From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Phobias)
The term phobia, which comes from the
Greek word for
fear
(φόβος, fobos), denotes a number of
psychological and
physiological conditions that can range from serious
disabilities to common fears to minor quirks.
In addition, a number of neologisms have appeared with the
suffix
-phobia, which are not phobias in clinical sense, but rather
describe a negative
attitude towards something, see section
Non-clinical uses
of the term below.
Phobias (in the clinical meaning of the term) are the most
common form of
anxiety disorder. An
American
study by the
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) found that between
5.1% and 21.5% of Americans suffer from phobias. Broken down by
age and gender, the study found that phobias were the most common
mental illness among women in all age groups and the second
most common illness among men older than 25.
The opposite of the suffix -phobia is a -philia
or -philie (meaning "love of").
Understanding and classifying phobias
Most
psychologists and
psychiatrists divide phobias into three categories:
 |
Social phobias - fears to do with other people and social
relationships such as
performance anxiety, fears of eating in public, etc.
|
|
Specific phobias - fear of a single specific panic
trigger, like dogs, flying, running water and so on.
|
|
Agoraphobia - a generalised fear of leaving your home or
your small familiar 'safe' area, and of the inevitable
panic attacks that will follow. Agoraphobia is the only
phobia regularly treated as a medical condition.
|
Many
specific phobias, such as fears of dogs, heights, spider bites,
and so forth, are extensions of fears that everyone has.
People with these phobias treat them by avoiding the thing they
fear.
Many specific phobias can be traced back to a specific
triggering event, usually a
traumatic experience at an early age. Social phobias and
agoraphobia have more complex causes that are not entirely known
at this time. It is believed that heredity, genetics and
brain-chemistry combine with life-experiences to play a major role
in the development of anxiety disorders and phobias.
Phobias vary in severity among individuals, with some phobics
simply disliking or avoiding the subject of their fear and
suffering mild anxiety. Others suffer fully-fledged panic attacks
with all the associated disabling symptoms.
It is possible for a sufferer to become phobic about virtually
anything. The name of a phobia generally contains a Greek word for
what the patient fears plus the
suffix
-phobia. Creating these terms is something of a
word game. Few of these terms are found in medical literature.
Treatment
Some therapists use
virtual reality to
desensitize patients to the feared thing. Other forms of
therapy that may be of benefit to phobics are
graduated exposure therapy and
cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Anti-anxiety
medication can also be of assistance in some cases. Most
phobics understand that they are suffering from an irrational
fear, but are powerless to override their initial panic reaction.
Graduated Exposure and CBT both work towards the goal of
desensitising the sufferer, and changing the thought patterns that
are contributing to their panic. Gradual desensitisation treatment
and CBT are often extremely successful, provided the phobic is
willing to endure some discomfort and to make a continuous effort
over a long period of time. Practitioners of
neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) claim to have a procedure
that can be used to alleviate most specific phobias in a single
therapeutic session, though this has not yet been verified
scientifically.
Hydrophobia and Photophobia
The term
hydrophobia, or fear of water, is usually not a
psychological condition at all, but another term for the disease
rabies, referring to a common symptom. Likewise
photophobia, is a physical complaint, aversion to light due to
an inflamed or painful
eye or
excessively dilated pupils).
Phobias not named -phobia
|
Penis panic refers to a type of mass hysteria or panic
where males grow fearful of removal or shrinking of the penis.
|
|
Taijin kyofusho (対人恐怖症, TKS, for taijin kyofusho
symptoms), is a culture-bound syndrome (cultural disorder, or
mental illness) (allegedly) specific to Japan. Fear of hurting
or offending other people.
|
|
Castration anxiety
|
Non-clinical uses of the term
A number of neologisms have appeared with the suffix
-phobia, in which "phobia" is a understood as a negative
attitude towards certain categories of people or other things,
used in an
analogy with the medical usage of the term. Usually thease
kinds of "phobia" are is described as
fear,
dislike,
disapproval,
prejudice,
hatred,
discrimination, or
hostility towards the object of the "phobia". Often this
attitude is based on
prejudices and is a particular case of general
xenophobia.
A fear or hatred is not always considered a phobia
in the clinical sense because it is believed to be only a symptom
of other psychological problems, or the result of
ignorance, or of political or social beliefs. In other words,
unlike clinical phobias, which are usually qualified with the word
"irrational", phobias of attitude usually have roots in social
relations.
Below are some of these neologisms:
|
Afrophobia, fear or dislike of
Africans or
African
culture or people of
African ancestry
|
|
Caucasophobia, fear or dislike of
|
|
Christianophobia, fear or dislike of
Christians
|
|
Islamophobia, fear or dislike of
Muslims or
Islamic
culture
|
|
Ethnophobia, the usage exists in two fairly opposite
meanings: fear or dislike of any
ethnicity different from one's own, or dislike of one's
own nation.
|
|
Homophobia, fear or dislike of
homosexual people
|
|
Transphobia, fear or dislike of
transgender or
transsexual people.
|
|
Xenophobia, fear or dislike of strangers or the unknown,
often used to describe
nationalistic
political beliefs and movements
|
|
Ephebophobia, irrational fear of adolescents gaining more
rights or showing behavioral, emotional or social emancipation
|
|
Europhobia, a dislike of the political machinery
surrounding the
European Union.
|
A number of "anti-" phenomena are considered similar or same to
the phenomena above:
See also
External links
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Phobia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from Phobias)
Phobic anxiety disorders
ICD-10 code:
F40
ICD-9 code:
300.2
The term phobia, which comes from the Greek word for fear (φόβος, fobos), denotes a number of psychological and physiological conditions that can range from serious disabilities to common fears to minor quirks.
In addition, a number of neologisms have appeared with the suffix -phobia, which are not phobias in clinical sense, but rather describe a negative attitude towards something, see section Non-clinical uses of the term below.
Phobias (in the clinical meaning of the term) are the most common form of anxiety disorder. An American study by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) found that between 5.1% and 21.5% of Americans suffer from phobias. Broken down by age and gender, the study found that phobias were the most common mental illness among women in all age groups and the second most common illness among men older than 25.
The opposite of the suffix -phobia is a -philia or -philie (meaning "love of").
Contents
[hide]
1 Understanding and classifying phobias
2 Treatment
3 Hydrophobia and Photophobia
4 Phobias not named -phobia
5 Non-clinical uses of the term
6 See also
7 External links
Understanding and classifying phobias
Most psychologists and psychiatrists divide phobias into three categories:
Social phobias - fears to do with other people and social relationships such as performance anxiety, fears of eating in public, etc.
Specific phobias - fear of a single specific panic trigger, like dogs, flying, running water and so on.
Agoraphobia - a generalised fear of leaving your home or your small familiar 'safe' area, and of the inevitable panic attacks that will follow. Agoraphobia is the only phobia regularly treated as a medical condition.
Many specific phobias, such as fears of dogs, heights, spider bites, and so forth, are extensions of fears that everyone has. People with these phobias treat them by avoiding the thing they fear.
Many specific phobias can be traced back to a specific triggering event, usually a traumatic experience at an early age. Social phobias and agoraphobia have more complex causes that are not entirely known at this time. It is believed that heredity, genetics and brain-chemistry combine with life-experiences to play a major role in the development of anxiety disorders and phobias.
Phobias vary in severity among individuals, with some phobics simply disliking or avoiding the subject of their fear and suffering mild anxiety. Others suffer fully-fledged panic attacks with all the associated disabling symptoms.
It is possible for a sufferer to become phobic about virtually anything. The name of a phobia generally contains a Greek word for what the patient fears plus the suffix -phobia. Creating these terms is something of a word game. Few of these terms are found in medical literature.
Treatment
Some therapists use virtual reality to desensitize patients to the feared thing. Other forms of therapy that may be of benefit to phobics are graduated exposure therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Anti-anxiety medication can also be of assistance in some cases. Most phobics understand that they are suffering from an irrational fear, but are powerless to override their initial panic reaction.
Graduated Exposure and CBT both work towards the goal of desensitising the sufferer, and changing the thought patterns that are contributing to their panic. Gradual desensitisation treatment and CBT are often extremely successful, provided the phobic is willing to endure some discomfort and to make a continuous effort over a long period of time. Practitioners of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) claim to have a procedure that can be used to alleviate most specific phobias in a single therapeutic session, though this has not yet been verified scientifically.
Hydrophobia and Photophobia
The term hydrophobia, or fear of water, is usually not a psychological condition at all, but another term for the disease rabies, referring to a common symptom. Likewise photophobia, is a physical complaint, aversion to light due to an inflamed or painful eye or excessively dilated pupils).
Phobias not named -phobia
Penis panic refers to a type of mass hysteria or panic where males grow fearful of removal or shrinking of the penis.
Taijin kyofusho (対人恐怖症, TKS, for taijin kyofusho symptoms), is a culture-bound syndrome (cultural disorder, or mental illness) (allegedly) specific to Japan. Fear of hurting or offending other people.
Castration anxiety
Non-clinical uses of the term
A number of neologisms have appeared with the suffix -phobia, in which "phobia" is a understood as a negative attitude towards certain categories of people or other things, used in an analogy with the medical usage of the term. Usually thease kinds of "phobia" are is described as fear, dislike, disapproval, prejudice, hatred, discrimination, or hostility towards the object of the "phobia". Often this attitude is based on prejudices and is a particular case of general xenophobia.
A fear or hatred is not always considered a phobia in the clinical sense because it is believed to be only a symptom of other psychological problems, or the result of ignorance, or of political or social beliefs. In other words, unlike clinical phobias, which are usually qualified with the word "irrational", phobias of attitude usually have roots in social relations.
Below are some of these neologisms:
Afrophobia, fear or dislike of Africans or African culture or people of African ancestry
Caucasophobia, fear or dislike of
either peoples of Caucasus
or people of Caucasian race
Christianophobia, fear or dislike of Christians
Islamophobia, fear or dislike of Muslims or Islamic culture
Ethnophobia, the usage exists in two fairly opposite meanings: fear or dislike of any ethnicity different from one's own, or dislike of one's own nation.
Homophobia, fear or dislike of homosexual people
Transphobia, fear or dislike of transgender or transsexual people.
Xenophobia, fear or dislike of strangers or the unknown, often used to describe nationalistic political beliefs and movements
Ephebophobia, irrational fear of adolescents gaining more rights or showing behavioral, emotional or social emancipation
Europhobia, a dislike of the political machinery surrounding the European Union.
A number of "anti-" phenomena are considered similar or same to the phenomena above:
Anti-Polonism
Anti-Semitism
See also
Angst
Anxiety
Disabilities
-philia (list)
-phobia (list)
Susto
External links
Phobialist.com
Shake Your Shyness
The Anxiety Community
Dental Fear Central
CTRN Phobia List
Diagnostic criteria for social phobia in the DSM-IV
Diagnostic criteria for specific phobia in the DSM-IV
List of anxiety disorders in the DSM-IV, which includes several agoraphobic disorders.
Free articles on Social Phobia/Anxiety Disorder
NLP Fast Phobia Cure and Neurobiology of Phobia
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobia"
Categories: Phobias](phobias_files/image018.gif)
