THE PUNCH
A phobia is a kind of anxiety disorder that makes a person react in an extreme and irrational manner to a given situation. The situation may have to do with contact with a living creature such as a cockroach or a rat, a place, or an object or perhaps a particular situation such as seeing the erect penis of a urinating man by a woman who has been raped before. A phobia, therefore, is an unusual mental condition that causes a person to respond in an uncontrolled manner to any of the situations we have described above.
It is regarded as a mental disorder with the capacity to prevent a sufferer from being able to function optimally or even normally in a given situation. People who experience phobias will go to extreme lengths to avoid the source of their fear. Most people will respond with a sudden, intense fear to whatever upsets them mentally and psychologically in a panic attack that can last for several minutes. This kind of fearful reaction to an object, living thing or situation would typically have been present in the affected individual for a period exceeding six months. Many times, this irrational fear is directed at something that is most unlikely to cause any harm. Despite that known quantity, sufferers are not often persuaded that there can be no harm resulting from contact with the situations that they fear. Such fears can cause functional impairment or disruptions to their lifestyle.
The various descriptions used above essentially demonstrate that there is a marked difference between fear and phobia. Fear is a temporary disruption due to a specific event while a phobia tends to be permanent. As a means to distinguish the two, we will recall here that about two years ago, we discussed the fright, fight and flight response, which typically determines the range of options that our brains evaluate and act upon when we are faced with danger. When the brain perceives such dangers, it activates an internal alarm system which serves to warn you of the relevant danger. It is a measure of self-preservation that we feel fear. When there is no fear, human beings will be putting themselves in immense danger and some of these may be life-threatening and so, it is proper for the brain to prime the individual to respond as appropriate. On the other hand, a phobia is a system that pushes that early warning system of the brain into overdrive, in which case the degree of danger is overestimated, such that the reaction is also too much in reaction to the overstated danger. The brain then teaches itself to avoid that kind of situation in the future. This linkage firmly establishes the connection between a particular event and the response it provokes. Therefore, one of the ways in which this abnormal situation can be treated is to help people understand that the situation is an exaggerated response to a normal provocation.
