How Anxiety Can Heighten Your Phobias
What’s the difference between being fearful and having a phobia – and aren’t they the same thing? No, they’re not. If your heart beats a little faster at the thought of entering your unlit bedroom at night, you are afraid of the dark. You’ll probably rush over to the light switch and then carry on as usual. Someone who has Nyctophobia – an extreme fear of the dark or the night – will be paralysed with fear and break out in a sweat, their heart rate will increase dramatically. They won’t be able to move.
What starts out as anxiety may develop into a phobia and because of the underlying anxiety, the phobia can become increasingly severe. It’s a vicious cycle that can only be stopped by treating the anxiety first.
While many people can talk themselves out of fear, those with a phobia can’t, often because their anxiety affects the way they see the world and process experiences. The worse the anxiety, the worse the phobia becomes, which in turn increases the anxiety, and the self-destructive cycle continues.
Phobias, which are classified as an anxiety disorder, can be debilitating, making it difficult and, sometimes impossible, to function normally. They’re divided into three categories:
- Social phobias involve anxiety in social or public situations and certain types of encounters with others. A fear of public speaking is a common social phobia.
- Agoraphobia is the fear of being trapped in a place or situation you won’t be able to escape. In severe cases, agoraphobics become isolated in their homes, feeling unable to leave.
- Specific phobias involve an irrational fear of an object or situation that’s out of proportion to the risk involved. Common situational phobias include fear of flying, of travelling on public transport, of elevators, the dark and heights. Fear of spiders, dogs, clowns and germs are just a few of the hundreds of common specific phobias.
People with phobias see the worst-case-scenario as the inevitable one: if they get into that lift, it will get stuck – and not for minutes or hours, but days. If they speak in public, there’s no doubt that they’ll humiliate themselves. If they use restaurant cutlery, the germs they carry will make them deathly ill, and so on.
Phobias and anxiety rob people of enjoying the company of others and the myriad experiences the world has to offer. The first step in the healing process is to seek the help of experienced and highly-qualified professionals to first deal with the underlying anxiety and then the phobia. When the anxiety is under control, the fearfulness that created the phobia may disappear or become manageable – ending the destructive cycle.
Take back control and learn how to stop destructive thoughts so they don’t stop you from living your best life. Book an appointment at Psylegal today.
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