Phobia is an intense and unreasonable fear of a specific object or situation. The individual knows that the fear experienced regarding the phobic object or situation is absurd, but continues to feel fear and has difficulty in inhibiting irrational thoughts about it. When fear reaches an extreme level, the individual begins to avoid the object or situation in which they are anxious. After a while, even the thought of the feared object or situation becomes a trigger. Avoiding the feared object or situation significantly affects the individual’s functionality and impairs their quality of life. The frequency of specific phobias in the population is approximately 6%. It is observed more frequently in women than in men. In cases where fears increase too much and render the person dysfunctional in continuing their daily life, it is very important to seek support from professionals working in the field of mental health (psychiatrist, psychologist).
What are the Causes of Phobias?
The onset of a phobic situation may occur when the individual is directly exposed to the fearful object/situation or observes such an experience. The phobic object/situation creates feelings of restlessness, anxiety, fear, and helplessness in the individual. The person feels uncomfortable when they think they will not be able to cope with this situation, that they will be harmed, or that they will show physical symptoms (such as vomiting, fainting, dizziness). In order to reduce this discomfort, they avoid the phobic object/situation. This reaction is reinforced by the slight relief they feel with avoidance. In the following stages, they tend to avoid every time they encounter a phobic object/situation. For this reason, they can never confront the phobic object/situation.
What are the symptoms seen in phobic situations?
When faced with a phobic object/situation, the individual may experience sweating, abdominal pain, trembling, rapid breathing, a feeling of suffocation, chest pain, and the need to urinate. This is accompanied by constant negative thoughts (such as getting hurt, fainting, or dying) and intense anxiety and fear. In such moments, the individual tends to avoid the phobic object/situation in order not to experience this intense fear and anxiety.
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Types of Phobias
The most common phobias include; fear of being in closed spaces (claustrophobia), fear of heights, fear of elevators, fear of animals, fear of spiders, fear of flying objects, fear of flying, blood injection phobia (fear of blood draws/needles). In some cases, more than one phobic situation can be observed together.
Causes of Phobic Conditions
Phobic situations usually develop after a negative life event is experienced. The learning experience that occurs at that time pushes the person to be more cautious, and after a while, these precautions include completely avoiding the current situation. This becomes a situation that reduces the person’s quality of life and restricts their range of motion. Genetic predisposition is also mentioned in the emergence of phobic situations (such as growing up with a parent who is anxious or has phobic avoidance). Studies have shown that children with more sensitive and vulnerable temperaments are also genetically more prone to developing anxiety disorders (such as phobias).
Although it is usually seen in childhood, it can also occur at later ages (such as fear of elevators, phobia of flying, fear of being in closed spaces).
Treatment Methods Used in Phobias
When intense anxiety, fear and avoidance behaviors related to the phobic object/situation continue for more than six months, it is important to seek professional help. Techniques such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or virtual reality are highly effective methods used in the treatment of specific phobias, in addition to drug treatment. The main principle in the intervention of specific phobias is to prevent avoidance by exposing the individual to the phobic object/situation that they avoid. Intense avoidance behavior is observed in the person who thinks that he/she will be harmed, faint, vomit or die when faced with the phobic object/situation. After a while, he/she starts to avoid everything that may be related to the phobic object or situation and his/her functionality is greatly affected. Gradually exposing the individual to the avoided object or situation forms the basis of the treatment protocol. Among the methods used in working with anxiety, providing psychoeducation, working on attitudes and establishing the connection between the anxiety-provoking event-thought-emotion-behavior are quite important.
In addition to psychotherapy, beta-blocker-type medications that reduce anxiety symptoms are also used in the treatment of phobias. The use of these medications, which are prescribed by a psychiatrist when needed, under the supervision of a physician and their monitoring are very important for the functionality of the individual.
