Phobic (Anxiety) Disorders - Overview and Different Types

A phobia is an abnormal fear and avoidance of an everyday object or situation.

Phobias are common (8% prevalence), disabling, and treatable with behaviour therapy.

Phobias are common conditions in which intense fear is triggered by a single stimulus, or set of stimuli, that are predictable and normally cause no particular concern to others (e.g. agoraphobia, claustrophobia, social phobia). This leads to avoidance of the stimulus The patient knows that the fear is irrational, but cannot control it. The prevalence of all phobias is 8%, with many patients having more than one. Many phobias of 'medical' stimuli exist (e.g. of doctors, dentists, hospitals, vomit, blood and injections) which affect the patient's ability to receive adequate healthcare.

Aetiology

Phobias may be caused by classical conditioning, in which a response (fear and avoidance) becomes conditioned to a previously benign stimulus (a lift) often after an initiating shock (being stuck in a lift). In children, phobias can arise through imagined threats (e.g. stories of ghosts told in the playground). Women have twice the prevalence of most phobias than men. Phobias aggregate in families, but genetic factors are probably weak.

Agoraphobia

Translated as 'fear of the market place', this common phobia (4% prevalence) presents as a fear of being away from home, with avoidance of travelling, walking down a road, and shops being common presentations. This can be a very disabling condition, since the patient can be too unwell to ever leave home, particularly by themselves. It is often associated with claustrophobia, a fear of enclosed spaces.

Social phobia

This is the fear and avoidance of social situations: crowds, strangers, parties and meetings. Public speaking would be the sufferer's worst nightmare. It is suffered by 2% of the population.

Simple phobias

The commonest is the phobia of spiders (arachnophobia), particularly in women. The prevalence of simple phobias is 7% in the general population. Other common phobias include insects, moths, bats, dogs, snakes, heights, thunderstorms and the dark. Children are particularly phobic about the dark, ghosts and burglars, but the large majority grow out of these fears.

Author: Teena Jain
Website: http://www.depression-guide.com/