Phobias (cont.)
How can people cope with phobias?
Ways that phobia sufferers can work to overcome their fears include talking
about their fears, refraining from avoiding situations they find stressful,
imagining themselves facing their fears (visualization), and making positive self-statements like, "I will be OK."
Where can people get information and help for phobias?
American Academy of
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
http://www.aacap.org
American Counseling
Association
http://www.counseling.org
American Psychiatric Association
http://www.psych.org
American Psychological Association
http://helping.apa.org
Anxiety Disorders Association of America
http://www.adaa.org/
Freedom From Fear
http://www.freedomfromfear.org
National Anxiety Foundation
3135 Custer Dr.
Lexington, KY 40517-4001
(606) 272-7166
National Association of Social Workers
http://www.naswdc.org
National Mental Health Association
http://www.nmha.org
National Panic/Anxiety Disorder News, Inc.
http://www.npadnews.com
ABIL, Inc.
(Agoraphobics Building Independent Lives)
ABIL1996@aol.com
A.I.M. (Agoraphobics
in Motion)
anny@ameritech.net
American Self-Help Clearinghouse
http://www.cmhc.com/selfhelp/
National Mental Health Consumers' Self-Help
Clearinghouse
http://www.libertynet.org/~mha/cl_house.html
Phobics Anonymous
(619) 322-COPE
The future
How well phobias respond to various treatments over the course of years as
well as how age-related changes in thinking ability (cognition) may interact
with anxiety are areas being focused on for future research studies.
- The definition of a phobia is the unrelenting fear of a situation,
activity, or thing that causes one to want to avoid it.
- The three classes of
phobias are social phobia (fear of public speaking, meeting new people or other
social situations), agoraphobia (fear of being outside), and specific phobias
(fear of other items or situations).
- Although phobias are largely
underreported, the number of people who suffer from phobias is estimated at more
than 6 million people in the United States.
- Women tend to be twice as likely
to suffer from a phobia compared to men.
- While there are nearly as many
phobias as there are situations, the most common kinds of phobias include social
phobia, agoraphobia, claustrophobia, coulrophobia, aerophobia, zoophobia,
arachnophobia, dentophobia, aichmophobia, ophidiophobia, acrophobia, mysophobia,
and a fear of fear of blood.
- Agoraphobia often coexists with panic disorder.
- If left untreated, a phobia may worsen to the point where the person's life is
seriously affected by the phobia and by attempts to avoid or conceal it, leading
to problems with friends and family, failures in school, and/or lost jobs while
struggling to cope.
- Phobias tend to run in families, are influenced by
culture, and can be triggered by life events.
- Phobia sufferers have been found
to be more likely to manage stress by avoiding the stressful situation and by
having difficulty minimizing the intensity of the fearful situation.
- Symptoms
of phobias often involve panic attacks.
- Assessment of phobias often includes
questions by a trained professional that explore the symptoms being experienced,
a medical interview, and a physical examination.
- Phobias are often treated
using desensitization, cognitive behavioral therapy, and/or medications.
- The
groups of medications doctors tend to choose from when treating a phobia include
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, beta blockers, and occasionally,
benzodiazepines.
- Phobia sufferers sometimes cope with their fears by talking
about it, refraining from avoiding situations they find stressful,
visualization, and making positive self-statements.
References:
Anxiety Matters. Phobia List: A List of Phobia Names from A to Z.
www.anxietymatters.com. 2008.
Davey GC, Burgess I, Rashes R. "Coping strategies and phobias: the
relationship between fears, phobias and methods of coping with stressors."
British Journal of Clinical Psychology 34(3) Sept. 1995: 423-434.
Fernandes PP. "Rapid desensitization for needle phobia." Psychosomatics 44 June 2003:
253-254.
Gersley E. "Phobias: Causes and treatments." All Psych Journal,
17 Nov. 2001 www.allpsych.com.
Leinonen E, Lepola U, Koponen H, Turtonen J, Wade A, Lehto H. "Citalopram
controls phobic symptoms in patients with panic disorder: randomized controlled
trial." Journal of Psychiatry Neuroscience 25(1) (2000): 25-32.
Medical College of Wisconsin. Facing Fears: Most patients can overcome
phobias. 2/26/07.
NIMH. Concerned counseling. www.concernedcounseling.com/communities/anxiety/nimh/index.asp.
Schultz SK, Moser DJ, Bishop JR, Ellingrod VL. "Phobic anxiety in late-life in
relationship to cognition and 5HTTLPR polymorphism." Psychiatric Genetics 15(4) Dec. 2005:
305-306.
Straube T, Glauer M, Dilger S, Mentzel HJ, Miltner WH. "Effects of
cognitive-behavioral therapy on brain activation in specific phobia."
Neuroimaging 29(1) Jan. 1, 2006: 125-135.
Thomas SE, Thevos AK, Randall CL. "Alcoholics with and without social phobia:
a comparison of substance use and psychiatric variables." Journal of Studies on
Alcohol 60 (1999).
Villafuerte S, Burmeister M. "Untangling genetic networks of panic, phobia,
fear and anxiety." Genome Biology 4(8) (2003): 224.
Walker JR, Van Ameringen MA, Swinson R, Bowen RC, Chokka PR, Goldner E,
Johnston DC, Lavallie YJ, Nandy S, Pecknold JC, Hadrava V, Lane R. "Prevention of
relapse in generalized social phobia: results of a 24-week study in responders
to 20 weeks of sertraline treatment." Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology
20(6) Dec. 2000: 636-644.
Phobia Treatment. www.Phobiasconline.com.
Last Editorial Review: 6/4/2008
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