Fear and Phobias
Introduction
THESIS STATEMENT SOCIAL PHOBIAS ARE ANXIETY DISORDERS THAT HAVE THE CAPABILITY TO CLOUD MANY AREAS IN OUR LIVES AND ARE CHARACTERIZED BY THEIR SYMPTOMS AS WELL AS CAUSES. TREATMENTS ARE AVAILABLE AND CAN BE IMPLEMENTED TO SUCCESSFULLY CURE SOCIAL PHOBIAS AND FORM A BETTER COMMUNITY. 'I have not been out of the house for six months. I did go to see my doctor at Christmas, but I got into such a state that I nearly collapsed, and now I get him to see me here. I feel safe here and I don 't get the awful feelings, but I 'm not even relaxed at home if I know a stranger is visiting. I often have a drink to calm me if the paperboy is coming to collect the paper money or the gas man is coming to read the meter. Sometimes, though, I just refuse to answer the door. '
Overcoming anxiety Helen Kennerley (Robinson 1997)
A situation like this may strike some us as plain absurd, even plunging into the realms of insanity; Yet, this is what people with phobia go through on a daily basis. Anxiety Disorders af-fect about 40 million American adults age 18 years and older (about 18%) in a given year, caus-ing them to be filled with fearfulness and uncertainty (Kessler et al.). Unlike the relatively mild, such as having butterflies in your stomach on the first date, or feeling fearful when you hear strange noises in your household, phobias and anxiety disorders can last from as soon as 6 months or even as long as a whole lifetime if not treated. Anxiety disorders happen very com-monly along with other mental or physical illnesses, including alcohol or substance abuse, which may mask anxiety symptoms or make them worse.
WHAT IS A PHOBIA?
A phobia is an intense fear of a situation or an object that wouldn 't normally worry other people (unless they, too, suffered from the same phobia) (Hill 2000). It severely restricts your life, and may force you to take extreme measures to avoid whatever triggers it. A phobia is known as an anxiety disorder (like
THESIS STATEMENT SOCIAL PHOBIAS ARE ANXIETY DISORDERS THAT HAVE THE CAPABILITY TO CLOUD MANY AREAS IN OUR LIVES AND ARE CHARACTERIZED BY THEIR SYMPTOMS AS WELL AS CAUSES. TREATMENTS ARE AVAILABLE AND CAN BE IMPLEMENTED TO SUCCESSFULLY CURE SOCIAL PHOBIAS AND FORM A BETTER COMMUNITY. 'I have not been out of the house for six months. I did go to see my doctor at Christmas, but I got into such a state that I nearly collapsed, and now I get him to see me here. I feel safe here and I don 't get the awful feelings, but I 'm not even relaxed at home if I know a stranger is visiting. I often have a drink to calm me if the paperboy is coming to collect the paper money or the gas man is coming to read the meter. Sometimes, though, I just refuse to answer the door. '
Overcoming anxiety Helen Kennerley (Robinson 1997)
A situation like this may strike some us as plain absurd, even plunging into the realms of insanity; Yet, this is what people with phobia go through on a daily basis. Anxiety Disorders af-fect about 40 million American adults age 18 years and older (about 18%) in a given year, caus-ing them to be filled with fearfulness and uncertainty (Kessler et al.). Unlike the relatively mild, such as having butterflies in your stomach on the first date, or feeling fearful when you hear strange noises in your household, phobias and anxiety disorders can last from as soon as 6 months or even as long as a whole lifetime if not treated. Anxiety disorders happen very com-monly along with other mental or physical illnesses, including alcohol or substance abuse, which may mask anxiety symptoms or make them worse.
WHAT IS A PHOBIA?
A phobia is an intense fear of a situation or an object that wouldn 't normally worry other people (unless they, too, suffered from the same phobia) (Hill 2000). It severely restricts your life, and may force you to take extreme measures to avoid whatever triggers it. A phobia is known as an anxiety disorder (like
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