Phobias are irrational, intense, persistent fears of certain activities, situations, objects or people. They vary in severity among individuals. Some people can simply avoid the subject of their fear and suffer only relatively mild anxiety over that fear. Others suffer fully-fledged panic attacks with all the associated disabling symptoms. Sufferers experience a level of anxiety so great that it prevents them from normal behaviour or causes them great distress when they are compelled to face their fear. These fears are beyond one’s control, and often interfere with daily life.
Most individuals understand that they are suffering from an irrational fear, but feel powerless to override their initial panic reaction.
The seeding of many phobias can be traced back to a combination of psychological predispositions and external events, possibly a traumatic experience, exposure to a situation or set of circumstances. The phobia can remain dormant until the seeding event is re-encountered when they are triggered.
All phobias are treatable, from the common ones such as claustrophobia (enclosed spaces), acrophobia (heights), flying, spiders etc. to the less common such as fear of feet, pantomime characters, water, fear of the new or change, opening presents etc.