The document discusses phobias, including their history, types, causes, symptoms, treatment, and statistics. It defines phobias as irrational fears and describes some specific phobias like social phobia, agoraphobia, and animal phobias. It outlines treatment methods for phobias including psychotherapy, counterconditioning, medication, and exposure therapy. It provides statistics on prevalence of phobias and unusual phobias like the fear of spoons or ducks.
1. Done by:
Saffia Al Zoubi (215510634)
Ghadeer Al-Kholaidi (214511257)
Maisa Salem (211410501)
Mahnoor Siddiqui (215510561)
Fatima Alhamed (215410395)
2. A phobia is an irrational and excessive fear of an object or
situation.
In most cases, the phobia involves a sense of endangerment
or fear of harm.
3. • The first written reference to phobic
problems is in the works of the
ancient Greek physician
Hippocrates. He wrote about his
patients.
• In one of his works
Hippocrates described a condition
in a man named Nicanor. Whenever
Nicanor went out at night, he would
get terrified of the sound of flute.
When the piper began to play, the
music immediately threw him into
such a great fright, (Oddly, the flute
music only bothered Nicanor at night
and, in the daylight he was fine.)
4. Phobia Fear
A phobia is similar to a fear with
one key difference: the anxiety they
experience is so strong that it
interferes with their quality of life
and/ or their ability to function
A fear is an emotional response to a
real or perceived threat. Fears are
common in the population and are
often normal -- or at least innocuous
-- reactions to objects or events
5. Phobias are more than just a simple fear and can be developed through
childhood, adolescence, or early adulthood
what are the causes of phobia?
phobias can be caused due to either Genetics or environmental factors
other reasons for phobias can be :
• Children with close relatives
that have certain phobias like
anxiety can make the child
develop phobias in the future
• When stressed or pressured in
certain events can also causes
phobias
• Being exposed to small spaces ,
extreme heights and some kind
of animals or insect bites can
also be a source of phobias
6. The symptoms of phobias are generally the same symptoms for every kind of
phobia but may differ in one or two things. These symptoms can be either physical
or psychological.
The most common symptom is a feeling of anxiety or a panic attack but a person
can still have a phobia of something and not experience these symptoms. A panic
attack can result in a lot of other symptoms including:
• Sweating
• Heart palpitations
• A need to use the bathroom
• Numbness in any part of the body
• Chest tightness
• Stomachache or a feeling of nausea or vomiting
• Breathing hard
• An increase in blood pressure
Physical Symptoms
7. Psychological Symptoms
• fear of losing control
• fear of losing consciousness
• feelings of fatigue
• And the most severe: fear of dying
People exhibit these symptoms and have a phobia of something even though it
does not portray any form of harm to other people and can be considered illogical
to some.
Other physical symptoms include:
• Not being able to function well in the presence of
the thing that gives you phobia
• Trying to avoid that thing even if avoiding it is
troublesome to one’s life
• Having irregular sleeping habits and interrupted
body functions
8. • FEAR OF “OPEN SPACES”, panic disorder
• Extreme fear of places or situations where escape is
difficult or where help is unavailable.
• Effects:, avoid going out, stress, panic attacks, fear of
being alone, depression
• EXAMPLE: CROWDED PLACES, AIRPLANES
(TRANSPORTATION), home
Agoraphobia
9. • “social anxiety disorder”
• Excessive fear of social situations embarrassment,
judgments
• Effects: self consciousness, anxiety, limited interference,
avoid others, low self-esteem
• 2nd most common type of anxiety disorder
• 3rd most common mental disorder in the USA
• Examples: fear of eating with people, public
speaking, social contact in general
Social phobia
10. • Unreasonable, excessive fear of certain objects or
situations in daily life
• Effects: intense anxiety, person’s ability to function
Specific phobia
13. • When a person is diagnosed with a certain
phobia its either :
which is developed early in childhood between the
ages of 4-8 . it can be developed because of a
certain experience that grows the fear within them,
and times passes till it turns into a fear (Phobia) . it
is not necessarily a genetic cause sometimes an
unpleasant event happened which left a mark on
the child
from the name this type of phobia is a complicated type, because it is a
combination of genetics , brain chemistry and certain life experiences.
another cause of complex phobia can be found in the field of neuroscience. the
brain sees certain images as scary or frighting, by that it sends a message to the
brain which it starts to develop some kind of fear (Phobia).
Simple phobia:
Complex phobia
14. How well phobia treatment will work depends partly on the severity of the
phobia. Though some phobias are never completely cured, therapy can help
many people learn to function effectively.
Types of therapy include:
Counter-Conditioning
Psychotherapy
Medication
Some overcame their fears by attending phobia clinics and support groups
15. Counter-conditioning
• Some patients cannot handle flooding in any form,
so an alternative classical conditioning technique is
used called counter-conditioning (Watson, 1924).
• The patient is trained to substitute a relaxation
response for the fear response in the presence of
the phobic stimulus. Relaxation is incompatible with
feeling fearful or having anxiety, so it is said that the
relaxation response counters the fear response.
• For some phobias, desensitization therapy and
relaxation techniques are very successful.
This desensitization involves three steps:
Teach relaxation techniques (e.g. slow breathing)
Establish hierarchy of fear (low-high)
Work up hierarchy, pairing each level with relaxation
16. Psychotherapy
• Treating social phobia usually involves gradual exposure
to social situations, along with role-playing and rehearsal.
Individuals are taught methods to reduce the anxiety they
feel. They are also encouraged to be less critical of
themselves.
• The best treatment for agoraphobia is to gradually move
the phobic person into the places and situations that trigger
anxiety. By taking small steps each day – with the company
of a trusted person - a sufferer eventually learns to cope
with situations that once caused intense fear.
• This way of treatment is most often used in a systematic
way to very gradually introduce the feared stimulus in a
step-by-step fashion known as systematic
desensitization, first used by Joseph Wolpe (1958)
• Relaxation techniques, and regular deep breathing help to
overcome anxiety during treatment.
17. Medication
• The therapist may sometimes decide that
medications will help. In the treatment of
phobias, medications are used in conjunction
with therapy and may not necessarily be a part
of initial treatment.
• Antidepressants reuptake inhibitors like paroxetine or antianxiety, can be
especially helpful in the treatment of social phobia and preventing panic attacks
that take part in phobias such as agoraphobia. This way, the patients can deal
with the problem itself without having to deal with the panic attacks that come
from it
• Short-term treatment may also include sedative-hypnotic drugs can relieve
anxiety but may be habit-forming and cause drowsiness. Therefore, they may
not be the best choice when long-term symptom control is needed, or when one
has to be fully alert and perform certain tasks such as driving or operating
machines.
• Beta-blockers are also sometimes given lessen the fear response.
• Finally, some anticonvulsant medicines such as Neurontin and Lyrica have been
shown in early research studies to have value for several forms of social phobia
including anxiety disorder
18. Percentage of people who have one or more
phobias in a given year (US population)
4%-5%
Percentage of people who have at least one
specific phobia in their lifetime (adults and
children)
16% and 5% respectively
Percentage of specific phobias that are severe,
modest, and benign
9%, 30%, and 48.1% respectively
Percentage of people with social phobia who
seek treatment
23%
Percentage of people who suffer from
claustrophobia
5% to 7%
Percentage of the people in the world who suffer
from social phobia between the ages of 15 and 20
3%
Things that are feared but are considered trivial 90%
Number of people who have a diagnosed phobia
(US population)
6.3 million
Number of phobias in the world that are known to
psychologists
400
19. • Women are more likely to have animal phobia
and social phobia than men
• Majority of the people with specific phobias
don’t seek treatment.
• Phobias are linked to the amygdala and this
is what triggers the release of the fight or
flight hormone
• Agoraphobia can make it extremely difficult
for a person to leave their house.
• Agoraphobia often develops after having one
or more panic attacks.
20. • Anatidaephobia is the fear that a duck somewhere somehow is
watching you
• Omphalophobia is the fear of bellybuttons
• Turophobia is the fear of cheese
• Coulrophobia is the fear of clowns
• Tripophobia is the fear of tiny holes in irregular patterns
• Koutaliaphobia is the fear of spoons
22. • Saffia Al Zoubi (ID: 215510634): The symptoms of
phobia, statistics and facts, world’s most unusual phobias,
and compiling the information into one presentation
• Ghadeer Al-kholaidi (ID: 214511257): The
treatment of phobia
• Maisa Salem (ID: 211410501): Causes and
diagnosis of phobia
• Mahnoor Siddiqui (ID: 215510561): Types of
phobias, famous phobias, and short clip of phobia
• Fatima Alhamed (ID: 215410395): What is phobia,
history of phobia, and difference between phobia and fear
23. • K. C. (2016, May 9). What Are the Different Types of Phobias? Retrieved from
https://www.verywell.com/what-is-a-phobia-2795454
• Adapted from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Phobias, copyright 2009, by Greg Korgeski, Ph.D.
• R. C., Ph.D. (2012, June 16). The Difference Between Phobia and Fear. Retrieved from
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/roger-covin/phobia-and-fear_b_1596640.html
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• http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/mental-health-social-anxiety-disorder?page=2#1
• http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/mental-health-social-anxiety-disorder
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• http://www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/therapy-for-anxiety-disorders.htm
• http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/understanding-phobias-treatment
