...phobia is 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. Symptoms involve an irrational, persistent fear of a specific object or situation that's out of proportion to the actual risk. This includes a fear of situations (such as airplanes or enclosed spaces); nature (such as thunderstorms or heights); animals or insects (such as dogs or spiders); blood, injection or injury (such as knives or medical procedures); or other phobias (such as loud noises or clowns). There are many other types of specific phobias. It's not unusual to experience phobias about more than one object or situation. It’s only natural to want to avoid the thing or situation you fear. But when it comes to conquering phobias, facing your fears is the key. While avoidance may make you feel better in the short-term, it prevents you from learning that your phobia may not be as frightening or overwhelming as you think. You never get the chance to learn how to cope with your fears and experience control over the situation. As a result, the phobia becomes increasingly scarier and more daunting in your mind. Exposure: Gradually and...
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...Course assignment Topic: Phobias Prepared by: Accepted by F1-10 ------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents What is a phobia? pg 3 Types of phobias pg 3 Symptoms of phobias pg 5 Coping with phobias pg 5 Bibliography pg 7 What is a phobia? The word “Phobia” comes from the Greek “phobos” meaning fear. But it is not an ordinary type of fear. A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder. It is a strong, irrational, fear of something that possess little or no actual danger. In many cases it is usually limited to one particular thing such as the fear of heights or lifts, of enclosed or open spaces, of travelling by plane, of certain animals and, in the worst of cases, of people. A phobia that has recently become very common is the fear of being “unclean” or contaminated by dirt or germs, and this leads to frequent and obsessive washing. Although the hands of a person with this phobia will get sore from repeated use of soap, he will not stop washing them. Some people have purely personal phobias. One woman was frightened that while she was driving a car, a bird would fly in front of a widescreen. Another man would never stand on a balcony fearing that at any moment it might collapse...
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...Nosocomephobia. What is Nosocomephobia? Nosocomephobia is defined as the fear of Hospitals. “They feel an irrational fear towards the medical center.” (Mental Bluff) There are a lot of symptoms to any phobia like “fainting, crying, screaming, paralyzing fear, or running away.” (Fear Of) But some of the other symptoms are “Rapid Breathing , Shortness of breath,...
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...Claustrophobia is defined by Psychology Wiki, as an anxiety disorder that involves the fear of enclosed or confined spaces. Claustrophobe’s may suffer from panic attacks, or fear of having a panic attack, in situations such as being in elevators, trains or aircrafts. Well, how about Hyperbaric Chambers, MRI machines and many other medical necessities that are a critical part of the ability to adequately diagnose and treat patients. I am a Licensed Practical Nurse with my certificate in hyperbaric medicine and I currently work in a Hyperbaric Medicine Clinic and am faced with this fear from patients almost daily. Most of our patients can “get through” the treatments fairly well by thinking about other things or by distractions such as watching a movie of their choice from our movie library. Then there’s that special case, the ones who can‘t or won‘t and flat-out refuse almost to the point of panic when doing so. Imagine being faced with a life threatening injury, infections, such as gas Gangrene or another flesh-eating bacterial skin infections. Also, carbon monoxide poisoning so sever that if you don‘t get treatment for it, it can put strain on your heart damaging the cardiac muscles and CO poisoning can also leave you with a lifetime of lingering sequelae of headaches and nerve damage and can lead to early death if not treated. Or as a diabetic, a grade three diabetic ulcer that is getting to the point were your wound is infected and the infection is...
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...Discuss the relationship between stress, anxiety, habits and phobias and describe how you would treat these issues with hypnotherapy. All of the above disorders in varying degrees form part of the human experience of life. They are all related to one another and they are all caused by fear of change or fear and change. A habit can cause stress and lead to a panic attack and a phobia may cause both stress and anxiety. These disorders are all linked by how our minds are capable of coping with situations. Often these disorders may be inherent or they may be influenced by the environment. In order to understand the relationship between stress, anxiety, habits and phobias, it is necessary to first define what each one is and how it affects us. I will also explain methods of treatment and the ethical issues that I believe would need to be considered. Stress Any situation which causes a person to feel frustrated, angry or anxious will cause feelings of stress. Stress is our body's natural reaction to fear or change. Stress can manifest in several ways, a trigger can cause a reaction, eg a dental appointment etc or there may not be a trigger as the symptoms are always evident, a lack of self esteem, feelings of inadequacy or failure. Stress can also be a learned behaviour from our parents or environment. Stress can be negative causing illness and inhibiting people from moving forward and enjoying their lives. Stress can also be a positive thing, when a person pushes...
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...There are many other ways to get rid of fear but we will just name a few. These tricks can be really hard to do but it works for some people. The first one is to experience the fear and move on. This can be hard but sometimes it actually works. Two; Let go of the past. Most people have a phobia or fear because of an experience in their past that made them scared. Sometimes letting go of the past hurts and sometimes it doesn’t. Number three is to stop looking for obstacles meaning there are going to be things in your way triggering your fear and you can try to avoid those obstacles. Four is to take action, face your fear and realize that you are still alive in the end. Those who are afraid of death will have trouble with this one but it works with most of the other fears. The fifth way is to just breathe. Breathing tells your brain to relax and calming your...
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...experiment with his dog is known to nearly everyone who has taken a psychology class. He fed his dog in a pattern, every time he fed his dog he rang a bell. Eventually the dog associated the bell with food and would begin to salivate just on hearing the bell. That is the original experiment proving classical conditioning. Classical conditioning can cause a phobia. A phobia is a fear that is so irrational that the amount of fear is not warranted by the cause, and it interferes with the daily functioning of the sufferer. If one were to see and hear something that naturally produces a great deal of fear they may develop a phobia to similar sights and sounds. For example, if a car is heard honking and then seen and heard crashing at an intersection one might develop an irrational fear of car horns or crosswalks. Though a crosswalk at an intersection can be considered a dangerous place; if someone is so afraid to use one that they go completely out of their way to avoid it or change their plans all together, this would be considered a phobia because the level of fear is irrational and hinders the persons confidence. A phobia can be defined as an irritating fear of a stimulus that gradually evolves into a severe anxiety which can heavily disrupt and interfere with one’s daily activities. Fear naturally begins to surface in childhood, though gradually dissolves as a child ages. If a child enters...
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...of the ghosts, and even in some extreme instances a fear of pickles. One of the most common fears is Aquaphobia which is defined as a social phobia that is a persistent, unwarranted, and irrational fear of water. This fear is not to be confused with Hydrophobia which represents the fear of water developed in later stages of Rabies (Olesen, 2015). Nearly 19.2 million Americans suffer from specific phobias such as Aquaphobia. Those who suffer from this phobia see themselves dying in water, drowning, or believe that they will come face to face with something unforeseen in the water that could lead to their demise. The fear of drowning is a common sensible fear; however it becomes something more once the person feels an overwhelming sense of anxiety around all bodies of water like oceans and bathtubs. To better understand this phobia we must look at the causes, symptoms, and treatments. Aquaphobia like many other phobias can be caused by an initial traumatic incident that has happened to a person. This can include a time where someone almost drowned or fallen into a body of water. For example if one were pushed into a body of water when they were not expecting it this could be considered as a traumatic experience for them that could lead to an irrational anxiety about water. Not only can experiencing the traumatic incident cause this phobia but witnessing it as well can cause Aquaphobia. Watching someone drown in water or experiencing the death of a loved one at the hands of water...
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...Abnormal behavior is behavior that deviates from what’s accepted. There are certain disorders that are more common among certain parts of the population. Social factors like gender, race, and culture influence mental health. Social conditions such as poverty, discrimination, and environmental stressors must also be looked at when evaluating abnormal behavior. Anxiety disorder is a disorder marked by excessive apprehension that seriously interferes with a person’s ability to function. Anxiety disorders can be characterized by four components: physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral. A physical component of anxiety is dizziness. A cognitive component would be the fear of losing control. An emotional component would be a sense of terror or panic. Coping with abnormal anxiety may include behaviors such as escaping a situation. We all experience anxiety from time to time. People with anxiety disorders have concerns that are unrealistic and out of proportion to the amount of harm that could occur. Approximately 19% of Americans over 18 years of age are diagnosed with an anxiety disorder in a given year. Women have consistently higher rates of anxiety disorders than men do. African Americans have a lower lifetime risk of anxiety disorders than European Americans and Hispanic Americans. Panic disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by intense fear and anxiety in the absence of danger that is accompanied by strong symptoms. It is estimated that between 1.5% and 5% of people...
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...Word Count 2265 Discuss the relationship between stress, anxiety, habits & phobias and describe how you would treat these with hypnotherapy. Introduction In this essay I will be looking into the similarities and differences between stress, anxiety, habits and phobias. I will discuss the symptoms both physically and mentally of a person presenting with any of the above, and the impact these symptoms have on the person’s everyday life. I will look at the various ways in which Hypnosis can help to relieve and treat these symptoms, and also look at the ethical issues that need to be carefully assessed before any treatment can be delivered. Stress, anxiety, fear or phobias tend to be bracketed into the same category, when in fact, although they do have links with each other, they are all distinct in their own right, and come with their own display of characteristics. It is therefore paramount, that the therapist understands the differences in order to offer the correct treatment. Stress Stress is a response to a specific incident that is happening at that time and is categorised into different categories: Hypostress: Boredom, unchallenged, lacking in motivation. If people are in tedious or repetitive jobs in which they gain no motivation, then this could lead onto them being unmotivated in other areas of their life. Eustress: This is short term and gives us the boost to complete tasks. This is positive stress that increases both performance & motivation...
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...Margarita Febrica N. P. / 1006715484 Writing V December 18th, 2012 Glossophobia As a human, it is normal to feel nervous. It is also commonly happened when a person is about to speak in public. However, this apprehensive feeling somehow cannot be ignored. Some people may find it easy to overcome this problem, but some others do not. Glossophobia, irrational or morbid fear of speaking or verbally communicating in public, can be the most suitable term for this problem. People with this severe fear usually do not know or realize what the reasons are. The only thing they know is that it is best to avoid speaking in public because they cannot do it. Actually, there are some reasons, which may not be realized by the sufferers, behind this irrational fear of public speaking. Glossophobia is a result of traumatic events. Speaking in public is not easy for some people, especially for those who experience bad things which may or may not be directly linked to public speaking or performing (Douglass, 2003). For example, a person who had experienced being ridiculed when he or she was giving a speech in a stage, and unfortunately made a huge error. This traumatic event may lead the person into vulnerable traumatic effects. Some traumatic events about speaking in public may raise a person’s anxiety to do the same thing. Sometimes, they do not even know how to produce a word to start the speech since it is like bringing them to the same situation which reminds about those particular...
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...be like without your phobia and fear? If you have a phobia you may feel helpless in its grasp, knowing that it’s irrational but it feels mighty uncomfortable all the same. What would it be like to be able to fly whilst feeling relaxed and safe? Where would you travel to if you felt free to do so? If you have a fear of tunnels, what would life be like if you could travel by train whenever you wished and actually enjoyed the experience? What new opportunities and experiences will be open to you as a result of overcoming your phobia? There are currently over 200 known phobias including fear of making a fool of oneself (social phobia), water, spiders, enclosed spaces, flying, birds, snakes, etc. A phobia is an intense and irrational fear of an object, animal, person, place, situation or thought. This intense and extreme fear can lead the sufferer to avoid the stimulus of the fear (e.g. spiders), causing them anxiety and restriction in their lives. Some people confuse fears with phobias. Fear can be normal. For example, it is normal to experience fear in certain situations – fear is a normal response to dangerous situations such as being caught up in a riot. To feel extreme fear and for that fear to be irrational, is a phobic reaction. For example, to have a fear of thunder and lightning is irrational and phobic. The phobic person will be able to produce some of the physical symptoms of that fear just thinking about the trigger for their phobia. A phobia is an external symbol...
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...Phobias and Addictions Paper Osvaldo L Mercado University of Phoenix Classical Conditioning refers to a procedure by which a previously neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response after it is paired with a stimulus that automatically elicits that response.” (Kowalski & Westen, 2011) The unconditioned stimulus or ‘US”, is an occurrence which causes an innate, involuntary response or reaction. When someone smells a favorite food cooking they most oftentimes begin to feel hungry; in this scenario the unconditioned stimulus, is the aroma of the food. The feeling of hunger in relation to the aroma of the food is referred to as the unconditioned response or “UR”; once again, the term unconditioned means that this is a naturally occurring reaction which has not been learned by the individual who experiences the feelings of hunger. In regards to phobias, theories of classical conditioning can be applied due to the fact that most irrational fears are learned by association and with the introduction of a stimulus which would otherwise not cause a reaction i.e. a neutral stimulus. There are thousands of documented phobias from the world, most are believed to have developed due to a response from a negative environment that the individual encountered at one point in life. According to the American Psychiatric Association (2012). Symptoms of a phobia include the following: * Recognition that the fear goes beyond normal boundaries and the actual threat of danger * Reactions...
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...Running Head: PHOBIA-NOT JUST A FEAR BUT A PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER Phobias: Not Just A Fear but a Psychological Disorder Fear, an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. Fear is an unavoidable part of everyday life, and affects everyone in the world. However, there is a more powerful form of fear known as a phobia. Not everyone is affected by phobias, approximately eleven percent of the worlds population is (de Jong & Merckelbach, 2000). The world today associates any fear as a phobia, by tacking on the suffix “phobia” to the end of any word. However, a fear is not the same as a phobia. A phobia is a psychological disorder, not just an irrational fear. Belief that a phobia is not the same as a fear is controversial. This is increasingly important in this age of advanced psychology, medicine, and technology. Many people think that a phobia is defined as having a fear of a certain stimuli, but seem to overlook the fact that a phobia is more than a fear it is a psychological disorder. Phobias are quite difficult to understand, even to a person who has one. A phobia is an unrealistic and disproportionate fear of a certain stimuli resulting in panic, severe anxiety, lack of control and impairment. Phobias can be classified into two main groups, simple specific and complex general. Simple specific phobias are defined as an irrational fear to one specific stimulus, like a snake for example...
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...STRESS, ANXIETY, HABITS AND PHOBIAS This essay is about the relationship, similarities and equally differences between stress, anxiety, habits and phobia’s. I am going to demonstrate and explain my understanding of the subject and how I would use my skills as a therapist to best treat the symptoms and issues faced by someone suffering with a particular phobia using the information gathered from the practice sessions I have undertaken to date, reading, the Chrysalis module notes and information I have taken away from class. I will also try to cover and explain some of the ethical topics regarding the above. Firstly then I am going to discuss the relationship between stress, panic and anxiety and try to explain the differences. Stress is a common feeling that the majority of people will suffer with at some point, when faced with a new situation that causes them to be frustrated, angry or frightened it is however short lived and when removed from that particular stressful environment the person will usually feel better and no longer experience any long term negative effects. It is a necessary part of life as if we had no stress or feelings of fear we would not be able to choose the appropriate course of action in our sub-conscious when we maybe need to be aware of danger commonly known as the “fight or flight mechanism”. We would also have no motivation to do anything productive. (chapter 6 Stress Reduction, Hypnosis for change). However Chronic stress (when a person is...
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