Have you been scared lately? If your fears return and restrict your daily life,
it could be a phobia, a form of anxiety disorder. The main symptom of a phobia
is an intense and persistent fear of certain situations, activities, objects,
animals or people. Usually this fear is irrational, and often there is no
specific previous experience that could have triggered the phobia. Phobics try
the utmost to avoid fear-prone situations - often to such an extent that their
fear begins to interfere with daily life and increasingly dominates their
thinking.
A former patient of mine would feel uncomfortable in normal
social situations such as parties or business meetings and tried to avoid them
if possible. Eating and drinking in public was also a problem for him and led to
great internal stresses. This special form of phobia is called ‘social phobia’,
as it relates to other people or social situations. Performance anxiety (the
fear of giving speeches or performing on a stage), is something that affects
many people, and is also a form of social phobia.
One of the difficulties in treating phobias is that rational
explanations and efforts of relatives and friends almost never help, and
sometimes even increase the internal pressure. Also, ‘exposure therapy’, which
is a popular theme for TV shows on the topic, showed only limited long-term
success for most people. Success, however, can be achieved with modern
psychotherapeutic approaches, like hypnotherapy and solution-oriented
counseling. In severe cases of phobia, medication can help the patient get
started in therapy and counseling. Going forward, continuous work on the problem
is crucial to avoid falling back into the old patterns of fear.
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Live the happy life you planned! Richard L.
Fellner is head of the Counseling Center Pattaya in Soi Kopai and
offers consultations in English and German languages after making an
appointment at 0854 370 470. |
