What are phobias and how to deal with them?
One of the beneficial properties given to humans by nature is the ability to experience fear. It is he who is called upon to signal the approach of a dangerous situation and help to avoid it in order to save life. But if fear is intrusive and not justified, it can seriously limit a person's ability to socialize and self-actualize. This pathological fear is called a phobia.
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Types and prevalence of phobias
According to experts, about one in ten people suffer from a phobia. At the same time, the fear of getting into any situation, contact with any object or living creature is not constant throughout life. Some people develop phobias in childhood, others acquire them in adulthood. Someone manages to overcome their fears on their own, others have to seek qualified help.
Anything can become the subject of a phobia. The most common fears are:
- fear of heights (acrophobia);
- fear of the dark (nyphobia);
- fear of society, publicity (social phobia);
- fear of open spaces (agoraphobia);
- fear of confined spaces (claustrophobia);
- fear of dogs (kinophobia).
Many people are afraid of animals (all or only some), fear of blood, doctors or disease. There are also quite exotic phobias (for example, fear of dolls, bald people, certain numbers, buttons). Fortunately, in most cases, these fears do not really interfere with life. A phobia is recognized as a pathology that requires correction only if it does not allow a person to control his own behavior and becomes an obstacle to normal activity.
Typical signs of a phobia are:
- obsession - a person cannot get rid of thoughts about what scares him;
- acuteness of negative emotions;
- constant striving to avoid contact with a threatening factor, committing strange, inexplicable acts for this;
- a person's understanding of the irrationality of his fear and inadequacy of behavior;
- the occurrence of vegetative reactions upon contact with the subject of a phobia (increased sweating, dizziness, tinnitus, tremors, visual impairment, heart palpitations, etc.).
It is believed that people who are nervous, impressionable, overly emotional suffer from phobias, but this is not always the case. There is also a hypothesis that the propensity for phobias is hereditary. It can be added that obsessive fears more often haunt the inhabitants of megacities than the inhabitants of rural areas, and out of every four people prone to phobias, three are women.
Can a phobia be dealt with?
Obviously, in those cases when a meeting with the object of obsessive fear is unlikely (for example, with a fear of penguins or the northern lights), there is nothing to fight with. If the phobia really interferes with life, it is worth contacting a specialist. There are several techniques that help, if not completely get rid of obsessive irrational fear, then learn to control it to a large extent.
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First, it is necessary for the psychologist to analyze the patient's condition and try to find the source of the fear. If this succeeds, sometimes it is enough to explain to the person the reason for the appearance of the phobia so that it disappears. In other cases, the method of systemic desensitization is used. It consists in the fact that the patient is gradually taught to contact with the object of his fears. For example, if a person is panicky afraid of dogs, they first show him a dog in a muzzle and on a leash from a distance, then they bring the dog closer, remove the muzzle from it, offer to pet it, etc. After a while the patient gets used to the fact that there is nothing threatening in such a situation, no. People with phobias are also shown that their fears are unfounded, using the example of other people's contacts with threatening objects.
Medicines in the treatment of phobias are rarely used - when patients have absolutely no control over their behavior. Drugs should be taken only as directed and under medical supervision. However, experts say that it is impossible to get rid of obsessive fear solely with the help of medicines. In addition, many medications are addictive, and phobias return when you stop taking them.
One person may have multiple obsessive fears. The complexities and high pace of modern life are not the best way to affect mental balance, and we all sometimes look strange, alarmed, overly excited. Phobias should not be afraid (although there is a specific phobia - the fear of phobias), but you should try to minimize the inconvenience they cause. This is the only way to maintain health and become successful in our rapidly changing world.
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Maria Kulkes Medical journalist About the author
Education: First Moscow State Medical University named after I. M. Sechenov, specialty "General Medicine".
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