sources : wikipedia.com
A phobia (meaning, “fear” or “morbid fear”) is, when used in the context of clinical psychology, a type of anxiety disorder, usually defined as a persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding, typically disproportional to the actual danger posed, often being recognized as irrational. In the event the phobia cannot be avoided entirely, the sufferer will endure the situation or object with marked distress and significant interference in social or occupational activities.
The terms distress and impairment as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV-TR) should also take into account the context of the sufferer’s environment if attempting a diagnosis. The DSM-IV-TR states that if a phobic stimulus, whether it be an object or a social situation, is absent entirely in an environment — a diagnosis cannot be made. An example of this situation would be an individual who has a fear of mice (Suriphobia) but lives in an area devoid of mice. Even though the concept of mice causes marked distress and impairment within the individual, because the individual does not encounter mice in the environment no actual distress or impairment is ever experienced. Proximity and the degree to which escape from the phobic stimulus is impossible should also be considered. As the sufferer approaches a phobic stimulus, anxiety levels increase (e.g. as one gets closer to a snake, fear increases in ophidiophobia), and the degree to which escape of the phobic stimulus is limited has the effect of varying the intensity of fear in instances such as riding an elevator (e.g. anxiety increases at the midway point between floors and decreases when the floor is reached and the doors open).
The term phobia is encompassing and usually discussed in terms of specific phobias and social phobias. Specific phobias are nouns such as arachnophobia or acrophobia which are specific, and social phobias are phobias within social situations such as public speaking and crowded areas.
Ablutophobia
Ablutophobia (from Latin ablutere ‘to wash off”) is the persistent, abnormal and unwarranted fear of bathing, washing, or cleaning. This phobia is a situational specific phobia. Ablutophobia tends to be more common in children and women than in men.
Its symptoms and treatment are basically the same as for most specific phobias.
Achluophobia
The fear of the dark is a common fear or phobia among children and, to a varying degree, of adults. Fear of the dark is usually not fear of darkness itself, but fear of possible or imagined dangers concealed by darkness. Some degree of fear of the dark is natural, especially as a phase of child development. Most observers report that fear of the dark seldom appears before the age of 2 years. When fear of the dark reaches a degree that is severe enough to be considered pathological, it is sometimes called achluophobia, nyctophobia, scotophobia, or lygophobia.
Some researchers, beginning with Sigmund Freud, consider the fear of the dark as a manifestation of separation anxiety disorder.
An alternate theory was posited in the 1960s, when scientists conducted experiments in a search for molecules responsible for memory. In one experiment, rats, normally nocturnal animals, were conditioned to fear the dark and a substance called “scotophobin” was supposedly extracted from the rats’ brains; this substance was claimed to be responsible for remembering this fear. Subsequently, these findings were debunked.
Acrophobia
Acrophobia is an extreme or irrational fear of heights. It belongs to a category of specific phobias, called space and motion discomfort that share both similar etiology and options for treatment.
Most people experience a degree of natural fear when exposed to heights, especially if there is little or no protection. Those who are confident in such situations may be said to have a head for heights.
Acrophobia sufferers can experience a panic attack in a high place and become too agitated to get themselves down safely. Between 2 and 5 percent of the general population suffer from acrophobia, with twice as many women affected as men.
“Vertigo” is often used (incorrectly) to describe a fear of heights, but it is more accurately a spinning sensation that occurs when one is not actually spinning. It can be triggered by looking down from a high place, or by looking straight up at a high place or tall object, but this alone does not describe vertigo. True vertigo can be triggered by almost any type of movement (e.g. standing up, sitting down, walking) or change in visual perspective (e.g. squatting down, walking up or down stairs, looking out of the window of a moving car or train). Vertigo is qualified as height vertigo when referring to dizziness triggered by heights.
Traditionally, acrophobia has been attributed, like other phobias, to conditioning or a traumatic experience involving heights. Recent studies have cast doubt on this explanation; fear of falling, along with fear of loud noises, is one of the most commonly suggested inborn or non-associative fears. The newer non-association theory is that fear of heights is an evolved adaptation to a world where falls posed a significant danger. The degree of fear varies and the term phobia is reserved for those at the extreme end of the spectrum. Researchers have argued that fear of heights is an instinct found in many mammals, including domestic animals and human beings. Experiments using visual cliffs have shown human infants and toddlers, as well as other animals of various ages, to be reluctant in venturing onto a glass floor with a view of a few meters of apparent fall-space below it. While an innate cautiousness around heights is helpful for survival, an extreme fear can interfere with the activities of everyday life, such as climbing up a flight of stairs or a ladder or even standing on a chair.
A possible contributing factor is dysfunction in maintaining balance. In this case the anxiety is both well founded and secondary. The human balance system integrates proprioceptive, vestibular and nearby visual cues to reckon position and motion. As height increases, visual cues recede and balance becomes poorer even in normal people. However, most people respond by shifting to more reliance on the proprioceptive and vestibular branches of the equilibrium system.
An acrophobic, on the other hand, continues to over-rely on visual signals whether because of inadequate vestibular function or incorrect strategy. Locomotion at a high elevation requires more than normal visual processing. The visual cortex becomes overloaded resulting in confusion. Some proponents of the alternative view of acrophobia warn that it may be ill-advised to encourage acrophobics to expose themselves to height without first resolving the vestibular issues. Research is underway at several clinics.
There have been a number of promising studies into using virtual reality as a treatment for acrophobia.
Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder characterized by anxiety in situations where the sufferer perceives the environment as being difficult to escape or get help. These situations include, but are not limited to, wide-open spaces, as well as uncontrollable social situations such as may be met in shopping malls, airports, and on bridges. Agoraphobia is defined within the DSM-IV TR as a subset of panic disorder, involving the fear of incurring a panic attack in those environments. The sufferer may go to great lengths to avoid those situations, in severe cases becoming unable to leave their home or safe haven.
Although mostly thought to be a fear of public places, it is now believed that agoraphobia develops as a complication of panic attacks. However, there is evidence that the implied one-way causal relationship between spontaneous panic attacks and agoraphobia in DSM-IV may be incorrect. Onset is usually between ages 20 and 40 years and more common in women. Approximately 3.2 million, or about 2.2%, of adults in the US between the ages of 18 and 54, suffer from agoraphobia. Agoraphobia can account for approximately 60% of phobias. Studies have shown two different age groups at first onset: early to mid twenties, and early thirties.
In response to a traumatic event, anxiety may interrupt the formation of memories and disrupt the learning processes, resulting in dissociation. Depersonalization (a feeling of disconnection from one’s self) and derealisation (a feeling of disconnection from one’s surroundings) are other dissociative methods of withdrawing from anxiety.
Standardized tools such as Panic and Agoraphobia Scale can be used to measure agoraphobia and panic attacks severity and monitoring treatment.
Agoraphobia is a condition where the sufferer becomes anxious in environments that are unfamiliar or where he or she perceives that they have little control. Triggers for this anxiety may include wide open spaces, crowds (social anxiety), or traveling (even short distances). Agoraphobia is often, but not always, compounded by a fear of social embarrassment, as the agoraphobic fears the onset of a panic attack and appearing distraught in public. This is also sometimes called ‘social agoraphobia’ which may be a type of social anxiety disorder also sometimes called “social phobia”.
Not all agoraphobia is social in nature, however. Some agoraphobics have a fear of open spaces. Agoraphobia is also defined as “a fear, sometimes terrifying, by those who have experienced one or more panic attacks”. In these cases, the sufferer is fearful of a particular place because they have experienced a panic attack at the same location in a previous time. Fearing the onset of another panic attack, the sufferer is fearful or even avoids the location. Some refuse to leave their home even in medical emergencies because the fear of being outside of their comfort area is too great.
The sufferer can sometimes go to great lengths to avoid the locations where they have experienced the onset of a panic attack. Agoraphobia, as described in this manner, is actually a symptom professionals check for when making a diagnosis of panic disorder. Other syndromes like obsessive compulsive disorder or post traumatic stress disorder can also cause agoraphobia, basically any irrational fear that keeps one from going outside can cause the syndrome.
It is not uncommon for agoraphobics to also suffer from temporary separation anxiety disorder when certain other individuals of the household depart from the residence temporarily, such as a parent or spouse, or when the agoraphobic is left home alone. Such temporary conditions can result in an increase in anxiety or a panic attack.
Another common associative disorder of agoraphobia is necrophobia, the fear of death. The anxiety level of agoraphobics often increases when dwelling upon the idea of eventually dying, which they consciously or unconsciously associate with being the ultimate separation from their mortal emotional comfort and safety zones and loved ones, even for those who may otherwise spiritually believe in some form of divine afterlife existence.
Agoraphobia occurs about twice as commonly among women as it does in men. The gender difference may be attributable to several factors: social-cultural traditions that encourage, or permit, the greater expression of avoidant coping strategies by women (including dependent and helpless behaviors); women perhaps being more likely to seek help and therefore be diagnosed; men being more likely to abuse alcohol in reaction to anxiety and be diagnosed as an alcoholic. Research has not yet produced a single clear explanation for the gender difference in agoraphobia.
Although the exact causes of agoraphobia are currently unknown, some clinicians who have treated or attempted to treat agoraphobia offer plausible hypotheses. The condition has been linked to the presence of other anxiety disorders, a stressful environment or substance abuse.
Research has uncovered a linkage between agoraphobia and difficulties with spatial orientation. Individuals without agoraphobia are able to maintain balance by combining information from their vestibular system, their visual system and their proprioceptive sense. A disproportionate number of agoraphobics have weak vestibular function and consequently rely more on visual or tactile signals. They may become disoriented when visual cues are sparse (as in wide open spaces) or overwhelming (as in crowds). Likewise, they may be confused by sloping or irregular surfaces. In a virtual reality study, agoraphobics showed impaired processing of changing audiovisual data in comparison with non-suffering subjects.
Chronic use of tranquilizers and sleeping pills such as benzodiazepines has been linked to onset of agoraphobia. In 10 patients who had developed agoraphobia during benzodiazepine dependence, symptoms abated within the first year of assisted withdrawal. Similarly, alcohol use disorders are associated with panic with or without agoraphobia; this association may be due to the long-term effects of alcohol misuse causing a distortion in brain chemistry. Tobacco smoking has also been associated with the development and emergence of agoraphobia, often with panic disorder; it is uncertain how tobacco smoking results in anxiety-panic with or without agoraphobia symptoms, but the direct effects of nicotine dependence or the effects of tobacco smoke on breathing have been suggested as possible causes. Self-medication or a combination of factors may also explain the association between tobacco smoking and agoraphobia and panic.
Some scholars have explained agoraphobia as an attachment deficit, i.e., the temporary loss of the ability to tolerate spatial separations from a secure base. Recent empirical research has also linked attachment and spatial theories of agoraphobia.
In the social sciences there is a perceived clinical bias in agoraphobia research. Branches of the social sciences, especially geography, have increasingly become interested in what may be thought of as a spatial phenomenon. One such approach links the development of agoraphobia with modernity.
An evolutionary psychology view is that the more unusual primary agoraphobia without panic attacks may be due to a different mechanism from agoraphobia with panic attacks. Primary agoraphobia without panic attacks may be a specific phobia explained by it once having been evolutionarily advantageous to avoid exposed, large open spaces without cover or concealment. On the other hand, agoraphobia with panic attack may be an avoidance response secondary to the panic attacks due to fear of the situations in which the panic attacks occurred.
Most people who present to mental health specialists develop agoraphobia after the onset of panic disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 1998). Agoraphobia is best understood as an adverse behavioral outcome of repeated panic attacks and subsequent anxiety and preoccupation with these attacks that leads to an avoidance of situations where a panic attack could occur. In rare cases where agoraphobics do not meet the criteria used to diagnose panic disorder, the formal diagnosis of agoraphobia without history of panic disorder is used (primary agoraphobia).
Agoraphobia patients can experience sudden panic attacks when traveling to places where they fear they are out of control, help would be difficult to obtain, or they could be embarrassed. During a panic attack, epinephrine is released in large amounts, triggering the body’s natural fight-or-flight response. A panic attack typically has an abrupt onset, building to maximum intensity within 10 to 15 minutes, and rarely lasts longer than 30 minutes. Symptoms of a panic attack include palpitations, a rapid heartbeat, sweating, trembling, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, tightness in the throat and shortness of breath. Many patients report a fear of dying or of losing control of emotions and/or behavior.
* Exposure treatment can provide lasting relief to the majority of patients with panic disorder and agoraphobia. Disappearance of residual and subclinical agoraphobic avoidance, and not simply of panic attacks, should be the aim of exposure therapy. Similarly, Systematic desensitization may also be used. Many patients can deal with exposure easier if they are in the company of a friend they can rely on. It is vital that patients remain in the situation until anxiety has abated because if they leave the situation the phobic response will not decrease and it may even rise.
Cognitive restructuring has also proved useful in treating agoraphobia. This treatment involves coaching a participant through a dianoetic discussion, with the intent of substituting irrational, counterproductive beliefs with more factual and beneficial ones.
Relaxation techniques are often useful skills for the agoraphobic to develop, as they can be used to stop or prevent symptoms of anxiety and panic.
* Anti-depressant medications most commonly used to treat anxiety disorders are mainly in the SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) class and include sertraline, paroxetine and fluoxetine. Benzodiazepine tranquilizers, MAO inhibitors and tricyclic antidepressants are also commonly prescribed for treatment of agoraphobia. Antidepressants are important because some have antipanic effects. Antidepressants should be used in conjunction with exposure as a form of self-help or with cognitive behaviour therapy. Some evidence shows that a combination of medication and cognitive behaviour therapy is the most effective treatment for agoraphobia.
* Eye movement desensitization and reprogramming (EMDR) has been studied as a possible treatment for agoraphobia, with poor results. As such, EMDR is only recommended in cases where cognitive-behavioral approaches have proven ineffective or in cases where agoraphobia has developed following trauma.
Many people with anxiety disorders benefit from joining a self-help or support group (telephone conference call support groups or online support groups being of particular help for completely housebound individuals). Sharing problems and achievements with others as well as sharing various self-help tools are common activities in these groups. In particular stress management techniques and various kinds of meditation practices as well as visualization techniques can help people with anxiety disorders calm themselves and may enhance the effects of therapy. So can service to others which can distract from the self-absorption that tends to go with anxiety problems. There is also preliminary evidence that aerobic exercise may have a calming effect. Since caffeine, certain illicit drugs, and even some over-the-counter cold medications can aggravate the symptoms of anxiety disorders, they should be avoided.
Agraphobia
Agraphobia (also contreltophobia) is the abnormal fear of sexual abuse. The condition is common but not widely known.
Sufferers of agraphobia may have had an experience linking emotional trauma with sexual abuse. Such experiences do not have to happen to the sufferer: watching sexual abuse occur (even in movies or on television) can act as a trigger to the condition. The body then develops a fear of the experience occurring again as a way of ‘ensuring’ that the event does not occur.
In some cases sex abuse hysteria, caused by misinformation, overzealous or careless investigation practices, or sensationalist news coverage, can cause agraphobia as well: This being different than the PTSD-driven agraphobia that comes from real situations of sexual abuse. Day care sex abuse hysteria is one example of this erroneously caused agraphobia. Many people who were originally accused or even found guilty were later found to be innocent of sexual abuse, their ordeal having been caused by hysteria and misinformation-driven agraphobia.
Both real sexual abuse and also false accusations of sexual abuse are prevalent (Statistics?), making a professional and carefully done investigation necessary to determine which type of agraphobia may be occurring in any particular case. Newer standards for sexual abuse investigation have been developed in some states (and are mandated by courts) in order to prevent such hysteria-driven agraphobia from causing prosecution of the innocent. These new standards are not uniformly applied or followed in all states, however.
Malicious intent can also sometimes cause hysteria-driven agraphobia in children. For example, a vindictive or abusive parent may purposely try to instill agraphobic hysteria in a child in order to manipulate a false accusation by a child against the other parent in a divorce child-custody case, or to trigger a damaging police investigation in order to abuse an innocent parent. This sometimes results in the prosecution of the parent who tried to cause the false accusation. Courts are increasingly viewing proven cases of intentionally induced agraphobia in children as a form of child abuse, as well as being a crime against the falsely accused target adult.
Symptoms include breathlessness, abnormal sweating, nausea, dryness of the mouth, anxiety attacks, heart palpitations and excessive shaking.
Some sufferers are afraid at all times, while some react to different stimuli, including a reminder of a traumatic event that occurred in the past which triggered the development of the agraphobia.
Treatments can include counselling, hypnosis, desensitization, and medication.
Agrizoophobia
Agrizoophobia is a fear of wild animals.
Many people suffer from agrizoophobia, especially those who were raised in isolated urban areas. This is particularly true of individuals born into an urban lifestyle.
Resources are available to assist those who suffer from agrizoophobia, such as counseling and support groups.
Agyrophobia
Agyrophobia (or Dromophobia) is a case of specific phobia, the irrational fear that crossing roads will cause bodily harm to oneself, even if no actual threat is posed.
This phobia is considered independent from the fear of cars, as even crossing a deserted intersection still initiates the fear reaction.
Aichmophobia
Aichmophobia is a kind of specific phobia, the morbid fear of sharp things, such as pencils, needles, knives, a pointing finger, or even the sharp end of an umbrella. It is derived from the Greek aichme (point) and phobos (fear). This fear may also be referred to as belonephobia or enetophobia.
Sometimes this general term is used to refer to what is more specifically called fear of needles, or needle phobia.
Fear of needles is the extreme and irrational fear of medical procedures involving injections or hypodermic needles.
The use of hypnotherapy which is a combination of hypnosis and therapeutic intervention, may help to control or improve the fear of sharp objects, specifically needles. A technique called systematic desensitization exposes patients to the feared stimuli in gradual degrees while under hypnosis. This technique has met with mixed levels of success.
Direct conditioning is a process used to associate desired behaviour in the subject with positive stimuli. Mary Cover Jones conducted an experiment in which she treated a patient with a fear of rabbits, by gradually moving a rabbit closer to the patient in the presence of the patient’s favorite food. This continued until the patient was able to touch the rabbit without fear.
Ailurophobia
Ailurophobia is a type of specific phobia: the persistent, irrational fear of cats.
Synonyms include felinophobia, elurophobia, and cat phobia.
The phobia manifests itself in different ways. Some sufferers experience it almost all the time, others just in response to direct stimuli. Some possible situations that can trigger the fear of cats are: hearing purring, seeing a cat in real life, imagining the possibility of a cat attack, the thought of meeting a cat in the dark, cats in pictures and on television, and cat-like toys and cat-like fur.
There are many ways to treat ailurophobia; treatment is usually carried out by a psychiatrist or other therapy specialist.
One strongly motivated patient was able to recover by slowly becoming accustomed to cat fur by first touching varying types of velvet, then becoming accustomed to a toy kitten, and finally a live kitten which the patient subsequently adopted.
Algophobia
Algophobia is a phobia of pain – an abnormal and persistent fear of pain that is far more powerful than that of a normal person. Algophobia is much more common in elderly people. It can be treated with behavioral therapy and anti-anxiety medication.
According to behavioral psychologists, the phobic reaction is a learned behavior. A common example of this would be an elderly person who hears about all of their friends suffering from various ailments and pains. This person will begin to anticipate the problems and experience the results before anything actually happens to them. People suffering from this probably have hyperalgesia.
The Fear of Pain Questionnaire (currently the FPQ-III) has been used to test for Algophobia in the past, and was found to have good internal consistency and test-retest reliability.
Amychophobia
Amychophobia is an excessive fear of scratches or being scratched, clawed or lacerated. Often such fears are connected with avoidance of animals (cats, dogs, puppies, and kittens). In many cases the fear is irrational and exaggerated.
For persons who have severe allergic reactions to animal scratches, animal hair, or fleas, the fear is justified.
Androphobia
Androphobia is an abnormal fear of men.
Anthophobia
Anthophobia is an abnormal and persistent fear of flowers (from Greek roots anthos, flower, + phobos, fear).
Though sufferers generally understand that they face no threat from flowers, they invariably experience anxiety at the sight or thought. Any genus or species of flowers can instill fear, as can any flower part, such as a petal or stem.
Anthropophobia
Anthropophobia or Anthrophobia (literally “fear of people”) also called interpersonal relation phobia or social phobia, is pathological fear of people or human company.
Anthropophobia is an extreme, pathological form of shyness and timidity. Being a form of social phobia, it may manifest as fears of blushing or meeting others’ gaze, awkwardness and uneasiness when appearing in society, etc.
Anthropophobia can be best defined as the fear of people in crowded situations, but can also go beyond and leave the person uncomfortable when being around just one person. Conditions vary depending on the person. Some cases are mild and can be handled while more serious cases can lead to complete social withdrawal and the exclusive use of written and electronic communication.
Like most phobias, anthropophobia can be traced back to traumatic experiences. Since social phobias are more complex than a fear of spiders or other organisms, it is believed that this specific phobia of people may be due to genetics and heredity.
In 2009, a study investigated the impact of anthropophobia in specific cultures. 50 patients diagnosed with anthropophobia, 50 patients diagnosed with neurasthenia, and 50 control subjects were recruited from hospitals in Beijing, China. Measures of anthropophobic and anxiety symptoms were administered to the subjects. The patients with anthropophobia could not even make eye contact with others and were afraid of being watched. The conclusion drawn was that anthropophobics, like neurasthenics, experience anxiety and depression, but “more cognitively and less somatically”.
Aquaphobia
Aquaphobia is a persistent and abnormal fear of water. Aquaphobia is a specific phobia that involves a level of fear that is beyond the patient’s control or that may interfere with daily life. People suffer aquaphobia in many ways and may experience it even though they realize the water in an ocean, a river, or even a bathtub poses no imminent threat. They may avoid such activities as boating and swimming, or they may avoid swimming in the deep ocean despite having mastered basic swimming skills. This anxiety commonly extends to getting wet or splashed with water when it is unexpected, or being pushed or thrown into a body of water.
Phobias (in the clinical meaning of the term) are the most common form of anxiety disorders. A study by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) found that between 8.7% and 18.1% 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.
Of the simple phobias, aquaphobia is among the more common subtypes. In an article on anxiety disorders, Lindal and Stefansson suggest that aquaphobia may affect as many as 1.8% of the general Icelandic population, or roughly one in fifty people.
Psychologists indicate that aquaphobia manifests itself in people through a combination of experiential and genetic factors.
A group of swimming coaches in Singapore have been studying its children to understand aquaphobia. They found a fear of submersing the head to be common among aquaphobic children, including those who have little fear of proximity to water. More precisely, they found that submersion of the nose and the ears are the most feared.
Arachnophobia
Arachnophobia or arachnephobia is a specific phobia, the fear of spiders and other arachnids such as scorpions.
The reactions of arachnophobics are often irrational (though not all arachnophobics acknowledge this irrationality). It is one of the most common specific phobias, and some statistics show that 50% of women and 10% of men show symptoms. It may be an exaggerated form of an instinctive response that helped early humans to survive, or a cultural phenomenon that is most common in predominantly European societies.
The fear of spiders can be treated by any of the general techniques suggested for specific phobias. As with all phobias, the strength of the associations means the individual must not actively pursue the consequences, and outsiders should not in any way undermine and “play” with the phobia in the meantime.
People with arachnophobia tend to feel uneasy in any area they believe could harbor spiders or that has visible signs of their presence, such as webs. If arachnophobics see a spider, they may not enter the general vicinity until they have overcome the panic attack that is often associated with their phobia. Some people scream, cry, have trouble breathing, have excessive sweating or even heart trouble when they come in contact with an area near spiders or their webs. In some extreme cases, even a picture or a realistic drawing of a spider can also trigger fear.
Arachnophobia can be triggered by the mere thought of a spider or even by a picture of a spider in some cases. Some arachnophobics will, on entering a room, search it for a spider. If they find one they will monitor its progress very thoroughly. Others will do all in their power to distract themselves to avoid seeing the spider.
An evolutionary reason for the phobias, such as arachnophobia, claustrophobia, fear of snakes or mice, etc. remains unresolved. One view, especially held in evolutionary psychology, is that the presence of venomous spiders led to the evolution of a fear of spiders or made acquisition of a fear of spiders especially easy. Like all traits, there is variability in the intensity of fears of spiders, and those with more intense fears are classified as phobic. Spiders, for instance, being relatively small, don’t fit the usual criterion for a threat in the animal kingdom where size is a factor, but nearly all species are venomous, and although rarely dangerous to humans, some species are dangerous.
Arachnophobes will spare no effort to make sure that their whereabouts are spider-free, hence they would have had a reduced risk of being bitten in ancestral environments. Therefore, arachnophobes may possess a slight advantage over non-arachnophobes in terms of survival. However, this theory is undermined by the disproportional fear of spiders in comparison to other, potentially dangerous creatures that were present during Homo sapiens environment of evolutionary adaptiveness. Studies with crickets have shown that a fear of spiders can develop before birth.
Scientists suspect humans may be born with a fear of spiders and snakes, which are healthy phobias that improve the odds of survival in the wild. It’s not known how such an inborn fear might develop, however. Now researchers have proven that unborn crickets can gain a fear of spiders based on their mother’s harrowing experiences. In humans, research also suggests the widespread fear of spiders and snakes (arachnophobia and ophidiophobia, respectively) may be innate. A study in 2008 found that both adults and children could detect images of snakes or spiders among a variety of non-threatening objects more quickly than they could pinpoint frogs, flowers or caterpillars.
In the Dark Ages spiders were commonly considered to be a source of contamination of food and water.
The alternative view is that the dangers, such as from spiders, are overrated and not sufficient to influence evolution. Instead, inheriting phobias would have restrictive and debilitating effects upon survival, rather than being an aid. For some communities such as in Papua New Guinea and South America (except Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Bolivia), spiders are included in traditional foods. This suggests arachnophobia may be a cultural, rather than genetic trait. In western societies as many as 55% of females and 18% of males are estimated to experience arachnophobia.
Arachnophobia affects 3.5 to 6.1 percent of the population. The first line of treatment is systematic desensitization – also known as exposure therapy – which was first described by South African Psychiatrist Joseph Wolpe. In addition beta blockers, serotonin reuptake inhibitors and sedatives are used in the treatment of phobias.
Before engaging in systematic desensitization it is common to train the individual with arachnophobia in relaxation techniques. Systematic desensitization can be done in vivo (with live spiders) or by getting the individual to imagine situations involving spiders, then modelling interaction with spiders for the person affected and eventually interacting with real spiders. This technique can be effective in just one session. The discovery of the implication of N-methyl-D-aspartate in fear and fear extintion has led to the use of D-cycloserine—originally developed as an antibiotic—to augment the results of therapy.
Recent advances in technology have enabled the use of virtual or augmented reality spiders for use in therapy. These techniques have proven to be effective.
There is an iOS app currently in development using games and augmented reality to treat arachnophobia.
Astraphobia
Astraphobia, also known as astrapophobia, brontophobia, keraunophobia, or tonitrophobia, is an abnormal fear of thunder and lightning, a type of specific phobia. It is a treatable phobia that both humans and animals can develop.
A person with astraphobia will often feel anxious during a thunderstorm even when they understand that the threat to them is minimal. Some symptoms are those accompanied with many phobias, such as trembling, crying, sweating, panic attacks, the sudden feeling of using the restroom, nausea, the feeling of dread, and rapid heartbeat. However, there are some reactions that are unique to astraphobia. For instance, reassurance from other people is usually sought, and symptoms worsen when alone. Many people who have astraphobia will look for extra shelter from the storm. They might hide underneath a bed, under the covers, in a closet, in a basement, or any other space where they feel safer. Efforts are usually made to smother the sound of the thunder; the person may cover their ears or curtain the windows.
A sign that someone has astraphobia is a very heightened interest in weather forecasts. An astraphobic person will be alert for news of incoming storms. They may watch the weather on television constantly during rainy bouts and may even track thunderstorms online. This can become severe enough that the person may not go outside without checking the weather first. In very extreme cases, astraphobia can lead to agoraphobia, the fear of leaving the home.
A 2007 study found astraphobia the third most prevalent phobia in the US. It can occur in people of any age. It occurs in many children, and should not be immediately identified as a phobia because children naturally go through many fears as they mature. Their fear of thunder and lightning cannot be considered a fully developed phobia unless it persists for more than six months. In this case, the child’s phobia should be addressed, for it may become a serious problem in adulthood.
To lessen a child’s fear during thunderstorms, the child can be distracted by games and activities. A bolder approach is to treat the storm as an entertainment; a fearless adult is an excellent role model for children.
The most widely used and possibly the most effective treatment for astraphobia is exposure to thunderstorms and eventually building an immunity. Cognitive behavioral therapy is also often used to treat astraphobia. The patient will in many cases be instructed to repeat phrases to himself or herself in order to become calm during a storm. Heavy breathing exercises can reinforce this effort.
Dogs frequently exhibit severe anxiety during thunderstorms; between 15 and 30 percent may be affected. Research confirms high levels of cortisol – a hormone associated with stress – in affected dogs during and after thunderstorms. Remedies include behavioral therapies such as counter conditioning and desensitization, anti-anxiety medications, and Dog Appeasing Pheromone, a synthetic analogue of a hormone secreted by nursing canine mothers.
Studies have also shown that cats can be afraid of thunderstorms. While it is very rare, there are some unusual exceptions in which cats will hide under a table or behind a couch during a thunderstorm.
Atychiphobia
Atychiphobia is the abnormal, unwarranted, and persistent fear of failure. As with many phobias, atychiphobia often leads to a constricted lifestyle, and is particularly devastating for its effects on a person’s willingness to attempt certain activities.
A person afflicted with atychiphobia considers the possibility of failure so intense that they choose not to take the risk. Oftentimes this person will subconsciously undermine their own efforts so that they no longer have to continue to try. Because effort is proportionate to the achievement of personal goals and fulfillment, this unwillingness to try that arises from the perceived inequality between the possibilities of success and failure holds the atychiphobic back from a life of meaning and the realization of potential.
By definition, the anxiety of any particular phobia is understood to be disproportionate to reality, and the victim is typically aware that the fear is irrational, making the problem a largely subconscious one. For this reason there are no simple treatments for atychiphobia, however there are several options available.
It is generally believed that phobias arise from a combination of heredity, genetics, brain chemistry, and life-experience. Demeaning parents or family members, traumatic and embarrassing events that arise from minor failure early in life, or when an individual experiences a significant failure and is ill-equipped to effectively cope with the resulting feelings, are all thought to produce the fear of failure in the long term. When a developing brain is raised in a home where approval or the feeling of being loved is linked to performance it becomes difficult to separate the two. Such a person comes to believe that such feelings must be earned, and that they can be withdrawn if failure occurs. In addition, some individuals who struggle with phobias have a genetic predisposition toward anxiety, compounding the problem of atychiphobia and making it more difficult to handle. As a result of these factors, those with an irrational fear of failure often settle for mediocrity to avoid the risks inherent in distinguishing themselves.
Those with atychiphobia create a direct link between the possibility of failure and competition; and in an inherently competitive society, they find that it is best to avoid the problem altogether. The person more strongly motivated to avoid failure, rather than to achieve success, tends to be more unrealistic in aspiration.
Because the modern society places so much emphasis on perfection in every aspect of life, a person with atychiphobia will often not risk trying until perfection is assured. They draw their value as an individual from their success relative to societal standards. This dynamic is most readily observed in the classroom setting, where students are forced to compete for a limited number of rewards, most often the scarcity of good grades. A restricted supply of rewards pushes student aspirations for grades and other forms of recognition beyond the capabilities of many children, with the result that they are unable to keep pace with these inappropriate goals. Such circumstances tend to force a fateful decision for countless youngsters. The child may reason, unwittingly and without recognition of the consequences, that if he cannot be sure of succeeding, then at least he can try to protect a sense of dignity by avoiding failure. In essence the atychiphobe seeks to avoid at whatever cost the same experience he or she may have endured that triggered such a potent and irrational fear of failure.
Those suffering from atychiphobia may experience physiological symptoms typical of phobias such as:
Irregular heartbeat
Shortness of breath
Rapid breathing
Nausea
Overall feelings of dread
Nervousness
Stomach disorders
Flushing of the face
Perspiration
Muscle tension
Tremulousness
Faintness.
These symptoms manifest when one is confronted with the possibility of failure, such as when they are asked to perform a task at which they believe they cannot be 100% successful. The individual may suffer from a breakdown, and if left unchecked, these symptoms will continue to worsen. A drop in self-confidence and loss of motivation are likely to occur, which can lead to depression. As a result, it is common to avoid situations where this confrontation may occur. However, it is this avoidance that impairs the sufferer’s freedom as opportunities are lost in all aspects of life such as career and family. In addition, the inability to overcome this anxiety is in itself a form of failure. Achievement-oriented individuals learn… to strive for excellence, maintain optimistic expectations, and to not be readily discouraged by failure. Conversely, individuals who consistently fear failure… set goals that are too high or too low and become easily discouraged by obstacles.
Some people believe that overcoming the fear of failure is entirely dependent on a person’s willingness and motivation to change. As with many psychological problems though, especially those relating to the subconscious, there is no complete cure. The debilitating effects of atychiphobia cannot specifically be overcome by changes to an individual’s thought process, as their ability to cope in the event of fearful situations is compromised by their very fear. The most common forms of treatment for atychiphobia are through self-help and other motivational techniques.
Atychiphobia can often be treated with SSRI (Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) which is designed to raise the levels of serotonin in the brain which impacts a person’s anxiety level, making it more manageable. Medication alone is not encouraged however, as this is perceived to simply mask the problem. Rather most physicians recommend a combination of behavioral/cognitive and medicinal therapies.
Counseling is also a popular option in dealing with atychiphobia. A trusted counselor can help a patient come to better terms with their fear and develop new coping methods to deal with stressful situations. In coming to understand the triggers associated with atychiphobia, patients learn to develop healthier belief systems about failure and subsequently are able to effectively manage anxiety. If necessary a health professional may even prescribe more serious treatments for anxiety such as hypnotherapy, psychotherapy, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and Energy Psychology.
Various forms of self-help programs and methods can also be effective in overcoming atychiphobia. One such method, systematic desensitization, involves gradually confronting situations or circumstances that are increasingly similar to the feared ones. More effective however is exposure therapy, where the phobic is repeatedly exposed to that which they fear until the fear itself gradually fades. In the case of atychiphobia, breaking down larger tasks into smaller more manageable pieces is a first step. Practice of the activity a person is afraid of failing can also mitigate the effects of anxiety. In general, the gradual acceptance of failure as part of a learning process necessary for success can bring the desired results. An understanding or appreciation for the failure experience is vital to an individual, and as long as an individual’s goal is in developing a more accurate sense of well-being and self-esteem rather than appearance, he or she will eventually be able to overcome the fear of failure.
Autophobia
Autophobia is the specific phobia of isolation; a morbid fear of being egotistical, or a dread of being alone or isolated.
Sufferers need not be physically alone, but believe that they are being ignored, unloved, threatened by intruders, and so on.
Autophobia also is used in its literal text to mean, “by oneself”, an uncontrollable fear of oneself. It is sometimes associated with self-hatred, or loathing. Autophobia may be a symptom of other psychological disorders or it may predispose a person to developing other psychological disorders. It also means not being able to trust oneself, and possibly having a guardian, friend, or just having somebody to rely on.
This is a phobia normally caused by traumatic experiences, such as losing a loved one. To be diagnosed with such a phobia is difficult to overcome, to have the inner fear within oneself.
People who suffer from autophobia may show symptoms but may not be fully aware that they suffer from it. Some symptoms of autophobia may include:
An uncontrollable anxiety of when one thinks of, or is exposed to, being alone.
A feeling that one must do everything he can to not be alone.
Inability to function or cope with being alone.
A need to have someone close by to be there.
Feelings of being unattached, fear of losing oneself, or losing one’s own mind.
Autophobia can be caused by being left by someone one hold close to them; a spouse, significant other, relative. One will grieve for losing them, but will heal over time. However, if one happen to pick up this disorder, over time, it does become increasingly hard to get rid of.
While there is no real cure to the disorder, just as with most phobias, there are ways to help treat it. Some doctors encourage the use of medication for the treatment of autophobia, and some believe that it helps, however it should only be used to dull the impact, because medication only hides the disorder. A medicine to help make this disorder more manageable than before is anti-anxiety medication. The most effective that doctors have found is a combination of anti-anxiety medication, counseling; to express what one feels and why they believe they feel that way, and a strong and supportive group of friends/family.
Automatonophobia
Automatonophobia is the fear of anything that falsely represents a sentient being. This includes, but is not limited to, ventriloquist dummies, animatronic creatures, and wax statues. This fear can manifest itself in numerous ways; every individual who suffers from the fear being different. Similar to automatonophobia is pupaphobia which is the fear of puppets. Since inanimate objects do not pose any real harm to people, this fear is considered to be irrational.
The cause of automatonophobia is currently unknown though it has been theorized that the fear derives from the members of a society’s expectations for how other human beings should behave. The inanimate objects associated with automatonophobia represent human beings, most being portrayed very realistically. People expect the same type of behavior from one another. These inanimate objects, though closely portraying humans, do not behave quite the same as real humans. People often fear what they do not understand. Ventriloquist dummies, animatronic creatures, and wax statues all fit into this theory; they portray but do not necessarily behave in as life like a fashion as human beings. John T. Wood in his book “What Are You Afraid Of?: A guide to dealing with your fears” says that the cause of phobias are a hard to thing to generalize about because “.. each person’s fears are his own and spring from his unique personality and experience.”
Wood in his book described people suffering from phobias as experiencing many different reactions. “The phobic person may experience heart palpitations, difficulty in breathing, rapid breathing, or choking sensations, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea, shaking, shuddering, sweating, dizziness, insomnia, and/or increased sensitivity to sounds and lights.”
Wood states that phobic reactions are more common in children than adults and that as we mature “…our extreme fears of certain objects and situations are left behind.” While there is no cure for automatonophobia, it is a fear that is manageable. Those who suffer from automatonophobia are able to do so by avoiding ventriloquist dummies, animatronic creatures, and wax statues. Ventriloquist dummies are typically featured with their puppet masters at comedy night clubs. Animatronic creatures are somewhat easier to run across. From children’s toy stores to amusement parks, animatronic creatures are displayed and should be avoided by those who suffer from automatonophobia. Wax statues, on the other hand, are typically found on display at museums and galleries. By avoiding these environments, those who suffer from automatonophobia can greatly reduce their symptoms. Samuel Kahn, M.D. states that “Suggestion, hypnosis and psychoanalysis, and change of environment if possible are extremely helpful in treating nervous conditions, with some psychotropic medication.” He also goes on to affirm that “There is no such thing as curing nervous and mental conditions”.
The origins of automatonophobia can be dated to thousands of years ago. It has been said that through necromancy, or divination by communication with the dead, “…that ventriloquism finds its origins.” At about 1500 BC the Israelites were outlawed from practicing necromancy. Even with the penalty of death enforced, the practice of necromancy still continued. Very similar to ventriloquists today, belly speakers arose. These speakers, or prophets, would pretend that dead spirits were speaking through them. To convince their audiences, the belly speakers would implement strategies that are still used by ventriloquists today. They would exercise tight lip control along with a voice other than their own. Necromancy, despite the many laws that were passed throughout the centuries, continued to flourish. Eventually it grew into a form of entertainment that the world associates with today.
As early as 1753 in England, Sir John Parnell in an engraving is shown to be speaking via his hand. In 1757, the ventriloquist Baron de Mengen implemented a small doll into his performance. This was the first known instance of the modern ventriloquism that is practiced today. The illusion that the Baron de Mengen created as his small doll being sentient, combined both the inanimate objects and consciousness of sense impressions that are necessary to automatonophobia.
The Baron de Mengen was able to create such a realistic illusion by pressing “his tongue strongly against his teeth and his left cheek, circumscribing in this way a cavity containing a volume of air, which for this purpose was kept in the reverse of the throat, to modify the sound of the voice, and make it appear as if it came from a distance.” Since the Baron de Mengen, many others have practiced the art of ventriloquism. Some notable ventriloquists include Shari Lewis, Jules Vernon, and Fred Russell.
Aviophobia / Aviatophobia
Fear of flying is a fear of being on an airplane (aeroplane), or other flying vehicle, such as a helicopter, while in flight. It is also sometimes referred to as aerophobia, aviatophobia, or aviophobia.
Fear of flying may be a distinct phobia in itself, or it may be an indirect combination of one or more other phobias related to flying, such as claustrophobia (a fear of enclosed spaces) or acrophobia (a fear of heights). It may have other causes as well, such as agoraphobia (especially the type that has to do with having a panic attack in a place they can’t escape from). It is a symptom rather than a disease, and different causes may bring it about in different individuals.
The fear receives more attention than most other phobias because air travel is often difficult for people to avoid—especially in professional contexts—and because the fear is widespread, affecting a significant minority of the population. A fear of flying may prevent a person from going on vacations or visiting family and friends, and it can cripple the career of a businessperson by preventing them from traveling on work-related business.
A fear of flying is a level of anxiety so great that it prevents a person from travelling by air, or causes great distress to a person when he or she is compelled to travel by air. The most extreme manifestations can include panic attacks or vomiting at the mere sight or mention of an aircraft or air travel.
The fear of flying may be created by various other phobias and fears:
fear of crashing which most likely results in death, which is the most common reason for the fear of flying.
a fear of closed in spaces (claustrophobia), such as that of an aircraft cabin
a fear of heights (acrophobia)
a feeling of not being in control
fear of vomiting, where a person will be afraid that they’ll have motion sickness on board, or encounter someone having motion sickness and have no control over it (such as escaping it)
fear of having panic attacks in certain places, where escape would be difficult and/or embarrassing (agoraphobia)
fear of hijacking or terrorism
fear of turbulence
fear of flying over water or night flying
A previous traumatizing experience with air travel or somehow connected to flying can also trigger a fear of flying. For example, the experience of flying to a meeting only to be told that one has been fired might be traumatic enough to subsequently create an association between any air travel and bad or unpleasant events.
Some suggest that the media are a major factor behind fear of flying, and claim that the media sensationalize airline crashes (and the high casualty rate per incident), in comparison to the perceived scant attention given to the massive number of isolated automobile crashes. As the total number of flights in the world rises, the absolute number of crashes rises as well, even though the overall safety of air travel continues to improve. Statistics on various forms of travel show that airplanes are safer than other common forms of transport per kilometer traveled. If only the crashes are reported by the media (with no reference to the number of flights that do not end in a crash), the overall (and incorrect) impression created may be that air travel is becoming increasingly dangerous, which is untrue. In a way, the media coverage is forcing confirmation bias on viewers.
Misunderstandings of the principles of aviation can fuel an unjustified fear of flying. For example, many people incorrectly believe that the engines of a jet airliner support it in the air, and from this false premise they also incorrectly reason that a failure of the engines will cause the aircraft to plummet to earth. In reality, all fixed-wing aircraft glide naturally, and the engines serve only to maintain altitude during the flight. A big cause of fear of flying is that it is difficult to imagine how planes stay in the air, thus a person’s understanding of the science behind flying can affect the person’s fear about flying.
In some cases, educating people with a fear of flying about the realities of air travel can considerably diminish concern about physical safety. Learning how aircraft fly, how airliners are flown in practice, and other aspects of aviation can assist people with a fear of flying in overcoming its irrational nature. Many people have overcome their fear of flying by learning to fly or skydive, and effectively removing their fear of the unknown. Some people with a fear of flying educate themselves; others attend courses (for people with the phobia or for people interested in aviation) to achieve the same result. Some airline and travel companies run courses to help people get over the fear of flying.
Education plays a very important role in overcoming the fear of flying. Understanding what a certain sound is or that an encounter with turbulence will not destroy the aircraft is beneficial to easing the fear of the unknown. Nevertheless, when airborne and experiencing turbulence, the person can be terrified despite having every reason to know logically that the plane is not in danger. In such cases, therapy — in addition to education — is needed to gain relief.
Behavioral therapies such as systematic desensitization developed by Joseph Wolpe and cognitive behavior therapy developed by Aaron Beck rest on the theory that an initial sensitizing event (ISE) has created the phobia. The gradually increased exposure needed for systematic desensitization is difficult to produce in actual flight. Desensitization using virtual flight has been disappointing. Clients report that simulated flight using computer-generated images does not desensitize them to risk because throughout the virtual flight they were aware they were in an office. Research shows Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) to be no more effective than sitting on a parked airplane.
Hypnotherapy generally involves regression to the ISE, uncovering the event, the emotions around the event, and helping the client understand the source of their fear. It is sometimes the case that the ISE has nothing to do with flying at all.
Neurological research by Allan Schore and others using EEG-fMRI neuroimaging suggests that though it may first be manifest following a turbulent flight, fear of flying is not the result of a sensitizing event. The underlying problem is inadequate development of ability to regulate emotion when facing uncertainty, except through feeling in control or able to escape. According to Schore, the ability to adequately regulate emotion fails to develop when relationship with caregivers is not characterized by attunement and empathy. “Because these mothers are unable to regulate their own distress, they cannot regulate their infant’s distress.” Chronic stress and emotional dysregulation during the first two years of life inhibits development of the right prefrontal orbito cortex, and hinders the integration of the emotional control system. This renders the right prefrontal orbito cortex incapable of carrying out its executive role in the regulation of emotion. Some who disagree with the importance of early experience regard this view point as contentious. However, Harvard University and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child state, “Genes provide the basic blueprint, but experiences influence how or whether genes are expressed. Together, they shape the quality of brain architecture and establish either a sturdy or a fragile foundation for all of the learning, health, and behavior that follow.”
When it senses anything unfamiliar or unexpected, the amygdala releases stress hormones. These hormones activate the primitive mobilization system, which produces an urge to escape. A more sophisticated system, executive function, takes priority and overrides the urge to escape. In normal (non-phobic) response, the person does not regard arousal as an emergency; this allows executive function to make an assessment of the situation. If no danger is discovered, executive function dismisses the matter, signals the amygdala to end the release of stress hormones, thus allowing a return to homeostasis. If danger is evident, executive function develops a plan to deal with it. Upon commitment to a plan, executive function signals the amygdala to end stress hormone release.
Phobic response is significantly different. The person equates arousal with fear, and believes that if he or she feels fear, there has to be danger. When aroused, the person’s executive function is called upon not merely to assess the situation, but – if stress hormones are to be controlled – to prove conclusively that no danger exists.
If a phobic flier were able to fly in the cockpit, the pilot’s facial response to an unexpected noise or motion would adequately prove the absence of danger. But with information in the cabin limited, it is impossible to prove no danger exists. Stress hormones continue to be released. As levels rise, anxiety increases and the urge to escape becomes paramount. Since physical escape is impossible, panic may result unless the person can escape psychologically through denial, dissociation, or distraction.
In the cognitive approach, the passenger learns to separate arousal from fear, and fear from danger. Cognitive therapy is most useful when there is no history of panic. But since in-flight panic develops rapidly, often through processes which the person has no awareness of, conscious measures may neither connect with – nor match the speed of – the unconscious processes that cause panic.
In another approach, emotion is regulated by what neuroscientist Stephen Porges calls neuroception. In social situations, arousal is powerfully regulated by signals people unconsciously send, receive, and process. For example, when encountering a stranger, stress hormone release increases the heart rate. But if the stranger’s signals indicate trustworthiness, these signals override the effect of stress hormones, slow the heart, calm the person, and allow social interaction to take place. Because neuroception can completely override the effect of stress hormones, fear of flying can be controlled by linking the noises and motions of flight to neuroceptive signals that calm the person.
Flight experience with the use of anti-anxiety medications such as benzodiazepines or other relaxant/depressant drugs varies from person to person. Medication decreases the person’s reflective function. Though this may reduce anxiety caused by inner conflict, reduced reflective function can cause the anxious flier to believe what they are afraid will happen is actually happening.
A double-blind clinical study at the Stanford University School of Medicine suggests that anti-anxiety medication can keep a person from becoming accustomed to flight. In the research, two flights were conducted. In the first flight, though patients given alprazolam (Xanax) reported less anxiety than those receiving a placebo, their measurable stress increased. The heart rate in the alprazolam group was 114 versus 105 beats per minute in the placebo group. Those who received alprazolam also had increased respiration rates (22.7 vs 18.3 breaths/min).
On the second flight, no medication was given. Seventy-one percent of those who received alprazolam on the first flight experienced panic as compared with only 29% of those who received a placebo on the first flight. This suggests that the participants who were not medicated on the first flight benefited from the experience via some degree of desensitization.
Typical pharmacologic therapy is 0.5 or 1.0 mg of alprazolam about an hour before every flight, with an additional 0.5-1.0 mg if anxiety remains high during the flight. The alternative is to advise patients not to take medication, but encourage them to fly without it, instructing them in the principles of self-exposure.
Blood-injection-injury Type Phobia
According to the DSM-IV classification of mental disorders blood-injection-injury type phobias constitute a subtype of specific phobias. It includes fear of blood (hemophobia), injury phobia and fear of receiving an injection (trypanophobia and some other names) or other invasive medical procedures.
A distinctive feature of phobias of this type is their vasovagal manifestation. For most fears (both normal and abnormal) the response to the feared stimulus includes the accelerated heart rate. In the cases of blood-injection-injury phobias a two-phase vasovagal response is observed: first a brief acceleration of heart rate, then its deceleration, bradycardia, and dropped blood pressure. The above may also lead to vasovagal syncope (fainting).
These characteristic vasovagal reactions may contribute to the development of a phobia.
The other factors contributing to the development of the blood-injection-injury phobias are the same as for other specific phobias.
Chaetophobia
Chaetophobia is fear of hair. Sufferers fear may be associated with human hair and / or animal hair. They fear people / animals with an excess amount of hair. They may also fear the hair on their own body. Some only fear detached or loose hair and do not mind attached hair.
As with most phobias this fear could be the result of a negative experience with hair and / or a hairy person. The anxiety starts when the person remembers an experience whenever they are near a person with an excess amount of hair. Hair loss can be a trigger to this phobia, such as men going bald.
Some sufferers fear the hair on their own bodies because they think it is dirty or unattractive. They may fear things such as dandruff or head lice. This phobia is thought to be a spin off of germaphobia, the fear of germs. They become obsessed with removing every hair on their body. This fear is often hygiene-related and sufferers feel uncomfortable in environments such as salons where hair is detached and on the ground. Some fear loose hair in their food or on furniture even if it is their own.
Intensive therapy and / or medication may have an effect on the anxiety side of the phobia. As with most phobias support groups and self relaxation techniques are some times effective in helping with the fear.
Chemophobia
Chemophobia literally means “fear of chemicals”. It is most often used to describe the assumption that what the person calls “chemicals”, usually meaning man-made products or artificially concentrated but naturally occurring chemicals, are bad and harmful, while what the person calls “natural” substances (i.e., chemicals that occur naturally or that are obtained using traditional techniques) are good and healthy. General chemophobia derives from a public lack of trust, inadequate understanding of chemistry and science, and is a form of technophobia and fear of the unknown.
According to Sense About Science in Making Sense of Chemical Stories, “In terms of chemical safety, “industrial,” “synthetic,” “artificial,” and “man-made” do not necessarily mean damaging, and “natural” does not necessarily mean better.”
The most usual use of the term “chemophobia” is analogous to “homophobia”—a prejudice against something rather than an irrational fear. In this sense, chemophobia is akin to technophobia.
Some define chemophobia as a specific phobia but most mainstream sources such as the Oxford Dictionary of Psychology do not recognize chemophobia as a psychological condition.
Another definition of chemophobia is that it is a concern about learning chemistry as an academic subject.
According to Neil Eisberg, editor of Chemistry & Industry, chemophobia is a result from a public lack of trust—compounded by sections of the media and certain environmental groups—in the chemical industry after chemical disasters:
” [The chemical industry’s] reputation with the general public, once extremely high, has fallen to an all-time low as a result of accidents such as Bhopal and Seveso and health scares fed by campaigns by environmental groups and encouraged by a sometimes gullible media. “But where does this lack of trust [between society and business] originate? According to Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, …the present situation originated in the ‘fabulous fiction’ of Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring, which portrayed chemistry as a blind and brutal enemy of birds and other living creatures. “
A contributory factor to chemophobia is due to increasing sensitivity of analytical techniques that can now detect extremely low levels of chemicals. Detected levels of most chemicals are usually so low as to be harmless, though media often only report the fact that the chemical has been detected in such-and-such a place and that the chemical is harmful, but not at which levels the compound might cause harm nor the levels at which it was detected. “Away from the high doses of occupational exposure, a whole host of unwanted chemicals finds their way into our bodies all the time, [but the] chemical baggage we carry is very small. It is only because of the great advances in analytical chemistry that we are able to detect it’s there at all.”
Some people who may be described as chemophobic believe that all chemicals are at best untrustworthy, and at worst harmful. Those with scientific education say that this is an obviously incorrect generalization, because every substance encountered in the universe is a chemical. Even benign, naturally occurring, or pure substances—including unpolluted air and pure water—are chemicals.
More commonly, these people fear what they perceive to be man-made, synthetic, or “unnatural” chemicals, and accept what they perceive to be “natural” chemicals. The distinction overlooks both the benign nature of some man-made substances and the deadly nature of some natural chemicals. For example, there are numerous natural poisons from plants; and similarly, the percentage of natural chemicals that are carcinogenic is equal to the percentage of synthetic chemicals that are carcinogenic.
Targeted science education can reduce anxiety in people with chemophobia. People are primarily afraid that agrichemicals will cause cancer, and they are reassured when they learn how rigorously pesticides are tested and the unfeasibly high levels of pesticides a human would need to accumulate before coming to harm.
One practical result of chemophobia is increased political opposition to pesticides, genetically engineered seeds, and other “chemicals” that underlie the green revolution in agriculture.
Chiroptophobia
Fear of bats, sometimes called chiroptophobia is a specific phobia associated with bats and to common negative stereotypes and fear of bats stemming from prejudices and misinformation.
Bats, being nocturnal animals, are associated with various dangers and fears of darkness, with the centuries of prejudices and accompanying myths of Dracula, Halloween, etc.
Contrary to a widespread misconception, only 3 species of bats feed on blood, and these species only live in Latin America. Common ignorance often leads to misidentification.
At the same time, the fear of bats may be naturally reinforced by the natural startle response experienced by an unsuspecting person, e.g., when a disturbed colony of bats dashes out of a cave.
Often, people fear bats due to the possibility of contracting rabies, but only 0.5% of vampire bats carry rabies.
As is common with specific phobias, an occasional fright may give rise to abnormal anxiety that requires treatment. An abnormal fear of bats may be treated by any standard treatment for specific phobias. Due to the fact that the fear is not life altering, it can usually just be left untreated.
Chronophobia
Chronophobia is described by Pamela Lee as the fear of time. There are three categories of phobia including agoraphobia, social phobia, and specific phobias which includes spiders, snakes, dogs, water, and heights. Rosemary Stolz states that chronophobia falls under the category of specific phobia because time is a specific object that one can fear. Somewhere between 5.1% and 12.5% of Americans have experienced some sort of phobia. Chronophobia is especially common in prison inmates and the elderly, but it can manifest in any person who has an extreme amounts of stress and anxiety in their life.
Chronophobia is a Greek word coming from “chronos” meaning time, and “phobos” meaning fear. It is based on chronoperception, the process where time is perceived by the central nervous system.
In the book Chronophobia: On Time in the Art of the 1960s by Pamela Lee, Chronophobia is described as “an experience of unease and anxiety about time, a feeling that events are moving too fast and are thus hard to make sense of.” In Peter PaulAnnas Lichtenstein’s review he reveals it can be caused by a traumatic experience in one’s childhood, genetics, incarceration, or old age. Most traumatic experiences can lead to personal withdrawals from one’s surroundings such as dissociation, depersonalization, or derealisation. A person may be genetically affected after the traumatic experience due to Adrenal insufficiency. Those with these insufficiencies are more susceptible to anxiety and fear. When people are incarcerated, they experience a heighten sense of anxiety. The stress of prison makes inmates especially at risk. Inmates start to contemplate time extensively because they are incarcerated for a certain amount of time. It is not uncommon for prison inmates to count-down the days until their release. The elderly also exhibit more of a risk because they feel that death is closer than it had ever been before in their life. The threat of death can cause an overwhelming sensation of chronophobia.
The three main symptoms of chronophobia, and most phobias, are panic, anxiety, and claustrophobia. In some more serious cases, individuals can experience shaking, shortness of breath, excessive sweating, and irregular heartbeats. In the most serious cases individuals can exhibit symptoms of sickening states of mind, inability to articulate words, tunnel vision, and overwhelmingly haunting thoughts.
Mozhi Mani suggests that while no treatment has effectively cured chronophobia, certain methods may ease the individual’s mind. One of these treatments is called hypnotherapy. It is a method that has been considered simple and effective by the American Medical Association since 1958. It involves using hypnosis to open the subconscious mind and change the behavioral patterns of the individual with the phobia.
Arne Ohman and Susan Mineka suggest another treatment that involves Neuro-Linguistic Programming. This method involves the use of psychotherapy to discover how people can create their own reality. A specialist can train a person to “remodel their thoughts and mental associations in order to fix [their] preconceived notions.” Energy (esotericism) can provide treatment for those affected. Such techniques as acupuncture, yoga, t’ai chi ch’uan, pranayama, and energy medicine may prove useful. These practices can cure nausea and may provide some sense of security to those dealing with panic and fear.
There are some medications that can be taken to calm the nerves of those suffering from chronophobia. These prescriptions may cause side effects and do not erase fear but merely suppress symptoms. A person may also wish to see a psychiatrist. Lloyd Williams assures that psychiatrists may be helpful because they serve as a medium for the patient to express their psychological problems, but without their own desire to overcome fear, the patient may not yield the intended results.
Two main groups are affected by chronophobia. These groups involve prison inmates and the elderly. Often referred to as Prison Neurosis, chronophobia can affect the incarcerated. Because of the length of time prison inmates spend in their cells, and because of the confined space that they share with others, they can develop psychological symptoms of chronophobia. Some symptoms include delusions, dissatisfaction with life, claustrophobia, depression, and feelings of panic and madness.
The elderly show these symptoms of chronophobia as well. When they feel that their lives are near to the end, they start to fear time because it threatens their existence. This fear is similar to chronoperception because it includes the idea that the speed of brain function depends on the metabolic rate in the hypothalamus. As people get older, their metabolism slows. The elderly may believe that as a result of their slowing metabolism, their brains do not function as well, which makes them more chronophobic.
Chronophobia can never really be prevented because it is normally caused by a traumatic experience that is not within one’s power to stop. Some ways to relieve the stress that chronophobia can cause are to prevent anxiety or situations that could cause anxiety, to avoid getting stressed out about time, to be on time, and to participate in an activity that requires meditation, such as yoga or other forms of mild martial arts.
Cibophobia / Sitophobia
Aversion to food, synonymous to Anorexia nervosa.
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by immoderate food restriction and irrational fear of gaining weight, as well as a distorted body self-perception. It typically involves excessive weight loss and is usually found more in females than in males. Because of the fear of gaining weight, people with this disorder restrict the amount of food they consume. This restriction of food intake causes metabolic and hormonal disorders. Outside of medical literature, the terms anorexia nervosa and anorexia are often used interchangeably; however, anorexia is simply a medical term for lack of appetite, and people with anorexia nervosa do not in fact, lose their appetites. Patients suffering from anorexia nervosa may experience dizziness, headaches, drowsiness and a lack of energy.
Anorexia nervosa is characterized by low body weight, inappropriate eating habits, obsession with having a thin figure, and the fear of gaining weight. It is often coupled with a distorted self image which may be maintained by various cognitive biases that alter how the affected individual evaluates and thinks about her or his body, food and eating. Those suffering from anorexia often view themselves as “too fat” even if they are already underweight. They may practice repetitive weighing, measuring, and mirror gazing, alongside other obsessive actions to make sure they are still thin, a common practice known as “body checking”.
Anorexia nervosa most often has its onset in adolescence and is more prevalent among adolescent females than adolescent males. However, more recent studies show the onset age has decreased from an average of 13 to 17 years of age to 9 to 12. While it can affect men and women of any age, race, and socioeconomic and cultural background, anorexia nervosa occurs in ten times more females than males.
People with anorexia nervosa continue to feel hunger, but they deny themselves all but very small quantities of food. The average caloric intake of a person with anorexia nervosa is 600–800 calories per day, but extreme cases of complete self-starvation are known. It is a serious mental illness with a high incidence of comorbidity and similarly high mortality rates to serious psychiatric disorders. People suffering from anorexia have extremely high levels of ghrelin (the hunger hormone that signals a physiological desire for food) in their blood. The high levels of ghrelin suggests that their bodies are desperately trying to make them hungry; however, that hunger call is being suppressed, ignored, or overridden. Nevertheless, one small single-blind study found that intravenous administration of ghrelin to anorexia nervosa patients increased food intake by 12–36% over the trial period.
The term anorexia nervosa was established in 1873 by Sir William Gull, one of Queen Victoria’s personal physicians. The term is of Greek origin, meaning a lack of desire to eat. However, while the term “anorexia nervosa” literally means “neurotic loss of appetite”, the literal meaning of the term is somewhat misleading. Many anorexics do enjoy eating and have certainly not lost their appetites as the term “loss of appetite” is normally understood; it is better to regard anorexia nervosa as a self-punitive addiction to fasting, rather than a literal loss of appetite.
There is no conclusive evidence that any particular treatment for anorexia nervosa work better than others, however, there is enough evidence to suggest that early intervention and treatment are more effective. Treatment for anorexia nervosa tries to address three main areas.
Restoring the person to a healthy weight;
Treating the psychological disorders related to the illness;
Reducing or eliminating behaviours or thoughts that originally led to the disordered eating.
Although restoring the person’s weight is the primary task at hand, optimal treatment also includes and monitors behavioral change in the individual as well. Not all anorexia nervosa patients recover completely. About 20% of the patients develop anorexia nervosa as a chronic disorder. If anorexia nervosa is not treated, serious complications such as heart conditions and kidney failure can initiate and eventually lead to death. “As many as 6 percent of people with the disorder die from causes related to it.”
Diet is the most essential factor to work on in patients with anorexia nervosa, and must be tailored to each patient’s needs. Initial meal plans may be low in calories, about 1200, in order to build comfort in eating, and then food amount can gradually be increased. Food variety is important when establishing meal plans as well as foods that are higher in energy density. Other more specific treatments are listed below :
Zinc
Calories
Essential fatty acids:The omega-3 fatty acids
Nutrition counseling
Medical Nutrition Therapy;(MNT) also referred to as Nutrition Therapy.
Olanzapine – has been shown to be effective in treating certain aspects of AN including to help raise the body mass index and reduce obsessionality, including obsessional thoughts about food. However, its primary usefulness is that it is one of the most potent appetite stimulants known, and causes the body to preferentially store fat.
Cognitive behavioral therapy
Acceptance and commitment therapy
Cognitive Remediation Therapy
Family therapy
Maudsley Family Therapy
Yoga.
Claustrophobia
Claustrophobia is the fear of having no escape and being closed in small spaces or rooms (opposite: claustrophilia). It is typically classified as an anxiety disorder and often results in panic attack, and can be the result of many situations or stimuli, including elevators crowded to capacity, windowless rooms, and even tight-necked clothing. The onset of claustrophobia has been attributed to many factors, including a reduction in the size of the amygdala, classical conditioning, or a genetic predisposition to fear small spaces.
One study indicates that anywhere from 5–7% of the world population is affected by severe claustrophobia, but only a small percentage of these people receive some kind of treatment for the disorder.
Claustrophobia is typically thought to have two key symptoms: fear of restriction and fear of suffocation. A typical claustrophobic will fear restriction in at least one, if not several, of the following areas: small rooms, locked rooms, cars, trains, tunnels, cellars, elevators. Additionally, the fear of restriction can cause some claustrophobics to fear trivial matters such as sitting in a barber’s chair or waiting in line at a grocery store simply out of a fear of confinement to a single space.
However, claustrophobics are not necessarily afraid of these areas themselves, but, rather, they fear what could happen to them should they become confined to an area. Often, when confined to an area, claustrophobics begin to fear suffocation, believing that there may be a lack of air in the area to which they are confined.
Many claustrophobics remove clothing during attacks, believing it will relieve the symptoms. Any combination of the above symptoms can lead to severe panic attacks. However, most claustrophobics do everything in their power to avoid these situations.
Claustrophobia is the fear of having no escape, and being closed in. It is typically classified as an anxiety disorder and often results in a rather severe panic attack.
Claustrophobia develops as the mind makes the association that small spaces psychologically translate to some imminent danger. This typically occurs as a result of a traumatic past experience (such as being trapped in a dark, small space and thinking that there is no way out because the mind is not fully developed enough to realize there is a way out) or from another unpleasant experience occurring later on in life involving confined spaces. These two causes of claustrophobia both reject the common misconception that claustrophobia is a genetic disorder.
In fact claustrophobia is a conditioned response to a stimulus. It results from when an individual associates a tremendous amount of anxiety and a panic attack with a confined space. That event, the confined space, serves as a trigger or the stimulus, which is programmed into the brain. Because that stimulus is programmed into the brain, so is the response, which in this case, is a tremendous amount of anxiety. As a result, the confined space consistently triggers the same anxious response.
* Scale – This method was developed in 1979 by interpreting the files of patients diagnosed with claustrophobia and by reading various scientific articles about the diagnosis of the disorder. Once an initial scale was developed, it was tested and sharpened by several experts in the field. Today, it consists of 20 questions that determine anxiety levels and desire to avoid certain situations. Several studies have proved this scale to be effective in claustrophobia diagnosis.
* Questionnaire – This method was developed by Rachman and Taylor, two experts in the field, in 1993. This method is effective in distinguishing symptoms stemming from fear of suffocation and fear of restriction. In 2001, it was modified from 36 to 24 items by another group of field experts. This study has also been proven very effective by various studies.
* Prevalence – One study conducted by University of Wisconsin-Madison’s neurology department revealed that anywhere from 2-5% of the world population is affected by severe claustrophobia, but only a small percentage of these people receive some kind of treatment for the disorder.
The fear of enclosed spaces is an irrational fear. Most claustrophobic people who find themselves in a room without windows consciously know that they aren’t in danger, yet these same people will be afraid, possibly terrified to the point of incapacitation, and many do not know why. The exact cause of claustrophobia is unknown, but there are many theories.
A few examples of common experiences that could result in the onset of claustrophobia in children (or adults) are as follows:
A child (or, less commonly, an adult) is shut into a pitch-black room and cannot find the door or the light-switch.
A child gets shut into a box.
A child falls into a deep pool and cannot swim.
A child gets separated from their parents in a large crowd and gets lost.
A child sticks their head between the bars of a fence and then cannot get back out.
A child crawls into a hole and gets stuck, or cannot find their way back.
A child is left in their parent’s car, truck, or van.
TREATMENT :
Cognitive therapy
In vivo exposure
Interoceptive exposure.
Coulrophobia
Coulrophobia is a fear of clowns.The term is of recent origin, probably dating from the 1980s, and according to one analyst, “has been coined more on the Internet than in printed form because it does not appear in any previously published, psychiatric, unabridged, or abridged dictionary.” However, the author later notes, “regardless of its less-than-verifiable etymology, coulrophobia exists in several lists.”
According to a psychology professor at California State University, Northridge, young children are “very reactive to a familiar body type with an unfamiliar face”. Researchers who have studied the phobia believe there is some correlation to the uncanny valley effect.
A study conducted by the University of Sheffield found that the children did not like clown décor in the hospital or physicians’ office settings. The survey was about children’s opinions on décor for an upcoming hospital redesign. Dr Penny Curtis, a researcher, stated :
“We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found the clown images to be quite frightening and unknowable.”
Cyberphobia
Cyberphobia is an irrational fear of or aversion to computers, specifically, the fear and/or inability to learn new technologies. It is classified as a specific phobia and is a term introduced in 1985 to refer to a sense of anxiety of aversion created by technology. Some forms of cyberphobia may range from the more passive forms of technophobia of those who are indifferent toward cyberspace to the responses of those who see digital technology as a medium of intrusive surveillance; more extreme responses may involve anti-technological paranoia expressed by social movements that radically oppose ‘technological society’ and ‘the New World Order’.
The symptoms of cyberphobia parallel the general physical and emotional symptoms of anxiety. These can include (but are not limited to):
Feelings of apprehension or dread
Feeling tense and jumpy
Anticipating the worst
Difficulty concentrating
Irritability
Restlessness
Watching for signs of danger
Feeling like your mind is blank.
Treatment and Medication :
Hypnotherapy
Neuro-Linguistic Programming
Energy Psychology.
SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, affect the level of serotonin in the brain. As a natural chemical produced in the brain, serotonin is believed to affect mood and anxiety; as such, the effect of SSRIs on serotonin will also affect the mood. Research has shown that SSRIs are an effective medication for treating anxiety and certain phobias. Some commonly prescribed SSRIs include Zoloft (sertraline), Prozac (fluoxetine), and Paxil (paroxetine).
MAOIs, or monoamine oxidase inhibitors, inhibit an enzyme called monoamine oxidase that breaks down select neurotransmitters in the brain. MAOIs also function as antidepressants, but they can also be used as treatment for certain phobias. Some commonly prescribed MAOIs include Nardil (phenelzine) and Parnate (tranylcypromine).
Benzodiazepines are medications often used to treat anxiety and/or phobias and their associated anxiety due to their sedative properties.
Beta blockers counteract the effects of adrenaline (epinephrine) on the body, such as sweating and palpitations. By blocking these effects, some beta blockers may be used for short-term relief of phobias. This type of medication is commonly used for those who suffer from social phobia but are required to deliver a speech; as such, there is some controversy about their use. Commonly prescribed benzodiazepines include Valium (diazepam), Xanax (alprazolam), and Ativan (lorazepam).
Decidophobia
Decidophobia is the fear of making decisions.
The word decidophobia was first mentioned by Princeton University philosopher Walter Kaufmann in his 1973 book Without guilt and justice in which he writes about the phobia in length.
In Without Guilt and Justice, Kaufman describes people with decidophobia as people who lack the courage or will to sort through the different sides in disagreements to find the truth. They would rather leave the deciding of what is the truth to some authority. This might be a parent or spouse. It might be a church or university or a political party. Once the decidophobe has relinquished authority to decide the truth then they will accept as truth anything argued by that authority.
Dentophobia / Odontophobia
Dental fear refers to the fear of dentistry and of receiving dental care. A severe form of this fear (specific phobia) is variously called dental phobia, odontophobia, dentophobia, dentist phobia, or dental anxiety. However, it has been suggested not to use the term “dental phobia” for people who do not feel their fears to be excessive or unreasonable and resemble individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder, caused by previous traumatic dental experiences.
It is estimated that as many as 75% of US adults experience some degree of dental fear, from mild to severe. Approximately 5 to 10 percent of U.S. adults are considered to experience dental phobia; that is, they are so fearful of receiving dental treatment that they avoid dental care at all costs. Many dentally fearful people will only seek dental care when they have a dental emergency, such as a toothache or dental abscess. People who are very fearful of dental care often experience a “cycle of avoidance,” in which they avoid dental care due to fear until they experience a dental emergency requiring invasive treatment, which can reinforce their fear of dentistry.
Women tend to report more dental fear than men, and younger people tend to report being more dentally fearful than older individuals. People tend to report being more fearful of more invasive procedures, such as oral surgery, than they are of less invasive treatment, such as professional dental cleanings, or prophylaxis.
Causes :
Direct experience is the most common way people develop dental fears. Most people report that their dental fear began after a traumatic, difficult, and/or painful dental experience. However, painful or traumatic dental experiences alone do not explain why people develop dental phobia. The perceived manner of the dentist is an important variable. Dentists who were considered “impersonal”, “uncaring”, “uninterested” or “cold” were found to result in high dental fear in students, even in the absence of painful experiences, whereas some students who had had painful experiences failed to develop dental fear if they perceived their dentist as caring and warm.
Vicarious learning: Dental fear may develop as people hear about others’ traumatic experiences or negative views of dentistry (vicarious learning).
Mass media: The negative portrayal of dentistry in mass media and cartoons may also contribute to the development of dental fear.
Stimulus Generalization: Dental fear may develop as a result of a previous traumatic experience in a non-dental context. For example, bad experiences with doctors or hospital environments may lead people to fear white coats and antiseptic smells, which is one reason why dentists nowadays often choose to wear less “threatening” apparel. People who have been sexually, physically or emotionally abused may also find the dental situation threatening.
Helplessness and Perceived Lack of Control: If a person believes that they have no means of influencing a negative event, they will experience helplessness (see Learned helplessness). Research has shown that a perception of lack of control leads to fear. The opposite belief, that one does have control, can lead to lessened fear. For example, the belief that the dentist will stop when the patient gives a stop signal lessens fear. Helplessness and lack of control may also result from direct experiences, for example an incident where a dentist wouldn’t stop even when the person was in obvious pain.
Phobia of dental care is sometimes diagnosed using a fear measurement instrument like Corah’s Dental Anxiety Scale or the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale.
Treatment :
Treatments for dental fear often include a combination of behavioral and pharmacological techniques. Specialized dental fear clinics use both psychologists and dentists to help people learn to manage and decrease their fear of dental treatment. The goal of these clinics is to provide individuals with the fear management skills necessary for them to receive regular dental care with a minimum of fear or anxiety. While specialized clinics exist to help individuals manage and overcome their fear of dentistry, they are rare. Many dental providers outside of such clinics use similar behavioral and cognitive strategies to help patients reduce their fear.
Many people who suffer from dental fear may be successfully treated with a combination of “look, see, do” and gentle dentistry. People fear what they don’t understand and they also, logically, dislike pain. If someone has had one or more painful past experiences in a dental office then their fear is completely rational and they should be treated supportively. Non-graphic photographs taken pre-operatively, intra-operatively and post-operatively can explain the needed dentistry. Pharmacologic management may include an anxiety-reducing medication taken in a pill, intravenously and/or using Nitrous Oxide (laughing) gas. Most importantly is the need to provide an injection of anesthetic extremely gently. Certain parts of the mouth are much more sensitive than other parts; therefore it is possible to provide local anesthesia (a “novocaine” shot) in the less sensitive area first and then moving the injection within the zone of just-anesthetized tissue to the more sensitive area of the mouth. This is one example of how a dentist can dramatically reduce the sensation of pain from a “shot.” Another idea is to allow the novocaine time (5 – 15 minutes) to anesthetize the area before beginning dental treatment.
Behavioral techniques
Pharmacological techniques
Self-help and peer support.
Bovinophobia is a specific phobia, which is a fear or aversion to cattle. The condition can cause anxiety and panic attacks.
Mottephobia is the fear of moths or butterflies. The origin of the word motte is German (meaning moth) and phobia is Greek (meaning fear).
Fear of frogs and toads is both a known specific phobia, known simply as frog phobia or ranidaphobia (from ranidae, the most widespread family of frogs), and a superstition common to the folkways of many cultures. Psychiatric speciality literature uses the simple term “fear of frogs” rather than any specialized term. The term batrachophobia has also been recorded in a 1953 psychiatric dictionary.
Zoophobia or animal phobia may have one of two closely related meanings: a generic term for the class of specific phobias to particular animals, or an irrational fear or even simply dislike of any non-human animals.
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