Phobia, An Introduction

As a casual ready of this blog, I believe I could safely assume that you know what a phobia is. However, I feel the need to give a little explanation as to what a phobia is before I start explaining various phobias in the future. Due to this, this post will be used as an introduction into the world of phobias.

By definition, a phobia is an intense irrational fear of something. It would classify as an anxiety disorder due to the feelings surrounding exposure to the something in question. For example, arachnophobia is the fear of spiders. A person with this phobia would try to avoid spiders at all costs. However, when confronted by a spider they may have an extreme negative reaction do this fear.

As for treatment, it depends on the specific phobia. Generally speaking, a mixture of psychotherapy and medication would help mitigate the negative effects of dealing with a phobia. The specific therapeutic treatment used would be exposure therapy. I discussed this type of therapy briefly in the post on PTSD. In the near future I will discuss this treatment as well as others in more depth to help you gain a better understanding of various therapeutic treatments and their effectiveness in dealing with different psychiatric disorders.