Achmophobias: What Is Exposure Therapy Effective?

Taking into consideration that all people are unique, we all have different phobias. A phobia is an extreme or irrational fear of something. Many phobias are in relation to one another. For instance the phobias agoraphobia, anthropophobia, and stenophobia. These three are related by the reason of they can correspond with social situations. Agoraphobia is mainly the fear of crowds. It can also be the fear of bridges or being outside. Anthropophobia is the fear of people and society. It is also known as an extreme pathological form of shyness. The last phobia, stenophobia, is very rare. It is the fear of narrow things or places. All phobias are important to understand. Being able to understand a phobia means a person could help to possibly cure

Dr. Owens tells me it's called Sciophobia. He says I’m afraid of shadows. But they’re not just shadows, and no one, no one believes me. Everyone just always accepts the fact that shadows are there, casted when light is draped over an object. Darkness, that's what they truly are. Infinite darkness. They are the demons we are born with; they follow us from birth to death.

My interest is not in humankind's common condition, but, rather, in the cases of alethophobia in U City, which are characterized by a state of rigid fervor which is increasingly unhealthy for the sufferers and for those who must co-exist with

This specific phobia can lead to the person experience of an intense fear when not being able to break out of a populated area (Barlow & Mavissakalian, pp 4). This causes people having to evade open and heavily crowed environments with little possibilities to exit over their massive fear of going through a panic attack. Therefore, today there are signs in many rides at themed parks that warn people of the closed areas. This specific category of phobias causes the person to fear traveling on bus or even waiting in a line. This phobia can also lead to being dependent of someone because they are too afraid to go outside of their homes. Barlow & Mavissakalian (1981 pp 4-5), implicated that the clinical picture painted is consistent and consists or fears of going out to public places and open and crowded places, fears of walking alone or using any means or public transportation, and fears of being alone at home. Agoraphobia is the most disabling of all phobias and usually begins in early adolescence.

A phobic disorder is marked by a persistent and irrational fear of an object or situation that presents no realistic danger. Agoraphobia is an intense, irrational fear or anxiety occasioned by the prospect of having to enter certain outdoor locations or open spaces. For example, busy streets, busy stores, tunnels, bridges, public transportation and cars. Traditionally agoraphobia was solely classified as a phobic disorder. However, due to recent studies it is now also viewed as a panic disorder. Panic disorders are characterised by recurrent attacks of overwhelming anxiety that usually occur suddenly and unexpectedly (Weiten, 1998).

Introduction: Almost everyone has an irrational fear or two—of mice, for example, or your annual dental checkup. For most people, these fears are minor. But when fears become so severe that they cause tremendous anxiety and interfere with your normal life, they’re called phobias. A phobia is an intense fear of something that, in reality, poses little or no actual danger. Common phobias and fears include closed-in places, heights, highway driving, flying insects, snakes, and needles. However, we can develop phobias of virtually anything. Most phobias develop in childhood, but they can also develop in adults. If you

Definition: Agoraphobia is the fear of being in a situation where there may be lack of an escape or help, and may result in embarrassment and humiliation. (MedicineNet, 2013) This may include being in a public or open place; like in a crowd, standing in line, being in some mode of transportation, being on a bridge, or being out alone. (Psych Central Staff, 2013) Often, those with Agoraphobia need the presence of a companion to leave their house or venture to specific places. Anxiety is accompanied when one is placed in these threatening situations and they will experience panic-like symptoms or a panic attack. This fear will cause one to entirely avoid these places or situations and become more reclusive to decrease the panic attacks.

“A phobia is essentially a human being's irrational fear of something. It could be an object, an animal, a situation or an environment. These fears are persistent, intense, excessive and unrealistic, which is primarily why phobias are deemed irrational. A clinically phobic person's reaction to what scares him/her may seem extreme and the fright may not appear to be justified.” (Grenier et al., 2011) A specific phobia is known by a deep and persistent fear of an object or situation which becomes anxiety. The anticipations of the stimulus may make the symptoms arise. Many individuals who suffer with this disease will avoid the stimuli. They will take extra steps and precaution to have no contact. The main characteristics that the DSM-5 describes for this disorder includes “the individual suffering from a persistent fear that is either unreasonable or excessive, caused by the presence or anticipation of a specific object or situation, exposure to the stimulus usually results in an anxiety response, the sufferer recognizes that their fear is disproportionate to the perceived threat or danger, individuals take steps to avoid the object or situation they fear, and the phobic reaction, anticipation or avoidance interferes with the individual’s normal routine and relationships, or causes significant distress. At last, the phobia that the person has to be constant for a period of six months or longer.” (American Psychiatric Association,

Arachnophobia is an extreme or irrational fear of spiders. Someone is arachnophobic when their fear of spiders reaches a level that it is irrational, illogical and unhelpful. Arachnophobia is an everyday fear, it changes what people might do with their day depending on the likeliness of seeing a spider. As with all phobias the cause or causes can be unknown, and can vary from person to person. Some people do have a very real experience that causes initial fear, which can then stay with them, and, as they avoid the object they are scared of, they reinforce the negative experience, and over time develop a phobia. The traditional old-fashioned way to treat arachnophobia is via systematic desensitization link to phobias and fears. Systematic desensitization

"Systematic desensitization is a procedure in which the patient is exposed to the phobic object gradually, so that fear and discomfort are kept to a minimum and extinction is allowed to occur" (Mazur, 2013, p.69). When applying this to a person with an anxiety disorder the individual would need to compose a list of things that are upsetting and cause the anxiety listing them from least upsetting to most upsetting. The next part of the process would be teaching the person relaxation techniques such as deep breathing and muscle relaxation in order to empower them use these when they feel they are getting anxious. Now that the initial procedure are in place the process would begin by introducing the least upsetting and then telling them to relax, then they would repeat this process

A competent therapist will not simply treat a client’s phobia with exposure therapy. Rather, the therapist begins by conducting a functional assessment to develop a treatment plan. Information should be obtained about the factors pertaining to the excessive fears or anxiety. The therapist should determine what situations or stimuli serve as triggers for the anxiety or fear. The way the client responds to the fear should be noted. Further, the therapist should consider the links that exist between triggers and responses. Generally the links are faulty cognitions that must be addressed with the client. This important first step may take between one and six hours and require several sessions. The therapist can then proceed to create a list of the client’s primary problems. To keep the list manageable, it should contain no more than ten problems. The main problems should be listed first. The therapist can decide if any of the problems on the list would be suitable for exposure therapy. The next step before using exposure therapy is to have the client obtain a medical evaluation. Some medical conditions such as thyroid dysfunction, amphetamine use, or drug withdrawal can mimic or increase anxiety. Exposure therapy may be contraindicated for some medical conditions. Using flashing lights during exposure therapy could bring on an epileptic seizure

In this paper I will be describing phobias and fear, but more specifically coulrophobia (the fear of clowns) and Monophobia (the fear of being alone). I also will describe possible causes of phobias, the history of phobias, how fear is helpful in small amounts, what fear does to someone and how to defeat it. Fear is present in all people but some more than others and I would like to know why. The definition of a phobia is “an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something”. Phobias are never simple and often do not have a simple answers or cures, but there are ways of dealing with phobias. There are some treatments that can help you get over your fears. Phobias are not easy to get into without getting into very

My brother Jack suffers from arachnophobia; th at is why he cannot stand being around spiders and even the sight of them scares him to death.

Agoraphobia is described as a person’s fear of being outside or otherwise being in a situation from which one either cannot escape or from which it would be difficult to escape. Most of the time, the disorder is full blown because of panic disorders.

Phobias “are irrational or excessive fears of particular objects or situations” (Nevid, 2015, p. 494). People may have extreme fears of certain situations or objects such as spiders or nighttime. Their fears can interfere with their thinking and how they act. They may live in constant fear of the certain object or situation. Another phobia is social anxiety, where one is afraid of social situations and people. This fear can limit the individual to whom they interact with and what places they go.