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Phobic Disorders - Phobic Disorders Symptom, Cause, Treatment
A common type of phobia is social phobia, which is an undue fear of embarrassment in social situations.s Specific phobia is a strong, persisting fear of an object or situation, whereas social phobia is a strong, persisting fear of an interpersonal situation in which embarrassment can occur. Although agoraphobia literally means "fear of the marketplace," the term more specifically describes the fear of being trapped, often in a busy place filled with people, without a graceful and easy way to leave if anxiety becomes severe.
The physician will want to question the patient about any difficulties in social situations, such as speaking in public, eating in a restaurant, or using public washroom. Genetic factors also play a role in both social phobia and specific phobia, especially blood-injection-injury type, where two thirds to three fourths of patients have at least one affected first-degree relative A traumatic experience may be associated with a neutral, non-threatening situation, which then itself becomes feared. Other people simply feel uncomfortable in these settings and may never, or only later, develop panic attacks. They are common in the general population but in only 2% are sever enough to prove disabling. To help determine if you have social phobia, see the social phobia self-test.
Symptoms of Phobic Disorders
Some common symptoms of Phobic Disorders :
- Physical signs, such as restlessness, trouble falling or staying asleep, headaches, trembling, twitching, muscle tension, or sweating, often accompany these psychological symptoms.
- Persistent concern about having additional attacks
- Individuals with specific phobia avoid the phobic stimulus or endure it with deep distress and anxiety.
- Patients with specific phobia display anxiety as soon as they confront the phobic stimulus.
- Many people experience specific phobias, intense, irrational fears of certain things or situations--dogs, closed-in places, heights, escalators, tunnels, highway driving, water, flying, and injuries involving blood are a few of the more common ones.
- To diagnose specific phobia in a patient who is under 18 years of age, the duration of the disorder needs to be at least six months.
- These are accompanied by physical manifestations such as sweating, dry mouth, hot flashes or chills, dizziness , palpitations, muscle tension, trembling, or restlessness .
Causes of Phobic Disorders
The common causes of Phobic Disorders :
- Performance anxiety
- Specific phobia can be acquired by conditioning, modeling, traumatic experience, or even may have a genetic component (eg, blood-injury phobia).
- Obsessive compulsive disorder
- Agoraphobia may be the result of repeated, unexpected panic attacks, which, in turn, may be linked to cognitive distortions, conditioned responses, and/or abnormalities in noradrenergic, serotonergic, or gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-related neurotransmission.
- Psychodynamic theorists explain that phobias emerge because individuals have impulses that are unacceptable, and they repress these impulses.
Treatment of Phobic Disorders
- Ability to comply with medication and/or psychotherapeutic regimen
- Level of support (eg, family, friends, work, school)
- Anxiety management is useful as can be cognitive behavioural therapy with strategies being taught to help people cope with the anxiety evoked, and the support of therapist and/or relatives is often crucial.
- Learn the details of these treatments and other treatment options for generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, social phobia, specific phobia, and post-traumatic stress disorder/acute stress disorder.
- Treatments for anxiety depend upon the specific disorder diagnosed by a trained mental health professional. Below you will find some general treatment guidelines for different Anxiety Disorders.
- Degree of motivation for treatment
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