A phobia is
a type of anxiety disorder
. It is a strong, irrational fear of something that poses little or no actual danger. There are many specific phobias.
Can phobias be treated successfully?
Almost all phobias can be successfully treated and cured
. Simple phobias can be treated through gradual exposure to the object, animal, place or situation that causes fear and anxiety. This is known as desensitisation or self-exposure therapy.
How are phobias treated in psychology?
The best treatment for specific phobias is
a form of psychotherapy called exposure therapy
. Sometimes your doctor may also recommend other therapies or medication. Understanding the cause of a phobia is actually less important than focusing on how to treat the avoidance behavior that has developed over time.
How is phobia treated with CBT?
Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, enables you to
manage your fears by helping you gradually change the way you think
. It’s based on the interconnectedness of thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors. It may take several CBT sessions to counteract this thought pattern.
What are 3 types of phobias?
There are three types of phobia:
social phobia, agoraphobia, and specific phobia
. Symptoms, or phobic reactions, may be psychological, such as an intense feeling of unease or foreboding; physical, such as crying or gastrointestinal distress; or behavioral, which includes a wide variety of avoidance tactics.
Is there a drug that removes fear?
Kindt’s
procedure abolishes the fear completely. After treatment, whenever the subject (like the arachnophobe) is exposed to the fear object (a spider), he or she no longer retrieves a fear memory, but a neutralized one. Within an hour, even the most traumatized patient is totally cured.
What is a Thalassophobia?
Thalassophobia, or
a fear of the ocean
, is a specific phobia
How do you beat a phobia?
- Take time out. It’s impossible to think clearly when you’re flooded with fear or anxiety. …
- Breathe through panic. …
- Face your fears. …
- Imagine the worst. …
- Look at the evidence. …
- Don’t try to be perfect. …
- Visualise a happy place. …
- Talk about it.
What is the #1 phobia?
Overall,
fear of public speaking
is America’s biggest phobia – 25.3 percent say they fear speaking in front of a crowd. Clowns (7.6 percent feared) are officially scarier than ghosts (7.3 percent), but zombies are scarier than both (8.9 percent).
Is a phobia a mental illness?
Phobias are
among the most common of all mental illnesses
, and they are usually the most successfully treated. Phobias are divided into categories according to the cause of the reaction and avoidance. Agoraphobia is the fear of being in situations in which a person cannot get help or escape.
What are the 10 most common fears?
- Acrophobia: fear of heights. …
- Pteromerhanophobia: fear of flying. …
- Claustrophobia: fear of enclosed spaces. …
- Entomophobia: fear of insects. …
- Ophidiophobia: fear of snakes. …
- Cynophobia: fear of dogs. …
- Astraphobia: fear of storms. …
- Trypanophobia: fear of needles.
What are the top 10 weirdest phobias?
- Arachibutyrophobia (Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth) …
- Nomophobia (Fear of being without your mobile phone) …
- Arithmophobia (Fear of numbers) …
- Plutophobia (Fear of money) …
- Xanthophobia (Fear of the color yellow)
Is Trypophobia real?
Because
trypophobia isn’t a true disorder
, there’s no set treatment for it. Some studies show that an antidepressant like sertraline (Zoloft) plus a type of talk therapy called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are helpful. CBT tries to change the negative ideas that cause fear or stress.
What meds help with fear and anxiety?
The antidepressants most widely prescribed for anxiety are SSRIs such as
Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Lexapro, and Celexa
. SSRIs have been used to treat generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Is Alazopram a Xanax?
Alprazolam (Xanax XR, Niravam), is
an anti-anxiety medication
in the benzodiazepine drug family, the same family that includes diazepam (Valium), clonazepam (Klonopin), lorazepam (Ativan), flurazepam (Dalmane), and others.
