CONSIDERING my past thread on anxiety disorders, I thought it best to write about phobias today. Everyone is afraid of something but the fear isn’t typically so overpowering that it causes a drastic overreaction or interruption of daily routines.

Phobias are defined as irrational, intense, and overwhelming fear – this could be of an object, place, situation or even person. If the phobia is really intense, just the thought of coming into contact with it brings discomfort.
This is important to me as I have a phobia of most insects and bugs. It’s ridiculous because constant exposure to something is supposed to build at least some sort of tolerance towards it.

Since I was a child, I have seen roaches, lizards and frogs almost daily and yet the sight of them still makes me very uncomfortable. I still can’t sleep in a room where there is a living bug.
Phobias may seem irrelevant but they can severely limit your possibilities and opportunities. For example, I don’t participate in some leisure or work trips out of town due to an intense fear of bugs. There are universal symptoms that come with phobias. These include shaking, sweating, nausea, pounding heart rate, shortness of breath as well as that empty, butterfly feeling in your stomach.

True to mental illness, there is no one cause of phobias. Genetics, learned behaviours or trauma are the main vulnerabilities for their development. If someone in your immediate family has a specific phobia, it is likely to be passed on to you. If someone around you often talks about a terrible encounter with a snake, and you develop a fear of snakes, that is a learned behaviour (and it is quite possible for this to happen).

If you, yourself have an unpleasant incident with something, you are also likely to develop a phobia towards it.
There are a variety of phobias that fall under the two broad categories of specific or complex phobias. Specific phobias, just as they sound, centre on a particular thing- whether it be a person, place or thing. Some examples could be animal, environmental, or situational related such as fear of spiders, fear of oceans/rivers or fear of doctors/dentists.

These types of phobias are typically developed because of unpleasant experiences or learned behaviours during adolescence and normally lessen with age. While absolutely anyone can develop a phobia in general, women are more likely than men to experience specific phobias. These can but do not typically affect everyday life as avoidance is more often than not possible.

Complex phobias, however, are more difficult to deal with as they are usually developed later in life because of a first-hand, severely unpleasant experience. These include social phobia (anxiety) and agoraphobia (fear of going out at all) and they drastically affect everyday life. Doing normal activities such as grocery shopping is difficult for those inflicted.

Unlike most illnesses, the diagnosis of a phobia does not typically require professional help as most people are aware of their fears as well as the restrictions they may cause. However, you can definitely seek professional help if you feel as though your fear is severely interrupting your life. Most people choose to just live with their phobia, avoiding interaction with it at all costs.

However, there are counselling techniques as well as prescription medications that can decrease the fears as well as the symptoms they may cause. I think it is always better to confront your fears as that’s absolutely, and the only way to overcome them. I won’t lie, this is a bit hypocritical of me to say because I still avoid bugs. However, while writing this piece, I have decided to use the recommended therapeutic techniques. Hopefully, I’ll have partners in you all as you challenge your own fears.

A proven effective method is exposure therapy which is included in the general cognitive behavioural therapy (counselling) treatment process. This involves gradual exposure to your fear. For example, say you are afraid of snakes and want to practice exposure therapy, you would start by reading about snakes or simply looking at pictures of them.

When the discomfort from that level of exposure passes, it is time to further challenge your fear. You may then go to the zoo or anywhere where snakes are in a cage and therefore cannot come near to you. As you feel more comfortable doing that, you may ask someone to bring a snake around you. It is important that this is someone that can be trusted not to throw the snake on you but respect your restrictions. Eventually (take as long as you want- weeks, months or years), you will be able to hold the snake.
This technique can work with any fear, it just needs to be modified to suit the appropriate fear.

Treatment for phobias is as important as it is for any mental illness as its presence can cause a range of other issues. Unfortunately, certain phobias can increase the chances of developing other phobias and additional mental health issues in general. For example, those with social phobias, are more likely to develop agoraphobia. Those with agoraphobia are more likely to develop depression and substance abuse. However, I do have some good news, unlike other mental illnesses, phobias are actually curable.

Sooner or later, you may come face to face with your fear which can bring about severe panic and anxiety. Why not confront them before they have a chance to confront you?

Thanking you for reading. Please keep sending any topics you’d like to talk about to caitlinvieira@gmail.com

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