A true phobia can truly have a significant impact on someone’s life and is far from being a foolish dread. Specific phobias, or fears of a particular thing or circumstance, aren’t truly that uncommon. So here are some facts about phobias:
A phobia is not the same as a fear
If you observed a large, hairy spider climbing up your wall or felt a little unsteady while perched on a high ledge, you probably felt a little afraid and panicked. However, this does not necessarily imply that you are afraid of heights or spiders.
Fear and some degree of anxiety are “natural” emotional reactions to either a genuine or perceived threat, despite the fact that they don’t feel very pleasant.
On the other hand, a specific phobia is a paralyzing fear of certain things or circumstances. For instance, if someone has a fear of spiders, they may go to any lengths to avoid them, and their efforts may even begin to dominate their lives.
They might spend a great deal of time worrying about spiders and avoiding activities like strolling outside at night or going into the bush because of the possibility of encountering one.
There are more than 400 phobias
There are approximately 400 recognized phobias, yet you can be afraid of pretty much anything! But some are far more typical than others. Acrophobia (fear of heights), aviophobia (fear of flying), claustrophobia (fear of small spaces), arachnophobia (fear of spiders), ophidiophobia (fear of snakes), cynophobia (fear of dogs), trypanophobia (fear of needles), and mysophobia (fear of germs) are among the most prevalent phobias.
Some phobias may sound strange
The dread of attractive ladies (caligynephobia), the fear of cheese (theophobia), and the fear of developing a phobia are some other uncommon and seemingly bizarre phobias (phobophobia). Ironically, hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia is a fear of big words; it’s obvious that the person who coined this 15-syllable term wasn’t very polite.
Anatidaephobia is the name for the fear that a duck is always watching you, no matter where you are or what you’re doing.
Some phobias did not use to exist
Some phobias are as old as the hills, while others are considerably more modern. For instance, the fear of not having your cell phone on you, or nomophobia, has increased significantly. No phone service, low battery, running out of data, or even losing sight of their phone can cause severe anxiety in someone with nomophobia.
We’re not entirely surprised given that a recent survey found that many people under the age of 30 check their phones at least once every 10 minutes (or 96 times per day)!
Even celebs have phobias
Not only do common people have fear of anything or phobia but you might be surprised to learn that a number of famous celebrities suffer from phobias. Christina Ricci, for example, claims that touching a dirty houseplant genuinely feels like pain because she suffers from botanophobia, a dread of indoor plants.
Additionally, Alfred Hitchcock had a horror of eggs (aviophobia). He once asked a reporter, “Have you ever seen anything more horrible than an egg yolk shattering and pouring its yellow liquid?” His coworkers said that cracking an egg made him gag.
Johnny Depp, a renowned actor, producer, and singer, is also terrified of clowns, spiders, and ghosts.
Ever questioned how phobias develop? One can occasionally be brought on by a traumatic experience, such as almost falling off a high cliff. They may also be learned, such as when a child develops a fear of flying as a result of hearing their parent declare they’ll never fly again after a negative experience.
What if, however, you’ve never really experienced a horrific public speaking event, but the very
prospect of giving a speech causes you to have trouble breathing? What is the source of this? As absurd as it may sound, according to scientists, this may be due to a DNA-based event that one of your ancestors had.
So, according to studies, if an ancestor had public speaking anxiety as a result of being laughed off a stage in the past, it may be handed down through the generations.
Phobias can be treated
Fortunately, there are methods to overcome particular phobias. Your best option is to seek the assistance of an Online Counselor to determine the best course of action for you or someone you know. Exposure treatment, a form of cognitive-behavioral therapy, is one technique that has been used in online counselling under supervision quite successfully (CBT).
This is when your phobia is repeatedly brought up to you, little by little. In the instance of an insect phobia, you might begin by merely thinking about them, then progress to looking at pictures of them, then possibly coming in contact with them, and eventually even holding live ones. One can connect with Best psychologist in India, Online Counsellors, Therapists, etc at TalktoAngel an best Online Counseling platform in India.