Anxiety Counselor Explains Phobias: Causes, Types, and Treatments That Work
Anxiety Counselor Explains Phobias: Causes, Types, and Treatments That Work
Written by: Lauran Hahn, LMHC
You know you have irrational fears that are holding you back. You want to move forward in your life, but these fears keep you stuck. Maybe it’s turning down a promotion at work that involves travel or delaying that long-planned trip to Europe because you’re afraid of flying. Or perhaps you have a fear of insects that prevents you from a backpacking adventure because you can’t imagine sleeping in places crawling with insects. For someone with a phobia, these reactions aren't just nerves. They're overwhelming waves of fear that seem impossible to control. But you're not powerless. And you're definitely not alone. According to the National Institutes of Mental Health, about 12.5% of adult Americans experience a specific phobia sometime in their life.
People have many questions about phobias when they come for anxiety therapy, like how phobias develop, how they affect daily life, or what is the common treatment for phobias? In this article, I will walk through each of these questions and more to help you understand where your phobia symptoms come from and what type of therapy is best for phobias.
What is a Phobia?
A phobia is an irrational, overwhelming fear that leads you to avoid objects, animals, activities, or situations that trigger it. Although you know these things do not pose a real danger and that your fear is irrational, just thinking about them makes your heart race.
If you experience a phobia that has never been diagnosed or treated, you may have a lot of unanswered questions, such as whether phobias can be genetic or where they come from. You may not be aware of how phobias affect your daily life, impact your school or work, or strain your relationships. Anxiety Therapy in Orlando can give you answers to these questions and provide you with the tools and strategies to cope and overcome your fear.
How Does a Phobia Develop?
Each person's experience with a phobia is different. For some people, it's about the inherited vulnerability and a family history of anxiety and phobias. For others, it's a learned behavior. If you grew up with a parent who was often anxious, experienced panic attacks, or had an intense fear of harmless things, you might have learned to react the same way by simply observing their behavior. Some people develop a phobia as a response to a traumatic experience. And… some are more sensitive by nature; personality traits such as high sensitivity or a tendency to worry can make some individuals more vulnerable to developing a phobia. While these traits alone won't cause a phobia, they can keep you stuck in fear, which makes it hard to let go of anxiety once it starts.
So, where do phobias come from? In short, there is no one single factor that causes a phobia. Phobias commonly develop due to a combination of factors such as:
Genetics
Environmental factors
Personality traits
Traumatic experiences
Learned behaviors
Ultimately, whether someone develops a phobia or not depends on a complex interplay of these factors, rather than any single cause
Can Phobias be Genetic?
Yes, they can. While hereditary factors are rarely the single cause of a phobia, research shows that anxiety disorders, like agoraphobia and other phobias, can have a strong genetic influence.
When Does a Phobia Develop?
Most people typically develop a phobia during childhood, adolescence, or early adulthood, most commonly as a result of a stressful situation, frightening, or traumatic event. Psychologists explain that single or specific phobias, such as a fear of spiders or small spaces, typically develop in childhood, whereas we usually pick up complex phobias, like social phobia, at a later age.
As an anxiety therapist, I worked with a client who had gone through a highly stressful accident on a boat while on a family day cruise in Greece. The commercial vessel they were traveling on was caught in powerful waves. Although nobody from her family got hurt, the scenes of terrified passengers, dishes shattering everywhere, water rushing in, and the eventual evacuation onto another boat left a deep mark. For years afterward, she struggled with intense fear every time she traveled, even on a short ferry ride.
How Many Phobias are Out There?
There are hundreds, even thousands, of known phobias, with new ones being identified regularly. However, all of these phobias can be divided into three large groups:
Specific phobias: an intense and irrational fear of one particular object, such as claustrophobia (fear of small or enclosed spaces) and arachnophobia (fear of spiders).
Agoraphobia: The fear of open or crowded public spaces that often leads to panic attacks in feared situations.
Social phobias: An extreme discomfort around social situations marked by a persistent, excessive fear of criticism and judgment from others.
Which Phobias are the Most Common?
Social phobia, known as social anxiety disorder, is fairly common. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about 7 out of every 100 adults in the U.S. experience it in any given year, and women are slightly more likely than men to be affected. Throughout a lifetime, roughly 1 in 8 adults will encounter challenges related to social anxiety disorder at some time.
How Phobias Affect Daily Life?
A phobia can significantly impact your everyday life. You feel embarrassed after having a meltdown at a birthday party. Perhaps you avoid going on vacations or have to decline job opportunities that involve travel because of fear of flying (aerophobia). You lose it when you see a spider or a mouse in a room. Or, you avoid social get-togethers, corporate events, and large family gatherings for fear of judgment and embarrassment. Or you have a panic attack at the mall, and then you start avoiding malls, concerts, parties, clubs, restaurants… until eventually, you can't push yourself to leave your home.
You organize your life to make sure you never come into contact with the things you fear. But at the same time, you feel trapped by routines that keep you "safe." You feel both terrified and frustrated by your fear because you know you cannot control it, even though the chances of something bad happening are almost zero.
Because phobias usually trigger intense emotional and physical responses, they lead you to avoid objects, situations, or events you fear. This can restrict your daily activities, making work, school, and social life unbearable.
What Type of Therapy is Best for Phobias?
When it comes to psychotherapy, Exposure Therapy, a form of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), is considered the most effective treatment for specific phobias. However, at Mindful Living Counseling, we employ other therapeutic approaches that have been proven helpful for phobias, such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).
Does EMDR Work for Phobias?
Yes, EMDR can help with phobias, especially if they have resulted from a traumatic experience that overwhelms our nervous system's ability to cope. When we experience intense stress or trauma and we don't process this experience, both our mind and body can remain stuck in it. So, how do phobias develop from such experiences? If your trauma remains unresolved, then eventually, whenever something triggers a memory of that experience, your mind and body might begin to react as though the past is repeating itself, even though you're not aware of this on a conscious level.
EMDR is a therapy that helps heal the root causes of a phobia by helping you reprocess and reframe traumatic memories, so your body and brain can heal at a deep level.
Ready to Tackle a Phobia with Anxiety Therapy Orlando?
If you are ready to confront your fears so that you can fully show up to your life now, reach out to us. We are here to walk with you on your healing journey.
Not Quite Ready for Anxiety Therapy?
At Mindful Living Counseling, we know how overwhelming anxiety feels, and you don’t have to face it alone. We invite you to explore the blogs below for more guidance and support.
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Other Therapy Services Offered at Mindful Living Counseling in Orlando
We offer a variety of therapy services, including EMDR therapy, Trauma Therapy, Eating Disorder Therapy, Teen Therapy, and Toxic Relationship Therapy. Additionally, we provide Guided Meditations for our clients.
Anxiety Therapist Lauran Hahn
Lauran Hahn is the owner of Mindful Living Counseling in Orlando and specializes in helping clients manage anxiety and trauma. She is certified as a Sensorimotor Psychotherapist and an EMDR Therapist, and is recognized as an EMDRIA Approved Consultant. Lauran’s goal is to help individuals achieve a sense of calm in their bodies, peace in their minds, and connection in their relationships.