Fears and Phobias

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July 11th, 2009 anxman Leave a comment Go to comments

People often want to know what the difference between a fear and a phobia is. If a phobia is a fear then what’s the difference? The difference between a fear and a phobia is that phobias are irrational fears whilst fear itself can have a rational cause if there is a genuine threat.

Fear is an emotion that we experience when we are up against a situation that causes us to doubt our ability to cope. Being confronted late at night by a man carrying a knife would be cause for a rational fearful reaction because of the threat of being attacked. A phobia of spiders on the other hand is irrational as a tiny little spider can’t possibly harm you. There is no logical reason for experiencing a fear of spiders. The fact that it is irrational is what makes it a phobia.

People with phobias know that their fear is irrational but that doesn’t help make their fear any easier to control. Somebody with a phobia will experience levels of fear that are not in proportion to the source of their perceived threat.

Fear is an important survival instinct as it allows us to recognize when we are in danger so that we can get out of harms way. But extreme fears and phobias can have a debilitating effect and stop people from living normal lives. They can undermine a persons self confidence and can cause them embarrassment. A phobia is not an illness or a mental disorder. It is simply an irrational fear of something.

Phobias are grouped into different categories.

There are simple phobias where the sight of something such as snake or a spider is enough to trigger fear.

Complex phobias are phobias where there are lots of different fears altogether at the same time. An example would be a fear of flying where the person might by afraid of crashing, losing their mind and being in a confined space etc.

There are also social phobias where people are scared of things going wrong whilst in the company of other people. They may be worried about looking stupid, saying the wrong thing or not having anything to say at all.

Phobias can lead to panic attacks if the individual’s fear ends up causing them to be convinced that they are losing their mind or mistake the symptoms for those of a heart attack. If you have panic attacks then it should ease your mind to know that a panic attack can’t harm you no matter how unpleasant it may feel. Nobody has ever died from a panic attack.

One of the most common phobias is agoraphobia. This is a complex phobia that many people mistakenly believe to be a fear of open spaces. Agoraphobia is actually a fear of being in a place or situation from which escape is impossible, difficult or embarrassing. People who suffer from agoraphobia often have a safe zone in which they can live within without experiencing fear. Going beyond the limits of their safe zone may cause them to start to feel anxious and panic. In extreme cases of agoraphobia a person might be too scared to even leave their own home.

If you suffer from fears and phobias then you should know that help exists to help your get over them. They don’t have to control your life. Some people with phobias believe they need to be able to remember what caused their phobia in order to get over it. But this is not the case. You can get hold of some great self help programs for learning how to eliminate phobias such as The Linden Method and Panic Away.