List of Phobias
A phobia is an emotional health disorder characterized by an intense fear that is disproportionate to particular objects or situations, for example, fear to enclosed spaces (claustrophobia). It is also often classed as phobias a feeling of hatred or rejection of something that, while not a disorder of emotional health, it generates many emotional, social and political problems (see xenophobia, that is, hatred of foreigners or strangers). A U.S. study by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) found that between 8.7% and 18.1% of Americans suffer from phobias. Discriminating age and gender, we found that phobias are the most common mental illness among women in all age groups and the second most common psychopathy in men over 25.
Psychological therapies that can be beneficial for people with phobias are: the technique of "immersion" or graduated exposure therapies, among which is the systematic desensitization (DS). All these techniques are part of the focus of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). In some cases, may be helpful the anti-anxiety medications. Most people with phobias realize that they are suffering from an irrational or unreasonable fear, but this recognition does not prevent further stating that intense emotional reaction to the phobic stimulus.
Graduated Exposure and CBT work with the goal of desensitizing the person and change the thought patterns that are contributing to their fear. The CBT-based techniques are often effective, as long as the person with this problem is willing to undergo a treatment that can last for several months (sometimes weeks). There are other therapeutic orientations, such as psychoanalysis or neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) that addresses these problems clinically, but their results have not been scientifically verified.
The term "phobia" can mean specific cases not linked to fear. For example, the hydrophobia is a fear of water, but also may be the inability to drink water because of a disease (see anger), or it can describe a chemical compound that repels water. For its part, photophobia and necessarily does not mean only a fear of light: it can be a physical problem in the eyes or an aversion to light which can inflame or dilate the pupil.
Phobia, as a result of more or less conscious fear accompanied by an anxious component can be expressed in many ways. There are as many phobias as people, as each individual can develop a phobia of anything, although frequently described some common types, such as agoraphobia (fear of public spaces) and claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces).
School phobia
This kind of fear is very important for its special relevance and relationship to school performance. Mendez and Macia (1990) refer to the use given by many authors to this label to refer to any problem of school attendance due to the great anxiety experienced by the child in the school context, whether the main fear is due to separation from parents, as if due to some specific aspect of the school situation. Other authors, however, prefer to talk about school refusal to refer to non-attendance of the child to school, either by the presence of a school phobia, either due to separation anxiety disorder, insisting that are different problems, because the situations that trigger it are different. School phobia refers to the rejection of a child experiences prolonged to go to school for some kind of fear related to the school situation. However, according to Ollendick and Mayer (1984), school phobia in two types of variables: a) factors associated with schooling, such as fear of a teacher, poor school performance, problems with peer relationships, problems appearance or physical defects, etc., and b) negative life events, prolonged illness, parental separation, death, etc. School phobia manifests itself through three response systems:
The motor or behavioral: the child avoids going to school or escapes from it. The component behaviors may occur through oppositional behavior: no dresses or very slowly, constantly entertaining, no breakfast, you cannot find the class materials. If he or she is forced to go back home, or if they do not attend class, roaming the campus or escaping. If he or she is taken by force, shouting, crying, kicking, shaking, and clinging to the mother or father at the time of separation. And if, for the control of parents and teachers, he or she must remain in class, their behavior can be highly disruptive, either in an active or passive.
The psychophysiological: evidenced by a significant vegetative arousal, dependent on the autonomic nervous system, in its sympathetic branch: sweating of the hands or whole body, high muscle tension, feelings of dizziness or faintness, headaches, pain stomach, vomiting, diarrhea, constant need to urinate, tachycardia, etc. and is common to find problems related to food and sleep.
The cognitive-experiential: the child shows his or her refusal to attend school. And especially there are a number of negative thoughts and images of school situations. The child usually anticipate a number of negative or unfavorable consequences tends to underestimate their own abilities or situations, you will be asked and will put bad note, the review will be very difficult, make a fool of myself, it will be blank, etc. , although there may be some truth to this as the presence of so much anxiety can interfere with attentional processes, recovery of material stored in memory, etc.