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Phobic anxiety is distinguishable from other forms of anxiety only in that it occurs specifically in relation to a certain object or situation. This anxiety is characterized by physiological symptoms such as a rapid, pounding heartbeat, stomach disorders, nausea, diarrhea, frequent urination, choking feelings, flushing of the face, perspiration, tremulousness, and faintness. Some phobic people are able to confront their fears. More commonly, however, they avoid the situation or object that causes the fear—an avoidance that impairs the sufferer's freedom.
Psychiatrists recognize three major types of phobias. Simple phobias are fears of specific objects or situations such as animals, closed spaces, and heights. The second type, agoraphobia, is fear of open, public places and situations (such as public vehicles and crowded shopping centers) from which escape is difficult; a
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PHOBIA
Phobia- intense and persistent fear of a specific object, situation, or activity. Taken together, the phobias are believed to afflict 5 to 10 persons in 100. One technique, systematic desensitization, involves gradually confronting the phobic person with situations or objects that are increasingly close to the feared ones. One technique, systematic desensitization, involves gradually confronting the phobic person with situations or objects that are increasingly close to the feared ones. Agoraphobia characteristically begins in late adolescence or early adulthood, and social phobia is also associated with adolescence. Agoraphobias, social phobias, and animal phobias tend to run in families. Exposure therapy, another behavioral method, has recently been shown more effective. In this technique, phobics are repeatedly exposed to the feared situation or object so that they can see that no harm befalls them; the fear gradually fades. goraphobics tend increasingly to avoid more situations until eventually they become housebound.
Although agoraphobia is more often seen in treatment than the other types of phobia, it is not believed to be as common as simple phobia. Agoraphobia and simple phobia are more commonly diagnosed in women than in men; the distribution for social phobia is not known.
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