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PHOBIA LIBRARY
Read up on fear, panic and phobia to get a general overview of phobias and trauma and fear management. Learn mindfulness based self care principles and exercises for managing phobias from my books on trauma and self care.
JUMP TO A CHAPTER
Fear | Function | Thought | Treatment | Coping
For Help See: Fear in the Brain | Fear Dictionary
JUMP TO A CHAPTER
Fear | Function | Thought | Treatment | Coping
For Help See: Fear in the Brain | Fear Dictionary
THE LIBRARY TOPIC HOME PAGES
Introduction to Trauma, Fear and Phobia
Part 1: Defining Fear and the Fear Response
Part 2: Emotional & Cognitive Functions of Fear
Part 3: Maladaptive Thought Processing
Part 4: Professional Therapy & Mindful Self Care
THE PHOBIA COLLECTION DOWNLOADS
Browse Collection of Phobias by Topic
Download Collection of Phobias
Download Dictionary of Fear and Phobia
Download Self Care Guides for Coping
Introduction to Trauma, Fear and Phobia
Part 1: Defining Fear and the Fear Response
Part 2: Emotional & Cognitive Functions of Fear
Part 3: Maladaptive Thought Processing
Part 4: Professional Therapy & Mindful Self Care
THE PHOBIA COLLECTION DOWNLOADS
Browse Collection of Phobias by Topic
Download Collection of Phobias
Download Dictionary of Fear and Phobia
Download Self Care Guides for Coping
PART ONE - FEAR
DEFINING FEAR AND THE FEAR RESPONSE
Articles defining fear, brain structure, fear conditioning, the fear response (fight, flight or freeze), & characteristics of panic & anxiety attacks
DIRECTORY OF FEAR
Characteristics of the Primal Emotion of Fear
Phobia Calls on the Fear Conditioning Process
Identifying the Brain Structures of Fear
Chemical Reactions in the Brain
Fear Triggers the Fight or Flight Response
Can’t Fight or Flight - Then Stop and Freeze
Fear Symptoms That Aggravate Anxiety
What Happens During a Panic Attack
Fear Manipulation of People and the Collective
Characteristics of the Primal Emotion of Fear
Phobia Calls on the Fear Conditioning Process
Identifying the Brain Structures of Fear
Chemical Reactions in the Brain
Fear Triggers the Fight or Flight Response
Can’t Fight or Flight - Then Stop and Freeze
Fear Symptoms That Aggravate Anxiety
What Happens During a Panic Attack
Fear Manipulation of People and the Collective
ALL CONTENT PROVIDED BY MY BOOKS ON MINDFUL SELF CARE FOR TRAUMA AND FEAR
Download for Free Here
Download for Free Here
Download the Glossary of Fear
For help with the terms in this series
Download the Panic and Fear Dictionary of the Brain
INTRODUCTION
TO FEAR
DEFINING THE PHOBIA
See Also: Phobia Statistics and Fact Sheet
A phobia is an unreasonable fear caused by the presence of thought of the object or situation even though it may pose little to no actual danger. Adults with a specific phobia recognize that the fear is irrational or unreasonable yet they are unable to overcome it. The distress can interfere with your ability to live, work or function. Avoiding the thing that scares you can increase its power over you. Avoidance strengthens panic and panic means you won’t be able to overcome it.
The English suffixes -phobia, -phobic, -phobe occur in technical usage in psychiatry to construct words that describe irrational, abnormal, unwarranted, persistent, or disabling fear as a mental disorder (e.g. agoraphobia). The word itself comes from the Greek word ‘phobos’ which means “fear or horror”.
It can range from something small - like the fear of the number 13 - or be massive like the fear of sun, groups of people or even the concept of fear itself. The individual affected is not merely anxiety ridden, they are filled with panic and dread - far beyond simply being scared. It is a clinical determination. The phobia typically results in a rapid onset of fear and is present for more than six months. The affected person goes to great lengths to avoid the situation or object, to a degree greater than the actual danger posed. If the feared object or situation cannot be avoided, the affected person experiences significant distress.
A specific phobia is a marked and persistent fear of a specific object or situation. Specific phobias may also include fear of losing control, panicking, and fainting from an encounter with the phobia. Specific phobias are defined in relation to objects or situations whereas social phobias emphasize social fear and the evaluations that might accompany them.
A conditioned fear response to an object or situation is not always a phobia. To meet the criteria for a phobia there must also be symptoms of impairment and avoidance. Impairment is defined as being unable to complete routine tasks whether occupational, academic or social. In acrophobia an impairment of occupation could result from not taking a job solely because of its location at the top floor of a building, or socially not participating in a social event at a theme park. The avoidance aspect is defined as behavior that results in the omission of an aversive event that would otherwise occur with the goal of the preventing anxiety.
According to the fifth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, phobias can be classified under the following general categories:
A social phobia (now categorized under the DSM as social anxiety disorder (SAD)) used to be described as a fear of performance situations. Examples of a social phobia are people being embarrassed or humiliated if they fail to meet people's expectations, being scrutinized by other people in social interactions, public speaking, acting in a theatrical performance, playing a musical instrument, eating with others, meeting new people, having a conversation, signing a document before witnesses, or using public bathrooms. Often, the concern is that their anxiety will be apparent through sweating, blushing, vomiting, or trembling (sometimes as a quavering voice) or that the ability to keep a train of thought or find words to express themselves will be lost. Usually, the same activity done alone causes no anxiety.
There is no official list of phobias beyond what’s outlined in the DSM, so clinicians and researchers coin names for symptoms as the need arises. This is typically done by combining a Greek or Latin prefix that best describes the phobia with the -phobia suffix. There is a cult following of phobias online who define them. You may find an obscure one that applies to you, but it probably won’t be in the DSM. This does not mean it is not valid. It just hasn’t been accepted into the diagnostic manual.
See Also: Phobia Statistics and Fact Sheet
A phobia is an unreasonable fear caused by the presence of thought of the object or situation even though it may pose little to no actual danger. Adults with a specific phobia recognize that the fear is irrational or unreasonable yet they are unable to overcome it. The distress can interfere with your ability to live, work or function. Avoiding the thing that scares you can increase its power over you. Avoidance strengthens panic and panic means you won’t be able to overcome it.
The English suffixes -phobia, -phobic, -phobe occur in technical usage in psychiatry to construct words that describe irrational, abnormal, unwarranted, persistent, or disabling fear as a mental disorder (e.g. agoraphobia). The word itself comes from the Greek word ‘phobos’ which means “fear or horror”.
It can range from something small - like the fear of the number 13 - or be massive like the fear of sun, groups of people or even the concept of fear itself. The individual affected is not merely anxiety ridden, they are filled with panic and dread - far beyond simply being scared. It is a clinical determination. The phobia typically results in a rapid onset of fear and is present for more than six months. The affected person goes to great lengths to avoid the situation or object, to a degree greater than the actual danger posed. If the feared object or situation cannot be avoided, the affected person experiences significant distress.
A specific phobia is a marked and persistent fear of a specific object or situation. Specific phobias may also include fear of losing control, panicking, and fainting from an encounter with the phobia. Specific phobias are defined in relation to objects or situations whereas social phobias emphasize social fear and the evaluations that might accompany them.
A conditioned fear response to an object or situation is not always a phobia. To meet the criteria for a phobia there must also be symptoms of impairment and avoidance. Impairment is defined as being unable to complete routine tasks whether occupational, academic or social. In acrophobia an impairment of occupation could result from not taking a job solely because of its location at the top floor of a building, or socially not participating in a social event at a theme park. The avoidance aspect is defined as behavior that results in the omission of an aversive event that would otherwise occur with the goal of the preventing anxiety.
According to the fifth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, phobias can be classified under the following general categories:
- Animal type – fear of spiders, insects, dogs
- Natural environment type – fear of water (aquaphobia), heights (acrophobia), lightning and thunderstorms (astraphobia), or aging (gerascophobia).
- Situational type – fear of small confined spaces (claustrophobia), or the dark (nyctophobia).
- Blood/injection/injury type – fear of medical procedures, including needles and injections (trypanophobia), fear of blood (hemophobia) and fear of getting injured.
- Other – children's fears of creatures, monsters or costumed characters.
A social phobia (now categorized under the DSM as social anxiety disorder (SAD)) used to be described as a fear of performance situations. Examples of a social phobia are people being embarrassed or humiliated if they fail to meet people's expectations, being scrutinized by other people in social interactions, public speaking, acting in a theatrical performance, playing a musical instrument, eating with others, meeting new people, having a conversation, signing a document before witnesses, or using public bathrooms. Often, the concern is that their anxiety will be apparent through sweating, blushing, vomiting, or trembling (sometimes as a quavering voice) or that the ability to keep a train of thought or find words to express themselves will be lost. Usually, the same activity done alone causes no anxiety.
There is no official list of phobias beyond what’s outlined in the DSM, so clinicians and researchers coin names for symptoms as the need arises. This is typically done by combining a Greek or Latin prefix that best describes the phobia with the -phobia suffix. There is a cult following of phobias online who define them. You may find an obscure one that applies to you, but it probably won’t be in the DSM. This does not mean it is not valid. It just hasn’t been accepted into the diagnostic manual.
TREATMENTS
PROFESSIONAL WITH SELF CARE OPTIONS
SEE TREATMENTS
Professional Treatment With CBT
Professional Treatment of Exposure Therapy
Self Care Strategies With Mindfulness
Self Care Ideas for Panic and Fear
General overview provided for informational purposes only. Author is not a medical professional.
There are various methods used to treat phobias. The most effective treatment option is cognitive behavioral therapy and its specific form, exposure therapy. These methods include therapies like systematic desensitization, progressive relaxation, virtual reality, modeling, medication and hypnotherapy.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a short term, skills-focused therapy that aims to help people diffuse unhelpful emotional responses by helping people consider them differently or change their behavior, is effective in treating specific phobias. Exposure therapy is a particularly effective form of CBT for many specific phobias. Exposure therapy is a technique in behavior therapy to treat anxiety disorders. Exposure therapy involves exposing the target patient to the anxiety source or its context without the intention to cause any danger. Doing so is thought to help them overcome their anxiety or distress.
Phobias vary in severity among individuals. Some individuals can simply avoid the subject of their fear and suffer relatively mild anxiety over that fear. Others suffer full-fledged panic attacks with all the associated disabling symptoms. Most individuals understand that they are suffering from an irrational fear, but are powerless to override their panic reaction. These individuals often report dizziness, loss of bladder or bowel control, tachypnea, feelings of pain, and shortness of breath.
FEAR VS PHOBIA
Fear is a primal and very common feeling each and every one of us experiences at some point in our life. It can be defined as an emotional response to a real or perceived threat. It is not abnormal to feel little anxious when doing certain activities in our day to day life, like walking on a bridge, looking down a hill or sitting next to a chair with a spider on its arm. For most of the people, these episodes of fearful sensations are temporary, easily handled and more importantly they do not need medical help.
Phobia is a form of anxiety disorder, which refers to excessive and persistent fear of objects and situations which do not carry real threats. This condition is associated with intense feelings of anxiety which is intense enough to interfere with your day to day activities and disrupt your quality of life.
Phobia is a form of anxiety disorder, which refers to excessive and persistent fear of objects and situations which do not carry real threats. This condition is associated with intense feelings of anxiety which is intense enough to interfere with your day to day activities and disrupt your quality of life.
This content is provided for informational purposes only. Author is not a medical professional. Talk to your doctor to determine what therapy is right for you.
Self care techniques are meant to supplement professional treatment not replace it.
DISCLAIMER OF THE LEARNING LIBRARY
Self care techniques are meant to supplement professional treatment not replace it.
DISCLAIMER OF THE LEARNING LIBRARY
BROWSE PHOBIA COLLECTION
Phobia collection is presented in eight themed parts
VIEW LIST INDEX or JUMP TO A PART
PART [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ]
PHOBIA COLLECTION BY TOPIC
common ~ abstract ~ ordinary ~ bizarre ~ catastrophic ~ psyche ~ icky - academic ~ knowledge ~ education ~ literary ~ art ~ music ~ religion ~ political ~ law ~ order military ~ war ~ discrimination ~ science ~ chemical ~ energy ~ time ~ numbers ~ technology ~ nature ~ environment ~ astronomy ~ weather ~ geography ~ people ~ family ~ community ~ anatomy ~ medical ~ disease ~ emotions ~ senses ~ sensations ~ movement ~ conditions~ love ~ relationships ~ sexuality ~ lifestyle ~ places ~ events ~ objects ~ clothing ~ tools ~ vehicles ~ home ~ cooking ~ food ~ entertainment ~ sports ~ recreation ~ toys ~ games ~ monsters ~ characters ~ spooky ~ nightmares ~ delusional ~ joke ~ fiction
DOWNLOAD PONDERING THE PHOBIA
Now Available for Download for Offline Reading
All the phobias in one download. Browse by both topic/subject and by alphabetized list
Download/Share: http://bit.ly/ponderingphobia
OTHER PHOBIA AND FEAR DOWNLOADS:
Dictionary of Trauma, Phobia and Fear
Self Care Guides for Fear & Phobias
common ~ abstract ~ ordinary ~ bizarre ~ catastrophic ~ psyche ~ icky - academic ~ knowledge ~ education ~ literary ~ art ~ music ~ religion ~ political ~ law ~ order military ~ war ~ discrimination ~ science ~ chemical ~ energy ~ time ~ numbers ~ technology ~ nature ~ environment ~ astronomy ~ weather ~ geography ~ people ~ family ~ community ~ anatomy ~ medical ~ disease ~ emotions ~ senses ~ sensations ~ movement ~ conditions~ love ~ relationships ~ sexuality ~ lifestyle ~ places ~ events ~ objects ~ clothing ~ tools ~ vehicles ~ home ~ cooking ~ food ~ entertainment ~ sports ~ recreation ~ toys ~ games ~ monsters ~ characters ~ spooky ~ nightmares ~ delusional ~ joke ~ fiction
DOWNLOAD PONDERING THE PHOBIA
Now Available for Download for Offline Reading
All the phobias in one download. Browse by both topic/subject and by alphabetized list
Download/Share: http://bit.ly/ponderingphobia
OTHER PHOBIA AND FEAR DOWNLOADS:
Dictionary of Trauma, Phobia and Fear
Self Care Guides for Fear & Phobias
Phobia articles provided by my self care series Healing the PTSD Mind and my series on mindfulness based self care Be Mindful Be Well. These self directed guides are written from a trauma perspective but the content applies to the symptoms of phobia like fear and panic. Learn and simple self care techniques with mindfulness.
BE MINDFUL. BE WELL. TRY MINDFULNESS.
DOWNLOAD SELF CARE GUIDES FOR FREE
Books copyright 2021 by By Kairos
BE MINDFUL. BE WELL. TRY MINDFULNESS.
DOWNLOAD SELF CARE GUIDES FOR FREE
Books copyright 2021 by By Kairos
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Original content © 2021 Copyright, Kairos
Collection of Vocabulary Books, Sites and Resources
Series Homepage | View Sites | Download Books
Words posted on twitter under the hashtags #beautifulwords and #wordoftheday
and posted visually on pinterest bulletin boards
Published by Kairos ~ @kairosoflife
Homepage | Portfolio | Contact
Original content © 2021 Copyright, Kairos
