Phobia - How Can You Tell If You Are Suffering From One?

Phobias. How do you cope?

There is no shortage of people who despise snakes, planes, tight spaces, and many other things, but does that mean they have a phobia. For most people, they just have an extreme dislike. A person with a phobia will be gripped by fear and show physical signs of discomfort when exposed to their phobic trigger. A phobia is much different than a simply disliking something.

Physicians don't really understand all the dynmaics of everything when it comes to phobias at this juncture in time, however doctors have a general consensus that phobias are a fear of an irrational nature of a specific situation or object. A fear is determined to be irrational when the reaction to the threat is much greater than the situation requires. In addition, phobias are usually accompanied by other disorders, most commonly panic attacks or obsessive compulsive disorder. The seriousness of a phobic reaction would be treating a non-threatening thing like a life and death situation. In people who are afraid of snakes, they fear every snake as if it were a cobra, or other snake that would or could kill them. Many times people with phobias are paralyzed by their fear, or they have a panic attack.

Panic attacks are a physical response by the body that is characterized by some or all of the following symptoms: increased heart rate, shaking, shortness of breath, being lightheaded, fear of dying, nausea, or feeling of choking. Like phobias, panic attacks are an irrational disorder, and is an over reaction to a series of thoughts or an outside stimulus. Panic attacks can even happen because a person begins to worry about having a panic attack.

A panic attack is usually caused by worrying about a certain thing, especially worrying about having a panic attack. People who have panic attacks because of a phobia will typically have another disorder. Someone with an anxiety disorder or obsessive compulsive disorder can send themselves into a panic attack simply by becoming concerned that they might have a panic attack.

A panic attack essentially causes the body to enter into a fight or flight response without just cause. The fight or flight response is a means of how numerous psychologists depict the reaction of persons body to excressive stressful situations, and ascribe prehistoric mans way to survive to this innate response. The classic example is what your body would do if you were walking down the street and were suddenly uncomfortably close to a hungry bear. The moment that you physical brain processed the dynamics of the situation a huge amount of adrenaline would be dumped into your bodies blood stream. Adrenaline speeds your heart rate, causes your pupils to dilate, and enables your body to fight or run like never before. Adrenaline temporarily makes a person more athletic, allowing them to escape dangerous situations. Panic attacks can be very frightening for people because they have a panic attack for no apparent reason or in response to something that poses little or no threat. For someone with a phobia, the sight of a flower or small spider can be as scary as a bear, and their body prepares to deal with the presence of their phobia like it is absolutely life-threatening.

A phobic reaction is a major overreaction to something most people would consider ordinary. Spiders and snakes are not usually welcome, but most people do not consider the presence of a small creature to be a crisis situation. A panic attack is also not a normal response. A phobia is very serious and should be dealt with if it is having a real effect on your life.

For more useful information click here What Is A Panic Attack and Cures For Panic Attack And Depression similarly Symptoms Of A Panic Attack