Phobic and other anxiety disorders
Phobic anxiety disorders
A phobia is strong fear or dread of a thing or event. The fear is out of proportion to the reality of the situation. Coming near or in contact with the feared situation causes anxiety. Sometimes even thinking of the feared situation causes anxiety. Therefore, you end up avoiding the feared situation as much as possible, which can restrict your life and cause suffering.
Social phobia
Social phobia (social anxiety disorder) is possibly the most common phobia. With social phobia you become very anxious about what other people may think of you, or how they may judge you. Therefore, you fear meeting people, or 'performing' in front of other people, especially strangers. You fear that you will act in an embarrassing way, and that other people will think that you are stupid, inadequate, weak, foolish, crazy, etc. You avoid such situations as much as possible. If you go to the feared situation you become very anxious and distressed.
Agoraphobia
This too is common. Many people think that agoraphobia means a fear of public places and open spaces. But this is just part of it. If you have agoraphobia you tend to have a number of fears of various places and situations. So, for example, you may have a fear of:
- Entering shops, crowds, and public places.
- Travelling in trains, buses, or planes.
- Being on a bridge or in a lift.
- Being in a cinema, restaurant, etc where there is no easy exit.
But they all stem from one underlying fear. That is, a fear of being in a place where help will not be available, or where you feel it may be difficult to escape to a safe place (usually to your home). When you are in a feared place you become very anxious and distressed, and have an intense desire to get out. To avoid this anxiety many people with agoraphobia stay inside their home for most or all of the time.
See separate leaflet called 'Agoraphobia' for more details
Other specific phobias
There are many other phobias of a specific thing or situation. For example: claustrophobia (fear of confined spaces or of being trapped); fear of certain animals; fear of injections; fear of vomiting; fear of being alone; fear of choking. But there are many more.
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