Specific phobia Fear is common to all human beings. The things each of us are afraid of are different. The degree of fear and the preoccupation with the feared stimulus and the extent we go to avoid the feared thing is also different. Some people have intense fear of certain objects or situations which are not dangerous for example fear of cockroach, fear of bridges, fear of closed spaces like lifts, etc. They avoid the particular feared object or situation as much as possible. When forced to confront the feared situation they become very fearful, they are very distressed till they leave the feared object or situation. Sometimes they may develop a panic attack during such confrontation i.e. they have intense fear with pounding heart, trembling, sweating, giddiness, nausealo and choking sensation. When they are not near the feared object or situation they are able to tell that their fear does not have any rationale and that their fear is excessive. But when confronted by the feared object or situation they become extremely uncomfortable and fearful. This excessive and unreasonable fear affects their day to day activities like family life, their job, their travel and their leisure activities. Such people are suffering from SPECIFIC PHOBIA i.e. excessive or unreasonable fear of specific objects/situation. Common things that people with specific phobia are afraid of are: - Blood, injection, injury - Animals and small insects - Natural environments like storms, heights, water - Airplanes, elevators, bridges and other situations Treatment that is most useful for specific phobia is systematic desensitisation: It involves three steps: 1. The person is taught relaxation methods like breathing exercises, meditation or progressive muscle relaxation (Relaxation training) 2. Next the patient and the doctor sit together and construct a hierarchy of feared situations for example fear of picture of cockroach < fear of photos of cockroach < fear of video of cockroach < seeing a dead cockroach < seeing a live cockroach < touching a live cockroach < letting a live cockroach run on the body (Hierarchy construction) 3. Gradually the person is exposed to the least feared stimulus and during such exposure the patient is asked to relax using previously learned methods. Once the person is no longer afraid of the least feared stimulus exposure to the next higher level is started. Similar to climbing a ladder the person gradually masters each of the feared stimulus until he reaches the final level. The above treatment requires motivation and dedication from the part of the patient. And it takes several sessions for the patient to completely get rid of the phobia. In the short term the doctor may prescribe small doses of clonazepam/diazepam/lorazepam to help the patient confront the feared stimulus temporarily.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 00:20:07 +0000
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