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Mindtech AssociatesPhobias
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Mindtech AssociatesPhobias
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Welcome to my Phobia pageA Phobia is: "an external symbolic interpretation, of an internal anxiety" What does that mean???When an emotional conflict takes place (at an unconscious level) and the psyche cannot cope or deal with it, the psyche has the ability to bottle up the emotions and turn them into a Phobia. Although some Phobias serve an obvious purpose (fear of fire, drowning etc) some seem to make no sense at all! - rest assured though, all Phobias serve a purpose. In therapy, we can find the originating cause (the unconscious conflict) of the Phobia and release it - and when the emotions are released, the phobia disappears. Common PhobiasThe following are some of the more common Phobias that I have been consulted for: EMETOPHOBIA (PHAGOPHOBIA) - a fear of being sick. Associated fears; gagging, seeing others being sick, choking on food, pregnancy (due to possibility of morning sickness) and 'social Phobia'. I have treated well over two hundred people with Emetophobia - so it must be a very common Phobia indeed!. This Phobia seems to effect more women than men, and tends to have a very disabling effect on the sufferer; quite often the person has to avoid all places where there is a possibility of themselves (or others) being sick; pubs, restaurants, clubbing, eating in front of others etc. Because of the link between eating and being sick, the sufferer tends to be a little obsessive about what and where they will eat. A lot of sufferers tend to view being sick as 'horrible, dirty, yukky' etc, and so it is quite common for emetophobics to also have fears of other situations where they might feel the same way; going to the toilet (number twos), or the inability to urinate in front of others (shy bladder), or even just being a little bit sweaty. Nearly all the sufferers I have helped, have also had 'Social Phobia' Arachnophobia (spiders), Aviatopophobia (flying), Hydrophobia (water), Acrophobia (heights), Claustrophobia (enclosed spaces), Agorophobia (open spaces), Demophobia (crowds), Nyctophobia (darkness), Odontophobia (dentists), Glossophobia (speaking in public) The above Phobias are almost always indirect - this means that they are usually indirectly linked to an unresolved emotional conflict.(All the other Phobias in this 'common phobia' section, are usually 'direct Phobias') I've grouped the phobias above together, because they usually symbolise a situation where the sufferer feels 'out of control'. If you think about it, there are very few situations in life that could symbolise more a feeling of being 'out of control'...... ...flying in a tin can at 400 miles an hour, two miles up in the sky ...lying on a dentists couch, with him about to stick a needle in you ...in a completely dark room, can't even see your own hand in front of you ...caught up in a large crowd of people, being dragged along with them ......you get the picture! COPROPHOBIA - fear of going to the loo (passing faeces). A fear of anything related to faeces, toilets, public toilets, being heard going to the toilet, feeling unclean or dirty generally. Another fairly common Phobia. Typically the sufferer would find it difficult (if not impossible) to use a public loo. A lot of the time the fear is specifically of losing bowel control - in public. Quite often the sufferer has very precise routines they have to adhere to - in order to be able to go to the loo. SOCIAL PHOBIA (SCOPOPHOBIA) - a fear of embarassing, or humiliating 'on the spot' type situations (in public). SOCIAL PHOBIA is probably the most common phobia there is; a pervasive fear of any situation where the sufferer is likely to feel 'on the spot', embarassed, humiliated or judged - for example; dinner parties, public speaking, interviews, appearing in court etc. Associated symptoms: sensitivity to criticism, neagtive self image, fear of rejection, difficulty in being assertive and feelings of inferiority . On a more general level, the social phobic worries continuously about how others 'see' them, and what others may think about them - it is not surprising then that the sufferer usually spends a lot of time creating the image they want others to see. Usually the social phobic is quite adept at concealing their anxiety from others, although there is quite often a difficulty in maintaining eye contact. In a clinical setting (in the U.S.A.) somewhere between 3 and 13% of people had social phobia. Social phobia generally starts in the mid -teens (although it often follows on from just being 'shy') or can be triggered off by a particularly embarassing event. As with all phobias, stress (or the lack of it) will have a significant effect on the 'strength' of the anxiety created. In the D.S.M.4 (the Mental Health 'Bible') the main criteria for social phobia is listed as; A marked and persistent fear of one or more social or performance situations in which the person is exposed to unfamiliar people or to possible scrutiny by others. The individual fears that he/she will act in a way that will be humiliating or embarassing. SHY BLADDER - the inability to urinate in front of others. Shy bladder is one of the most common symptoms that men consult me for. Men with shy bladder (and it is usually only men who get shy bladder - for obvious reasons) have a great difficulty urinating in front of other people, or in a place that they are unfamiliar with. As with all phobias, the severity of the symptoms can change from person to person, and also fluctuate depending on the persons stress level. i.e. some men find it a little diffilcult to urinate in a crowded toilet, some can only urinate in their own toilet (causing great difficulties - because the person has to come home from work, just to "have a pee"). Due to the embarassing nature of the symptom, it is rare that a man would consult his G.P. with the problem - and because of this, there is very little written on the subject. This site is © Mindtech Associates 2000-2005 |