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Last posts on private forums:  sare  2008-06-16 09:56:33 matthew 2008-04-12 21:25:59 pieniadz 2008-04-12 20:52:26
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Last posts on private blogs: matthew 2008-04-12 21:25:17 mary 2008-04-12 19:27:47 |
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You are in: Main Page / Medical articles / Psychology / Anxiety and Phobia Treatment
The article presents information about anxiety and phobia treatment. It describes causes and effects of phobias and informs about a typical treatment.
Phobia, or in other words, an anxiety disorder appears in 10% of population. The article describes types of phobias and presents several ways of treatment and advice on how to cope with phobias.
People who suffer from phobias feel exaggerated fear of certain situations or phenomena even though they know it is irrational and unjustified. Surprisingly, phobias are very common, but most of the people manage to fight with it through rational explanation and realizing irrelevance of their anxiety. However, people who suffer from acute phobias can face sudden attacks of panic that make their life extremely difficult. We can say that we suffer from phobias when something makes us afraid and we avoid exposure to this trigger in everyday life at every cost. The most frequent forms of phobias include fear of animals, space, crowd or diseases.
Several symptoms are characteristic for phobias, such as: fastened heart beat, sweating, lockjaw, dizziness and nausea. An increased fear can cause shivers, breathlessness, fainting or even a pre-infarct state. People with phobias don't usually manage well at work or they find socializing difficult.
Causes of phobias
Phobias are directly related to an unpleasant event from a person's childhood when he or she had to face that fear for the first time. For instance, a person who was drowning in the childhood can feel a panicky fear of water in every form it exists.
Treatment
If you were diagnosed with phobia it is crucial to begin treatment as soon as possible. Untreated phobias can lead to serious psychological problems such as depression or neurosis. The most common form of treatment involves confronting person with the subject of fear. A patient approaches it and slowly learns how to get closer. Of course, it is an ideal method for treating animal phobias. In this case learning about behavior and habitat of an animal becomes a factor that removes the phobia. Afterwards, a person is taught to relax near the object of the fear.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy is also used for treating phobias. It involves describing anxiety reaction to patients and teaching them how to eliminate negative thinking. Some types of phobias demand special computer programs where patients face their fears. Temporary medication therapies are helpful, for instance, before a flight when a person is afraid of flying. Some patients demand treatment with antidepressants.
What to do?
Coping with phobias should be done in stages. If you are afraid of cats you should learn about them as much as possible. Read books about them, watch their photos and finally try to approach them as much as possible. You'll learn how to accept them around and as a result, you will eliminate fear.
If you have problems with going out of home you should also fight with it slowly. Start with short distances, to the garden or near neighborhood, then, increase the distance you can walk. If you feel insecure, ask our partner or a friend to go with you.
If you notice something that makes you feel afraid and it makes your life hard, it's the best sign you suffer from a phobia. Once you realize it you're halfway healthy. Remember that all phobias can be treated.
Added by:
mary
not connected with health care system
Added on:
2008-10-30 12:37:48 ,
Updated:
2008-10-30 12:41:24
Bibliography:
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