It is human nature to be afraid of something. Even the most courageous and courageous experience a feeling of fear to one degree or another, especially when it comes not to themselves, but to close and dear people. So this feeling is completely normal, it can occur to anyone. Unfortunately, sometimes there is an excessive severity of fears for one reason or another, and completely unfounded. Most often, such feelings of fear are called phobias. At the same time, there is a huge number of their most diverse varieties. So what is a phobia?
Today, the term "phobia" is commonly understood as an excessive irrational fear of any phenomenon, situation or object. From this definition, we can conclude that there is an extremely wide range of possible provoking factors for such a state.
There are several classifications at once that can complement the understanding of what a phobia is. The greatest practical value is the division of such unfounded fears into the following groups:
1) Social.
2) Agoraphobia.
3)Specific.
The first group includes those irrational fears that relate primarily to any social situations. For example, stage fright and the like. It’s not so simple with what a specific phobia is. The fact is that almost anything can be a provoking factor of such fear.
Today, scientists divide specific phobias into 4 varieties: the natural environment (fear of a wide variety of natural phenomena, as well as water and the like), animals (especially often the fear of rodents and spiders), certain situations (passing bridges, driving, etc.) and medical procedures or their results (injections, blood, doctors).
The concept of what a phobia is will be incomplete if you do not touch on the topic of agoraphobia. This kind of unfounded fear implies an irrational fear of being trapped when you get into a certain place or situation.
Scientists from the US have calculated that about 10% of the population of their country has phobias. At the same time, only one in ten of them have such fears for life. This state of affairs is due to the fact that in most cases people admit that they have a phobia. As a result, many are willing to undergo special therapy.
In the event that a person has certain phobias, treatment can be very diverse. There are many methods. The most common are 2 ofthem:
1) Opposition to the object of fear. The essence of the technique lies in the fact that the patient is taught a rational reaction to the appearance of that object or the development of that situation, which are the objects of irrational fear.
2) Prolonged contact with the object of fear. This method involves the formation of such conditions when the patient must be in close proximity to the object of fear for a long time or constantly be in the situation that causes fear in him.
Both of these techniques are quite effective, in many cases they allow you to get rid of unreasonable fear, regardless of whether the phobia is called agarophobia, bacteriophobia, dental phobia or anything else.
