Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the country and any anxiety can intensify into a phobia.
Phobias aren’t just a case of the “nerves,” they’re an extreme or irrational fear of something that negatively impacts daily life.
Some of the most common phobias include fear of heights, flying in an airplane, public speaking, small spaces and spiders. But you really could have a fear of anything if the right conditions are met and your brain responds. The perfect storm for developing a phobia includes having a genetic vulnerability, life event, negative stressor and a trigger.
“Our brain’s number one job is to protect us. So in many ways our brain is like our superhero. And when we’re talking about a phobia, we’re kind of talking about a superhero gone awry,” said Dr. Laura Stewart from Recovia. “The reason why we have so many unusual ones is because the brain is so complicated and complex in how it protects us.”
A phobia is a medical condition. Most of us have heard of a fear of needles but there’s also a fear of hair, chins, rain, trees, holes, bellybuttons, driving, being without your smartphone, falling asleep and even heaven.
Someone with a phobia will experience physiological responses such as rapid heartbeat, increased blood pressure, sweating, trembling, shortness of breath and the brain will cue a “flight or fight” response.
Almost all phobias can be treated and cured. The best way to treat your phobia is to see a medical professional and begin cognitive behavioral therapy. Medication may also be used to help during treatment.
Cognitive behavioral therapy teaches phobia patients coping skills in order to react differently to the situations that frighten them. Tools such as EMDR treatment also help patients and their therapists understand why the patient’s brain defaults to panic, fear and phobia when exposed to the perceived threat.
The worst way to fight your fear is to face it head on without seeking professional help first.
“If you have a phobia and for example, you’re just going to go through exposure therapy and you’re just going to re-expose yourself to this without any tools or knowledge base or understanding of what your brain is doing you could actually heighten the response,” Dr. Stewart said.
You can get over any fear if you can just first get over the fear of asking for help.
“This is not a brain gone wrong. This is not a broken brain,” Dr. Stewart said. “There’s a lot of people out there with phobias and there is treatment and it can work.”