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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.

Phobias At A Glance
  • 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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