The Greeks were first to develop science and human psychology, and so they were also able to define human disorders. Physical illness is an object of interest, but more along the psychological illness, for they wanted to understand and cure the disorders of the human mind. And one such disorder is “phobia,” or fear in Greek. It is the incomprehensible anxiety brought about by fearing the self, an object, event or situation that is otherwise unthreatening to others without the fear. In the previous chapter we said that there are different types of phobia. Here are three categories of phobias and how ancient and modern psychologists will define them.
Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder)
Social phobia is also known as social anxiety disorder (SAD). It is characterized by overpowering anxiety and unnecessary self-consciousness concerning mundane situations. Those afflicted with this type of phobia have a constant, severe, and chronic fear of being seen and scrutinized by others as they are humiliated by what they do. The fear is so much that it interferes with their daily life. While the people with SAD know that their fear of being around people may be unreasonable, they are incapable of overcoming it. They usually experience this fear even days or weeks prior to the social event.
Social phobia can be as simple as the fear of speaking formally in front of colleagues or performing on stage, to as severe as being afraid of just being around other people. In such severe instances, social phobia can keep people from working or attending school. Making friends, let alone keeping them is also a big difficulty for people with this phobia.
Physical signs usually show as anxiety intensifies during social phobia. These include blushing, hyperventilation, profuse sweating, difficulty talking, trembling, and nausea. When such physical symptoms manifest, people with social phobia are devastatingly embarrassed and feel insecure, as though all eyes are focused on them.
Social phobia affects over 5 million Americans, women and men with equal likelihood to the disorder. It usually manifests in early adolescence as some theories believe that genetics influence development of social phobia. Social phobia often stimulates other anxiety disorders such as depression. There is a tendency to develop substance abuse or dependence during self-medication, so make sure to see a therapist as soon as symptoms manifest.
Specific Phobias
An intense fear of something that presents little actual danger is a specific phobia. Examples of specific phobias are acrophobia or altophobia (fear of heights), siderodromophobia (fear of railroads or train travel), potamophobia (fear of running water), cynophobia (fear of dogs or rabies), batrachophobia (fear of frogs), etc. As you can see, they are objects that should not be feared and thus the fear is irrational. There are those who are able to hike the tallest mountain, but unable to ride the elevator to the 3rd floor due to claustrophobia (fear of confined spaces). They are aware that these fears are groundless, nevertheless find themselves experiencing sever anxiety by just the thought of their specific phobia.
Treatment of specific phobias can be done through avoidance of the source of the phobia. Riding planes instead of trains for a siderodromophobiac, or taking the stairs instead of the elevator for a claustrophobic. However, in situations that cannot be avoided (potamohobia), pyschological therapies are usually advised. That is, if there is no iatrophobia (fear of going to the doctor).
Specific phobias are experienced by over 6 million Americans and are more common in women than men (by up to 2 times). The causes of specific phobias are not proven; though an existing theory is that it may be hereditary. As such, it starts to manifest childhood or adolescence and may continue to adulthood if not addressed early on.
Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia involves fear a place or situation that is difficult to escape from. Examples would be lygophobia (fear of being in a dark place), or eicophobia (fear of home surroundings or being outside the home). As in the previous two categories of phobias, avoiding the situation can help alleviate the fear. Else, seek psychotherapy. Close to 2 million American adults have agoraphobia.
Because “phobia” is a Greek word, the correct way to form a specific phobia is to also use the Greek root word of the object of the fear and connect it to “-phobia.” Modern day neologisms combine English words with “-phobia,” which should be taken only as colorful expressions of fear, and not, in fact the correct way of naming the fear. For a comprehensive and accurate list of phobias, check out http://www.phobialist.com.
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