place if panic attack occurs.
The symptoms of panic attack could be experienced as depersonalization, which is a feeling of being outside one’s body and derealization, a feeling of the world not being real, as well as fear of losing control, or going crazy or fear of dying. Panic attack may be experienced by some people weekly or monthly; it can be experienced for a duration of few minutes but sometimes rarely for an hour.
In panic attack, there are two areas to understand.
- Cued, here the stimulus is identified. Example interview or talking to strict parent etc
- Un cued panic attack. This attack happen when one is at sleep or relaxing. It can lead to panic about a panic attack happening again in an unguarded moment.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder:- A persistent uncontrollable worry about minor things. The symptoms are consistent worry, autonomic hyperactivity, vigilance and scanning. Anxiety runs as an under current or theme in the persons life.
Obsessive –compulsive disorder:- Intrusive and recurring thoughts, impulse and images that come unbidden (uninvited) to the mind, appear irrational and uncontrollable to the individual experiencing them. Some of the recurring thoughts may be contamination, fear of expressing some sexual thoughts or aggressive impulse or hypochondrical fear of body dysfunction.
Compulsion :-Is a repetitive behavior or a mental act that the person feels driven to perform in order to reduce the stress caused by obsessive thoughts or to prevent some calamity from occurring .
The symptoms are:
- pursuing cleanliness and orderliness through elaborate ritual that takes hours or a day.
- perform repetitive, magical, protective practices, such as counting saying certain numbers, or touching a talisman or a particular part of a body.
- Checking; going back seven to eight times to verify that already performed act were actually carried out.
The person going through this challenge experiences a foreign body being a part of their personality and indulging in these activities. OCD also affects the relationship and sometimes presents as a marital conflict.
Posttraumatic stress disorder :- The individual after experiencing a traumatic experience may go through increased anxiety, avoidance of stimuli associated with trauma and a numbing of emotional response. PTSD may present itself as
- Reexperiencing the traumatic event.
The individual frequency recalls the event and experiences nightmares about it. Intense emotional upset is produced by stimuli that symbolize the event.
- Avoiding of stimuli associated with the event or numbing of responsiveness.
The person tries to avoid thinking of the event and may have a possible amnesia about the event. Numbness represent lack of interest in engaging with people ,a sense of estrangement and inability to feel positive emotions.
- Symptoms of increased arousal:-
These symptoms include difficulties falling or staying asleep, difficulty in concentrating, hypervigilence , and an exaggerated startled response.
Acute stress disorder :The symptoms are of PTSD but exist for four week or less.
