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PHOBIA and
PERSONALITY DISORDER
Report by Michelle V. Dayday
II – AB Psychology
PHOBIA
is an irrational fear, a kind of anxiety disorder in which the
individual has a relentless dread of a situation, living
creature, place or thing.
Individuals with a phobia go to great lengths to avoid a
perceived danger which is much greater in their minds than
in real life. If confronted with the source of their phobia, the
person will suffer enormous distress, which can interfere
with their normal function; it can sometimes lead to total
panic. For some people, even thinking about their phobia is
immensely distressing.
A phobia starts when a person begins organizing their
lives around avoiding the object of their fear. A
phobia is much more serious than a simple fear.
Sufferers have an overpowering need to steer clear
of anything which triggers their anxiety.
Causes of Phobias
It is unusual for a phobia to start after the age of 30;
most of them begin during early childhood, teenage
years or early adulthood. They can be caused by a
stressful situation or experience, a frightening
event, or a parent or household member who has a
phobia which the child becomes progressively
aware of.
Common causes of Phobias
These usually develop when the child is between
four and eight years of age. In some cases it may be
the result of something that happened early in life.
The trigger might have been an unpleasant
experience in a confined space, which festered and
developed into claustrophobia over time.
As mentioned above, witnessing a family member's
phobia is a common cause for phobias which started
during childhood. A kid whose mother suffers from
arachnophobia is much more likely to develop the
same phobia as well. Experts stress that phobias
picked up from parents are learned fears - they are
not genetically inherited.
Symptoms of Phobias
Phobic symptoms can occur through exposure to the
fear object or situation, or sometimes merely thinking
about the feared object can lead to a response.
Typical symptoms associated with phobias include:
• Dizziness, trembling and increased heart rate
• Breathlessness
• Nausea
• A sense of unreality
• Fear of dying
• Preoccupation with the fear object
Types of Phobias
The American Psychiatric Association categorizes phobias into three different types:
Social phobias
involve a fear of social situations. Such phobias include
an extreme and pervasive fear of social situations.
Agoraphobia
involves a fear of being trapped in an inescapable place
or situation. As a result, the phobic individual may begin to
avoid such situations.
Specific phobias
involve the fear of a particular object (such as snakes).
Such phobias typically fall into one of four different
categories: situational, animals, medical, or environmental.
Examples of the four major types of specific
phobias:
•The natural environment:
Fear of lightening, water, storms, hurricanes, tornadoes,
mudslides, etc.
•Animal:
Fear of snakes, rodents, spiders, dogs, birds, etc.
•Medical:
Fear of seeing blood, receiving injections, visiting a doctor,
etc.
•Situational:
Fear of bridges, leaving the home, driving, etc.
How Prevalent Are Phobias?
Phobias are quite common, affecting more than 10%
of the U.S. population. Phobias are the most
common mental disorder in the United States, but
far more women than men are affected by phobias.
Treatments for Phobias
There are a number of treatment approaches for
phobias. The effectiveness of treatment depends on
the individual and the type of phobia.
These are just a few potential phobia treatments:
In exposure treatments,
the patient is exposed to the fear object in order to
help them overcome their fear.
Acrophobia - Fear Of Heights
is occasionally confused with
vertigo which is a physical
condition that leads to
disorientation or dizziness when
looking down from a huge height.
Unlike specific phobia such as
aerophobia – fear of flying as well
as other phobias, acrophobia could
get a person fearing of various
things related to being far from the
ground. Basing on the severity of
phobia, a suffer might equally fear
climbing on the ladder or being on
a high floor.
Claustrophobia - Fear Of Enclosed
Spaces
This is among the most common phobias.
It could range from mild to severe. In
the severe case, sufferers will develop
fear of closing a bedroom door. Also, a
lot of sufferers find their claustrophobia
is particularly triggered by some
common situations like entering the
elevator or riding an aircraft.
Nyctophobia - Fear Of Dark
This is one of the most common phobias
in kids. In the older children and
matures, this phobia could become
crippling. Nevertheless, most
individuals still retain a little bit of fear
of the dark through their lives. In fact,
this fear might be evolutionary in
nature because a lot of predators hunt
in the dark at nights. As a
consequence, darkness is a used
element in horror movies as well as
Halloween events.
Ophidiophobia - Fear Of Snakes
This phobia might be the most popular
subcategory of fear of reptiles.
The symptoms of this phobia vary
widely among sufferers. For those
with mild severity, they might fear
just encounters with venomous
snakes. If the condition is more
severe, they might be afraid of
smaller snakes. You might not be able
to look at the photos and even
television shows in which snakes are
shown.
Arachnophobia - Fear Of Spiders
This is a common animal
phobia that suffers often
fear of spider webs. So,
they will ensure that they
will not be exposed to
spiders. As a result, they
will avoid participating in
the activities in nature like
camping or hiking that
have the high risk of being
exposed to spiders.
Trypanophobia - Fear Of Medical Needles
Or Injection
This is a medical phobia and affects
approximately 10% of Americans. This
disorder is referred to as “needle
phobia” in general.
The symptoms do not vary. Sufferers
might dread going to medical care
centers for medical care, especially
injections. When they are required to
experience one medical procedure,
they will be likely experience high
blood pressure and an increased heart
rate in many hours and even days
before the procedure. Nevertheless, at
the time of the procedure, the blood
pressure might quickly drop. You even
faint.
Astraphobia - Fear Of Lightning And
Thunder
This is a popular fear among many kids.
Storms and thunders are natural
phenomena which tend to inspire
extreme emotions in both human
beings and animals. Some individuals
love to watch directly them through
the window or doorway while some
hide in somewhere. The severity is
varied which is similar to those of
many other phobias, including
shaking, sweating, and crying out. You
might seek such a constant
reassurance during the storm.
Mysophobia - Fear Of Germs
This intense fear refers to the unhealthy
fear of contamination. It is prudent and
normal to be concerned about those
problems like cross-contamination of
daily foods, exposure to the others’
bodily fluids and keeping good hygiene.
Nevertheless, if you have mysophobia,
these simple concerns tend to become
overblown. In fact, mysophobia is
thought to be associated with OCD
(obsessive compulsive disorder).
The common symptom of this phobia is the
high frequency of hand washing.
Amaxophobia - Fear of Riding in a
Car
is an intense fear of sitting or
traveling in any type of moving
vehicle. While somewhat rare,
phobias of this type are
particularly debilitating in today’s
world. Since the condition impacts
the ability to travel in just about
any form other than walking,
people who suffer with
amaxophobia are often confined to
home or limit their movements to
locations that are within easy
walking distance of the home.
Hemophobia – Fear of Blood
An abnormal and persistent fear of
blood. Sufferers of this very
common phobia dread the sight
of their own blood, the sight of
the blood of another person or
an animal, and sometimes
printed or filmed images of
blood or even thoughts of blood.
Blood may remind them of their
own vulnerability to injury and of
the eventuality of death.
Coulrophobia – Fear of Clowns
The word Coulrophobia
means a persistent and
irrational fear of
clowns. It possibly
originates from
Greek Kolon meaning
stilt or stilt-walkers
which are often used
by clowns.
Cynophobia - Fear of Dogs
This phobia is often associated
with specific personal
experiences, such as being
bitten by a dog during
childhood. Such events can be
quite traumatic and can lead
to fear responses that last
well into adulthood.
Philophobia - Fear of Love Phobia
The word originates from
Greek “filos” which means
‘loving or beloved’.
Individuals who suffer from
this phobia fear romantic
love or forming emotional
attachments of any sort. As
far as unusual phobias are
concerned; Philophobia
certainly ranks high in the
list.
PERSONALITY
DISORDER
Personality Disorder
are a group of mental illnesses. They involve
long-term patterns of thoughts and behaviors
that are unhealthy and inflexible. The
behaviors cause serious problems with
relationships and work. People with
personality disorders have trouble dealing
with everyday stresses and problems. They
often have stormy relationships with other
people.
What are the symptoms of
Personality Disorder?
They can mild or severe. People with
personality disorders may have trouble
realizing that they have a problem. To them,
their thoughts are normal, and they often
blame others for their problems. They may
try to get help because of their problems
with relationships and work. Treatment
usually includes talk therapy and sometimes
medicine.
What causes Personality Disorder?
There's no clear reason why some people
develop a personality disorder and others
don't. Most researchers think that a complex
mix of factors is involved, such as:
• The environment we grow up in
• Early childhood and teenage experiences
• Genetic factors
How are Personality Disorder treated?
There are a range of treatments that can help
you if you experience a personality disorder:
• Talking treatments
• Medication
• Having a say in your treatment
Types of Personality
Disorder
Paranoid Personality Disorder
You may:
• Find it hard to confide in people,
even your friends
• Find it very difficult to trust other
people, believing they will use
you or take advantage of you
• Watch others closely, looking for
signs of betrayal or hostility
• Read threats and danger – which
others don’t see – into everyday
situations
Schizoid Personality Disorder
You may:
• Be uninterested in forming close
relationships with other people,
including your family
• Feel that relationships interfere with
your freedom and tend to cause
problems
• Prefer to be alone with your own
thoughts
• Choose to live your life without
interference from others
• Get little pleasure from life
• Have little interest in sex or intimacy
• Be emotionally cold towards others
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
You may:
• Find making close relationships extremely
difficult
• Think and express yourself in ways that
others find ‘odd’, using unusual words or
phrases
• Behave in ways that others find eccentric
• Believe that you can read minds or that you
have special powers such as a ‘sixth sense’
• Feel anxious and tense with others who do
not share these beliefs
• Feel very anxious and paranoid in social
situations
Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD)
• You may:
• Put yourself in dangerous or risky situations.
• Behave dangerously and sometimes illegally
• Behave in ways that are unpleasant for others
• Feel very easily bored and act on impulse
• Behave aggressively and get into fights easily
• Do things – even though they may hurt people – to get
what you want, putting your needs above theirs
• Have a criminal record
• Feel no sense of guilt if you have mistreated others
• Believe that only the strongest survive and that you
must do whatever it takes to lead a successful life
because if you don’t grab opportunities, others will
• Have had a diagnosis of conduct disorder before the
age of 15.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
You may:
• Believe that there are special reasons
that make you different,
• Better or more deserving than others
• Have fragile self-esteem,
• So that you rely on others to recognize
your worth and your needs
• Feel upset if others ignore you and
don’t give you what you feel you
deserve
• Resent other people’s successes
• Put your own needs above other
people’s, and demand they do too
• Be seen as selfish and ‘above yourself’
• Take advantage of other people
Avoidant (or anxious) Personality Disorder
You may:
• Avoid work or social activities that mean you
must be with others
• Expect disapproval and criticism and be very
sensitive to it
• Worry constantly about being ‘found out’ and
rejected
• Worry about being ridiculed or shamed by
others
• Avoid relationships, friendships and intimacy
because you fear rejection
• Feel lonely and isolated, and inferior to others
• Be reluctant to try new activities in case you
embarrass yourself
Dependent Personality Disorder
You may:
•
Feel needy, weak and unable to make
decisions or function properly without
help or support
• Allow others to assume responsibility for
many areas of your life
• Agree to things you feel are wrong or you
dislike to avoid being alone or losing
someone's support
• Be afraid of being left to fend for yourself
• Have low self-confidence
• See other people as being much more
capable than you are
• Be seen by others as much too
submissive and passive
Obsessive Compulsive Personality
Disorder (OCPD)
You may:
• Need to keep everything in order and
under control
• Set unrealistically high standards for
yourself and others
• Think yours is the best way of making
things happen
• Worry when you or others might make
mistakes
• Expect catastrophes if things aren’t perfect
• Be reluctant to spend money on yourself
or others
• Have a tendency to hang onto items with
no obvious value.
Thank You 
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