What is a phobia? A phobia is an irrational fear, a kind of anxiety disorder in which the person has a relentless dread of a situation, living creature, place or thing. People that have phobias go to great measure to avoid what they believe are a danger, which is much greater in their minds than in real life. If faced with the source of their phobia, the person may suffer distress, which can interfere with their normal function; it can sometimes lead to total panic. It can be so extreme that for some people, even thinking about their phobia is stressful. A phobia starts when a person begins organizing their lives around trying to avoid their fear. Sadly for most people with phobias, it is way past a simple fear. For many people with phobias,…show more content… What is mainly being focused on here is Germaphobia. According to my research, Germaphobia is not really about germs at all. Instead, it is a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), an abnormality in the brain’s circuitry. While they’re a variety of ranges of OCD, the commonality of the disorder is that individuals who have a tendency to repeat a behavior that will help them cope with the anxiety caused by an irrational, intrusive thought. “People with OCD develop rituals to help them cope with the obsessive thoughts that come out of nowhere,” says Jair Soares, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UT Health) Medical School. Sadly these habits can ruin their life and take time away from other activities and prevent them from doing things they should be doing. It is true that many of us enjoy a clean home, car, office, and without a doubt wash our hands after using the restroom, but for a person who suffers…show more content… • Panic and intense anxiety, which may include:
Sweating, abnormal breathing, accelerated heartbeat, trembling, hot flushes or chills, a sensation of choking, chest pains, chest tightness, butterflies in the stomach, pins and needles, dry mouth, confusion and disorientation, nausea, dizziness, and headache.
• A feeling of anxiety when the actual fear is not there but is simply thought about over and over again.
“It is unusual for a phobia to start after the age of 30; most of them begin during early childhood, teenage years or early adulthood. A stressful situation or experience, a frightening event, or a parent or household member who has a phobia, which the child becomes progressively aware of, can cause them. (Nordqvist, 2014).” In some cases it may be the result of something that occurred early in life. “The trigger might have been an unpleasant experience in a confined space, which festered and developed into claustrophobia over time. (Nordqvist, 2014).” It is also common that a family member's phobia can generate a phobia for his/hers
