Phobias are irrational fears that cause avoidance and panic. They are relatively common anxiety disorders. Specific phobias involve fear of particular objects or situations, while social phobia involves fear of being watched or judged by others. Agoraphobia is an intense fear of feeling trapped in public places. Left untreated, phobias can worsen and negatively impact one's life. Effective treatment combines psychotherapy like cognitive behavioral therapy and exposure therapy with medications like SSRIs.

2.  An unreasonable sort of fear that can cause
avoidance and panic. Phobias are a relatively
common type of anxiety disorder.
 A persistent, abnormal, and irrational fear of a
specific thing or situation that compels one to
avoid it, despite the awareness and
reassurance that it is not dangerous. a
persistent irrational fear of an
object, situation, or activity that the person
feels compelled to avoid.

3.  Specific phobias
As its name suggests, a specific phobia
is the fear of a particular situation or
object, including anything from airplane
travel to dentists. Found in one out of
every 10 Americans, specific phobias
seem to run in families and are roughly
twice as likely to appear in women. If
the person rarely encounters the feared
object, the phobia does not cause
much harm.

4.  Social phobia
 People with social phobia have deep fears
of being watched or judged by others and
being embarrassed in public. This may
extend to a general fear of social
situations—or be more specific or
circumscribed, such as a fear of giving
speech.
 More rarely, people with social phobia may
have trouble using a public restroom, eating
in a restaurant, or signing their name in front
of others.

5.  Agoraphobia
 Is the intense fear of feeling trapped and having a
panic attack in a public place.
 An episode of spontaneous panic is usually the
initial trigger for the development of agoraphobia.
 After an initial panic attack, the person becomes
afraid of experiencing a second one. Patients
literally "fear the fear," and worry incessantly
about when and where the next attack may occur.
 As they begin to avoid the places or situations in
which the panic attack occurred, their fear
generalizes. Eventually the person completely
avoids public places. In severe cases, people with
agoraphobia can no longer leave their homes for
fear of experiencing a panic attack.

6.  Alektorophobia- Fear of  Claustrophobia: Fear of
chickens. enclosed spaces
 Acrophobia- Fear of heights.  Coulrophobia - Fear of
clowns.
 Androphobia- Fear of men.
 Dentophobia - Fear of
 Aviophobia - Fear of flying.
dentist.
 Achluophobia - Fear of
 Gamophobia - Fear of
darkness
marriage.
 Agoraphobia - Fear of open
 Homophobia: Fear and
spaces or of being in
revulsion toward
crowded, public places like
homosexuals.
markets.
 Iatrophobia - Fear of going to
 Arachnophobia - Fear of
the doctor or doctors.
spiders.
 Farmacofobia: Fear of drugs.
 Amaxofobia: Fear of
vehicles, fear of driving  Ostraconophobia - Fear of

7.  Statistics Indicate That Approximately 1 in 23
people Suffer from phobias. That's Nearly
4.25% of the population. 2.5 million in the UK.
 Only about 20% of phobias disappear on their
own for an adult.
 Approximately 4 to 5% of the U.S. population
has one or more clinically significant phobias in
a giving year. Specific phobias affect an
estimated 6.3 million Americans adults age
group in a given year, and are twice as common
in women as in men.

8.  The average age of onset for social
phobia is between 15 and 20 years of
age, although it can begin in
childhood.
 Approximately 5.3 million Americans
adults 18 to 54, or about 3.7 percent of
people in this age group in given
year, have social phobia.
 Social phobia typically begins in
childhood or adolescence.

9.  Approximately 3.2 million American
adults ages 18 to 54 (2.2%) have
agoraphobia.

10.  While there is no one specific known cause for
phobias, although research suggests the
tendency to develop phobias may be a
complex interaction between heredity and
environment. and can be triggered by life
events.
 Immediate family members of people with
phobias are about three times more likely to
also suffer from a phobia than those who do
not have such a family history. People whose
parents either were overly protective or were
distant in raising them may be at more risk of
developing phobias.

11.  Phobia sufferers have been found to be more
likely to manage stress by avoiding the stressful
situation and by having difficulty minimizing the
intensity of the fearful situation. Another possible
contributor to the development of phobias is
classical conditioning.
 As it relates to phobias, in classical conditioning, a
person responds to something frightening by
generalizing the fear of that specific object or
situation to more generalized objects or situations.
For example, an individual may respond to a real
threat by one dog to a fear of all dogs.

12.  If left untreated, a phobia may worsen to
the point in which the person's life is
seriously affected, both by the phobia
itself and/or by attempts to avoid or
conceal it. For example, a fear of flying
can result in the individual being unable
to travel. In fact, some people have had
problems with friends and family, failed
in school, and/or lost jobs while
struggling to cope with a severe phobia.

13.  There may be periods of spontaneous
improvement, but a phobia does not usually go
away unless the person receives treatments
designed specifically to help phobia sufferers.
Alcoholics can be up to 10 times more likely to
suffer from a phobia than those who are not
alcoholics, and phobic individuals can be twice
as likely to suffer from an alcohol addiction
than those who have never been phobic. It
has even been found that phobic anxiety can
be life-threatening for some people, increasing
the risk of suffering from heart disease in both
men and women.

14.  Symptoms of phobias often involve having a
panic attack in that they include feelings of
panic, dread, or terror, despite recognition that
those feelings are excessive in relationship to
any real danger as well as physical symptoms
like shaking, sweating, trouble thinking
clearly, nausea, rapid heart beat, trouble
breathing, and an overwhelming desire to
escape the situation that is causing the phobic
reaction. Also, extreme measures are
sometimes taken to avoid or escape the
situation.

15.  Helping those who suffer from phobias is
thought to be most effective when
psychotherapy and medications that are
specific to the treatment of phobia are both
used. One form of psychotherapy involves
the supportive and gradual exposure of the
individual with phobias to circumstances
that are increasingly close to the one they
are phobic about (desensitization). These
situations can either consist of actual or
computer-generated anxiety-provoking
stimuli.

16.  Cognitive behavioral therapy(CBT) has been found to
significantly decrease phobic symptoms by helping the
phobia sufferer change his or her way of thinking. CBT
uses three techniques to accomplish this goal:
 Didactic component: This phase involves educating the
individual about phobias and treatment and helps to set
up positive expectations for therapy and promote the
cooperation of the person with a phobia.
 Cognitive component: It helps to identify the thoughts and
assumptions that influence the person's
behavior, particularly those that may predispose him or
her to being phobic.
 Behavioral component: This employs behavior-modifying
techniques to teach the individual with a phobia more
effective strategies for dealing with problems.

17.  Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medications are
often used to treat phobias, particularly when desensitization
and CBT are inadequately effective. These medications affect
levels of serotonin in the brain. Examples of these medications
include fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), paroxetine
(Paxil), fluvoxamine (Luvox), citalopram (Celexa), and
escitalopram (Lexapro).
 The possible side effects of these medications can vary
greatly from person to person and depend on which
medication is being used. Common side effects of this group
of medications include dry mouth, sexual dysfunction, nausea,
tremors, trouble sleeping, blurred vision, constipation or soft
stools, and dizziness. In very rare cases, some people have
been thought to become more acutely more anxious or
depressed once on the medication, even trying to or
completing suicide or homicide. Children and teens are
thought to be particularly vulnerable to this rare possibility.

18.  Phobias are also sometimes treated using beta-
blocker medications, which decrease the physical
symptoms associated with panic by blocking the
effects that adrenaline has on the body. An example
of a beta blocker is propranolol.
 These disorders are less commonly treated with
drugs in a medication class known as
benzodiazepines. This class of medications causes
relaxation but is used much less often these days to
treat anxiety due to the possibility of addiction and
the risk of overdose, especially if taken when alcohol
is also being consumed. Examples of medications
from that group include diazepam (Valium),
alprazolam (Xanax), lorazepam (Ativan), and
clonazepam (Klonopin).

19.  Phobias are a serious problem. But if the
persons now how to now the signs or
deferent's
 Las fobias son un serio problema debido a
que en un extremo caso afectan el diario vivir
de una persona. Estas pueden tener
tratamiento si las personas cercanas saben
reconocer la diferencia entre el miedo y el
pánico, cuando ocurre una situación. Las
fobias se pueden superar cuando se busca
ayuda de un profesional. Para mi lo mas
importante es el apoyo de la familia.

20. Http://www.fobias.net/
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Phobias
http://www.phobias-help.com/phobia_statistics.html
www.medicineNet.com

21. Puntos para yo hablar
 Reactions that are automatic and uncontrollable, practically taking
over the person’s thoughts
 Specific phobia-However, if the feared object or situation is
common, it can seriously disrupt everyday life. Common examples
of specific phobias, which can begin at any age, include fear of
snakes, flying, dogs, escalators, elevators, high places, or open
spaces.
 Social phobia-It is not unusual for people with social phobia to turn
down job offers or avoid relationships because of their fears.