Symptoms For Phobia

A phobia is a persistent and irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation resulting in an anxiety reaction. A phobia causes a compelling desire to avoid the perceived hazard. This avoidance usually results in an alteration of occupational or social functioning. The patient recognizes that his fear is out of proportion to any actual danger, but he can't control it or explain it away. Panic attacks can be triggered by the phobia.

The three types of phobias are agoraphobia, the fear of being alone or of open space; social, the fear of embarrassing oneself in public; and specific, the fear of a single, specific object or situation, such as animals or heights.

Agoraphobia and social phobia tend to be chronic; however, new treatments are improving the prognosis. A social phobia typically begins in late childhood or early adolescence; a specific phobia usually begins in childhood. A specific phobia usually resolves spontaneously as the child matures.

About 7% of all Americans suffer from a phobic disorder. In fact, phobias are the most common psychiatric disorders in females and the second most common in males. More males than females experience social phobias, whereas agoraphobia and specific phobias are more common in women. Most phobic patients have no family history of psychiatric illness, including phobias

Symptoms For Phobia
The phobic patient typically reports signs of severe anxiety when confronted with the feared object or situation, or even the threat of it. A patient with agoraphobia, for example, may complain of dizziness, a sensation of falling, a feeling of unreality, loss of bladder or bowel control, vomiting, or cardiac distress when he leaves home. A patient who routinely avoids the object of his phobia may report a loss of self-esteem and feelings of weakness, cowardice, or ineffectiveness. If he hasn't mastered the phobia, he may also exhibit signs of mild depression.

Agoraphobia without panic disorder
The patient has a fear of being in places or situations from which escape might be difficult or embarrassing or in which help might not be available if he suddenly develops symptoms that could be incapacitating or extremely embarrassing. As a result of this fear, he either restricts travel or needs a companion when away from home, or he endures agoraphobic situations despite intense anxiety. Agoraphobic fears typically involve characteristic clusters of situations that include being outside the home alone, being in a crowd or standing in a line, being on a bridge, or traveling in a bus, train, or automobile;

• The patient has never met the criteria for panic disorder.
• The anxiety or phobic avoidance isn't better accounted for by another mental disorder, such as social phobia, specific phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, or separation anxiety disorder.

A social phobia
The patient has a persistent fear of one or more social situations in which he is exposed to possible scrutiny by others and fears that he may do something or act in a way that will be humiliating or embarrassing.

• During some phase of the disturbance, exposure to the specific phobic stimulus almost invariably provokes an immediate anxiety response
• The patient avoids the phobic situation or endures it with intense anxiety
• The patient's avoidant behavior interferes with occupational functioning or with usual social activities or relationships with others, or the patient experiences marked distress about having the fear.
• The patient recognizes that his fear is excessive or unreasonable.
• If the patient is younger than age 18, the duration is at least 6 months.
• The fear or avoidance isn't due to the direct physiologic effects of a substance or a general medical condition and isn't better accounted for by another mental disorder.
• If the patient has a general medical condition or another mental disorder, the person's social fear is unrelated to the medical or mental condition.

A specific phobia
The patient has a persistent fear of an object or a situation other than fear of having a panic attack or of humiliation or embarrassment in certain social situations.

• During some phase of the disturbance, exposure to the specific phobic stimulus almost invariably provokes an immediate anxiety response.
• The patient avoids the object or situation or endures it with intense anxiety.
• The patient's fear or his avoidant behavior significantly interferes with his normal routine or his usual social activities or relationships with others, or the patient experiences marked distress about having the fear.
• The patient recognizes that his fear is excessive or unreasonable.
• If the patient is younger than age 18, the duration is at least 6 months.
• The phobic stimulus is unrelated to the content of the obsessions of obsessive-compulsive disorder or the trauma of posttraumatic stress disorder.
• The anxiety, panic attacks, or phobic avoidance associated with the specific object or situation isn't better accounted for by another mental disorder.