Anxiety, phobias and obsession

Phobias
A phobia is an anxiety disorder in which you feel intense fear of a particular object or situation, but know all the time that there is no real danger. The fear occurs whenever the object appears or the situation arises, but at other times there are no symptoms. When you are overcome by the phobia, the psychological and physical symptoms may be so severe that you become afraid of your own fear of the anxiety.

Simple phobias are those which are confined to a single class of object or situation and don't give much trouble between attacks. Most simple phobias are concerned with illness, injury and animals. Such phobias are common and probably normal in children but usually fade by early adolescence. Adult phobias usually date from early childhood and continue for many years, but a smaller number start in adult life after a very stressful experience. These phobias are more likely to respond to treatment than the long-standing variety developed in childhood. Two or three people in 100 suffer from simple phobias, roughly twice as many women as men.

Agoraphobia
Some phobias are of a more complex kind with a more generalised pattern of fear, often with other associated problems. People with agoraphobia become anxious if they have to enter public places like shops, streets or public transport unaccompanied. The symptoms are much like those of GAD but there may also be spontaneous panic attacks, depression, depersonalisation and claustrophobia. Unlike simple phobias, the situations that provoke anxiety and avoidance may gradually extend until the sufferer is more or less imprisoned in his or her own home.

Behaviour therapy, in which sufferers are exposed to the situations that bring on their phobia, combined with anxiety management, can be effective in softening the fear. In these cases, drugs are seen as a secondary treatment.

Social phobia
A person who becomes inappropriately anxious when required to appear at some social function may be suffering from social phobia. The phobia occurs if the person has to speak in public or do anything which makes them think that they will be observed or criticised.