PHOBIA

PHOBIA

IT’S CURABLE
More than a complex, phobia is a mental illness but entirely curable. However, people pay a heavy price as victims of
This malady.
Phobias are fears that are extreme, disruptive, irrational and in fact not real. A fear of climbing a height is not a phobia. if it merely makes you eager to reach the top. But if you start finding out a way to avoid climbing then you could be developing a phobia.
In the same way you may try to avoid facing an audience in a public meeting and sit at home inventing reasons for your absence. Such things mean that you require treatment for phobia.
Phobias are of 2 types. Simple phobias and complex phobias. Simple phobias involve simple objects or situations, such as heights, snakes, lizards or enclosed spaces and normally the patient is aware of the problem.
Complex phobias combine several fears and often trigger off intense panic attacks as well. Agoraphobics, for instance, may fear not only leaving the house but also heights, enclosed spaces and germ contamination.
Victims of such condition are less likely to realise that their behaviour is abnormal.
Phobias attack more than one in 10 people at some time or the other in their lives. The commonest fears are public speaking, heights (acrophobia), dogs cynophobia), thunder (bronto-phobia) lightning (astraphobia), darkness (myctophobia), flying (aerophobia), crowds (ochlophobia), fire (pyro-phobia), death (thanatophobia), strangers (xenophobia), people (anthropophobia), vehicles, driving (amaxophobia), bridges (cephyropho-bia), water (aquaphobia) etc.