WHAT IS A FOBI? HOW IS THE TREATMENT? WHAT ARE EXAMPLES OF PHOBIA?
It is an overwhelming and debilitating fear of an object, place, situation, emotion, or animal. However, it is much more serious than fear. The person has an exaggerated and unrealistic sense of danger about the situation or object. The symptoms of a phobia are similar to those of an anxiety disorder. Some of these symptoms are as follows: The individual’s attempt to escape from that situation or object, tremor, sweating, nausea, dizziness, increased heart rate, shortness of breath. In more severe phobic situations, we may also encounter situations such as fainting, nervous breakdown and loss of consciousness.
How Are Phobias Treated?
Treatments for phobias can usually be resolved with psychotherapy and, if needed, medication. What we aim in the treatment of phobia is to confront the individual’s fear and to develop the ability to cope with this fear. For this situation, the exposure and systematic desensitization technique, which is usually included in the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy method, can be used. In addition, relaxation techniques, meditation and breathing therapy can also be helped.
What Are Examples of Phobias?
Agoraphobia: Fear of open spaces or crowds. These people cannot be in closed areas, usually they cannot go out of the house, they cannot be in crowded places (they cannot take public transport, they cannot take part in events such as theaters, cinemas, funerals) because they think that no one can help them when there is a problem.
Hypnophobia: Fear of sleeping. Here, individuals feel helpless while sleeping. If there is a sudden situation, they see themselves as vulnerable because they think that they will not be able to react during sleep. They resist staying asleep or become anxious and nervous when it’s close to bedtime.
Selenophobia: Fear of the moonlight or the moon.
Obesophobia: Fear of getting fat. Even talking about weight gain creates a state of anxiety and restlessness in the person. It is usually seen in adolescent girls. These people are at higher risk of developing eating disorder behavior.
Sexophobia: Fear of sexuality and things that evoke sexuality. The reason for this situation may be that the individual has been excessively suppressed since early childhood and that sexuality is described as a shameful situation, that the person has been abused or heard about abuse cases.
