Phobias

Many people today suffer from certain obsessive fears that have their roots hidden deep in the human subconscious.

Certain things affect them in such an intense way that it makes their hair stand on end, give them butterflies in their stomachs and sometimes they manifest trough massive panic attacks.

Psychologists who studied these obsessive fears have named them ‘Phobias’.

To suffer from phobias is not fun; just imagine yourself for a moment in certain situations that cause you such an intense fear- you cannot think clearly and there is no telling what you might do or how you might react! Your actions and your reactions - in those certain situations - may have devastating effects on yourself but also on those around you.

We sometimes chose to live and accept certain problems in our lives and we learn to live with them instead of fighting the problem and living freely afterwards.

Phobias are mental disorders. We do not take them very seriously, because they have become common so they do not alarm us.

In certain circumstances only, people manifest themselves in strange ways and when anxiety hits, they start trembling like leafs and get so frightened, that it cannot possibly be good for their mental health. In other cases, things do not get that far and people just get a weak shiver down their spine, but it resumes to that.

Over the years, psychologists have dealt with numerous phobias. Some of the most encountered phobias are: Arachnophobia -fear of spiders, Acrophobia- Fear of ugliness, Cancer phobia or Arachnophobia- Fear of cancer, Claustrophobia- Fear of confined spaces, Coulrophobia- Fear of clowns. Also Didaskaleinophobia- Fear of going to school (now this one is a very common one –hehe!), Hypsiphobia- Fear of height, Iatrophobia- Fear of going to the doctor or of doctors and so on. These are only some examples of phobias that people have to deal with and develop throughout their lives.

Now there is some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we can get rid of them and live a free life without constraint from outside elements. The bad news is that, getting rid of phobias means messing with our minds. How so? Well let me explain.

The human brain is an extremely complex organ. It randomly stocks information most of the time, but it also stocks information we choose to feed our mind with. Once something has gotten into our heads, it is very hard to get it out. However, it is not impossible!

Our brain has the power to influence many of the circumstances we find ourselves in, just by influencing our behavior. If we learn to exploit its capacities and use it with maximum efficiency, we can have extraordinary and surprising results. "It’s amazing what you can do if you set your mind to it", I am sure you have heard that line before.

However, most of the time it seems that we are stubborn and we somehow hold on to the phobias that control us. We could try autosuggestion, yet, not everyone has such strong willpower to achieve this. Another choice is to treat it and try to fight it- this is the best choice!

No one feels comfortable being confused, even though phobias link to some constructive fears.

First, let’s take arachnophobia for example: some spiders can harm you, because they are poisonous. Therefore, we should be cautious around some types of spiders.

Second, let’s take fear of darkness: if you are alone, walking outside at night, there could be all sorts of dangers like suspicious people lurking around who might harm you, so in a certain way, it is good to fear darkness.

Nevertheless, ‘fear’ is not the appropriate word. We should just be aware of the dangers and try to avoid them not turn them into obsessive fears!

Phobias can give you the sensation of ants in your pants, sometimes you might hear faint noises even if nothing is there and anxiety starts to escalade. You start to tremble like a leaf and your capacity to make decisions is at minimum efficiency.

Phobias should be treated as soon as possible .You only live once, so why not is able to play with a spider or hide in a closet while playing hide and seek?