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What Really Is Phobia
By peace | May 5, 2006
It can be quite healthy to be afraid of certain things. Fear of heights, lightning, snakes or anything else that may bring danger is a matter of common sense. A definition of phobia is the point at which a fear becomes irrational. If a fear becomes so chronic that it interferes with someone’s everyday routine, then it can be defined as a phobia.
A phobia can prevent the sufferer from being able to enjoy life and can even preoccupy their thoughts to such an extent that it renders them unable to sleep or work. The fear is excessive and disproportionate to the situation. The brain triggers a false alarm in response to harmless stimuli, which causes intense unease and apprehension. It interferes with functioning and can be chronic to the point of being disabling.
Someone with a fear of heights would probably still be able to drive over a high bridge in order to get to work. However someone with a phobia of heights may possibly start very early and drive many miles out of their way to avoid the bridge, despite the inconvenience and upheaval this will cause. This is another of the differences between fear and phobia. For it to qualify as a phobia, avoidance must be evident.
Phobia Statistics
- Approximately 1 in 23 people suffer from phobias. That’s nearly 4.25% of the population. There are roughly 11.5 million sufferers in the US and 2.5 million in the UK.
- Approximately 19.1 million American adults aged between 18 and 54 (13.3% of people in this age group) in a given year have an anxiety disorder.
- 5.2 million Americans (aged 18 to 54) or 3.7% of people in this age group have social phobia.
- Approximately 3.2 million Americans have agoraphobia.
- Almost 6.2 million US citizens have some sort of specific phobia.
- All three types of phobia, social, agoraphobia and specific are likely to effect between 5 and 10 people in every 100.
- Females are more prone to irrational fears than males. Phobia statistics suggest that roughly twice as many women as men suffer from panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, generalised anxiety disorder and specific phobia though about equal numbers of women and men have obsessive-compulsive disorder and social phobia.
- In England in 2002-3, there were 310 hospital consultant episodes for phobic anxiety disorders. 94% required hospital admission. 40% were for men, 60% for women.
Only about 20% of specific phobias disappear on their own for an adult.
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