The word phobia itself in Greek means “fear”, “fear”. In life, we all experience fear of certain objects or phenomena: someone is afraid of crowded places or heights, someone is afraid of closed spaces, darkness, others are afraid of insects, snakes or small animals.
In itself, fear is not something wrong – it is a natural reaction of the body to danger. However, sometimes the feeling of fear is “disproportionate” to the object or situation with which it is caused. This forces a person to completely avoid encountering sources of fear, even if in fact they do not pose a real danger to him. In this case, we can talk about the presence of a phobia.

Phobias are characterized by the following manifestations:

– o the presence of intense, excessive and persistent fear regarding a certain situation, activity, animal or other object – the object of the phobia;
– o the desire to avoid a collision with the object of phobia by all available means;
– o in anticipation of a collision with the object of the phobia or in his presence, a feeling of intense anxiety that can develop into panic. The degree of anxiety tends to increase with the approach of an object in space or time, even if it is possible to control or get rid of the object.
– o fear and attempts to avoid an object or situation is a source of feelings and seriously limits daily activities, social and work life, relationships with others, having a negative impact on the listed areas of existence and thereby worsening the quality of life of an individual.

As a rule, the subject of a phobia is capable of a sober assessment of his reactions and understands that his anxiety is not justified, his fear is irrational, and his reactions are exaggerated, but nevertheless, he continues to experience these feelings and cannot cope with them. A person is in what is known as a “learned helplessness” situation, where he cannot overcome his fears, feeling that certain situations are out of his control. That is, awareness of the groundlessness of fear does not prevent its emergence.

The phobia periodically disappears along with the disappearance of the object of the phobia. But in reality, anxiety remains – this is the so-called “preventive anxiety”, caused by the constant fear at any moment to meet again with the source of fear.

When the object Phobias can be easily identified, then one speaks of specific phobias. Often they are directed at animals, objects of the environment or nature (for example, water, height, blood, needles, wounds), specific situations (claustrophobia – fear of closed spaces, when a person is afraid to use an elevator, walk along long narrow corridors, be in a car and etc.).

The most effective search for methods of dealing with pathological fears occurs with the participation of a psychotherapist. Now there are many developed methods of treatment, the main among which are strategic and conscious-behavioral approaches, which consist in the reorganization of the consciousness and disturbing behavior of the patient, in which the patient is calmed down, he is inspired with confidence and instructions are given for behavior in frightening situations.

The main goal of psychotherapy is to get rid of the subject’s sensitivity to the object of the phobia, which starts from a progressive reduction to its complete disappearance. In other words, the subject is artificially placed in a situation of fear, complicating it from safe to more real, and he develops the “correct” reactions.

For example, if a person is afraid of dogs, then they are shown photographs of these animals, a film can be shown with their appearance on the screen, then they can show a real dog at a safe distance, gradually bringing it closer, offering him to stroke it, and so on.

In some cases, the problem is treated with a combination of psychotherapy and drug methods: mainly with the use of mild tranquilizers that block the biological mechanisms of fear.