Psychology

Phobia is the intense fear that is irrational to extend of forcing the affected to avoid some important activities they would otherwise be expected to do without problems any at all.  There are three different categories of phobia agoraphobia, social phobia and special phobia. Social phobia involves extreme fear of specific situations like height, depressions, flight, driving among others. Other forms of special phobia include stimulus like fear of animal and insects, fear of the nature of the environment, fear of injection or the contraction of illness.   Agoraphobia is fear which comes along with being in places within which the affected finds it hard to escape incase of any danger. Social phobia is the fear of being exposed to different social environment so that the affected may result in avoidance behavior.

Researchers have worked on numerous solutions to the problem of phobia and extreme anxiety in both children and adults. However, it is good to know that anxiety in children is almost obvious as they fear to meet strange persons, the fear to board a bus and here snoring of some animals among other.  Fortunately, this fades with time. If the fear does not fade and it impedes one to function effectively then it should be treated.

With increasing technology it and educational advances it is possible to fight phobia today.
This essay will discus about some cause of phobia and solutions of phobia as offered by psychologists at different levels of phobia.  Also, different conditions that one may find themselves in when they are phobia are also quoted in the essay.  An understanding of the psychological approaches in the solution towards phobia is highlighted.


Introduction
It is important to learn how certain fears come in to existence in our lives before embarking on the solutions to the phobia. According to the modern learning theories, phobia may develop in a person just because they fear a replay of an experience that they encountered and found it very painful or quite embarrassing to cope with.  In addition to that, phobia is suggested to get in to someone due to the low self esteem and the general feeling of helplessness in certain situations.

However, according to Klein (2006), it is suggested that phobia does not only creep in to someones life just because they had a terrible experience rather because fear results for those experiences that one can not predict their occurrences. For example, it is easy to fear a snake bite not because one had been batten before but because they hear that it is dangerous and they can not predict when the snake come by their way.  On the centrally, one may never fear cars and Lories yet they may have witnessed a road accident once or severally (Klein, 2006).  The reason is that they in most cases one can see the approaching cars and keep off the road to avoid the accident.

Researchers claim that people have phobia especially for what they may not control.  If one is caught by surprise, they feel more frustrated than if they had and accident within a more predictable environment.  For example, high grounds, lighting and thunderstorm are unpredictable.  Most people phobic people fear uncertainties. Social anxiety disorder which is the intense fear of embarrassment while in public or in social places may interfere with some persons experiences and low performance in class or the failure to even deliver good speeches.  Some phobic persons have found themselves avoiding class presentations, interviews or the attendance of public forums that would force them to participate actively (Robert, 2008).   This is very dangerous because if one does not attend to and interview they may never get a job of their interest even if they were competent.

There are different signs of social phobia for example over thinking about a presentation for long before it is due, getting sick leave while one is not sick just in finding ways to escape from the situation.  Other signs include extreme fear that people may be watching you attentively during your presentation, intense self consciousness for every slight activity or step one is about to take while in a social environment, feeling of deep humiliation when criticized or laughed at while making a presentation such that one may stop the speech or presentation at once.  Some physical signs of social anxiety include dry mouth, excessive sweating, stomach upsets, twitching, blushing, muscle tension, trembling, tight chest, shaky voice and rapid breath.

Social anxiety is not good and the affected are not condemned for it but they are advised to seek psychological assistance.  The good news with psychiatrists is that they offer advice on how to coupe with the situation and improve your condition. The most advisable behavioral changes towards the negation of social phobia include moderate drinking, avoidance of energy drinks that increase anxiety, avoid smoking and take enough sleep. Unfortunately, most phobic people tend to think that when they drink alcohol, smoke or take caffeine they would improve their condition (Rosner, 19990.  This is not the case since these drugs are bound to increases anxiety.

It is worth noting that medical assistance may be available but only short lived solutions are obtained in this.  The most effective solution is the psychologists assistance who takes the patient through a therapeutic process to cure condition fully.  For one to heal from the condition, they must also be very corporative. Some drugs given to the patients from hospitals include benzodiazepines, antidepressants and beta blockers.  Unfortunately, some of these drugs could be addictive hence not very advisable. Psychologists try as possible to diagnose the cause of the particular kind of fear that client has. After discovery, the client will receive the necessary treatment procedures to heal the condition.  Mostly, the psychologist use cognitive behavioral form to rejuvenate health lifestyles of the patients. If a patient has been on drugs, they are advised to reduce lowly by slowly until they are able to do without the drug. Alternatively, if they are not able to reduce the drug consumption and they are willing to be helped they can be introduced to anti drug therapy and some drugs may be injected into their blood stream to enable them to overcome the desire to drugs that they have been using (King, Heyne, 2005).  Once the client has done away with drug use, then the psychologist seeks to unearth the underlying despair in the clients inner person.  

Anxiety resulting from family conflict may result to low self esteem, much anger, and the feeling that one is not loved.  The overall result in this case is frustrations, fear and unpredicted levels of sadness which together lead to a condition called anorexia.  Thin body type is a common feature of those affected by this kind of disorder.  The patient may not think they are thin because unless they are told they just look at themselves on a mirror and have self justification on their body size they think that they are fat enough (Kelly, Torres, 2006).  Psychologists give advice on the change of feeding habits to improve the state.

Here are some of the most commonly used methods of therapy.  Art therapy in which the client is subjected to creative activities that can improve their mental health.  In this technique, treatment of a variety of emotional stresses or issues could be cured for both adults and children. Clients can be healed of family problems, domestic violence, abuse uneven relationships and depression.  As clients make creative drawings and designs, they gain insight and more confidence on self as well as improving their mental judgment.

Another technique used by psychologist is biofeedback method. The clients body signals such a body temperature, muscle tightness, weight and pulse rate are taken to give a feedback which is used by the therapist to assist in the control of clients distress.   The client is helped to adjust to normal body operations after these conditions are studied effectively.

Christian based therapy technique tries to assist clients by relating the current problem, the traditional and Christian way of live and advise clients on better lifestyles according to the Bible teachings.

Religious teaching in most cases is used as a source of solution to many psychological problems. Client -centered approach is another good method of psychological in which a clients idea is strengthened.  Therapist listens carefully to the clients ideas, assesses if they are correct and if they are heshe give better solutions to the same problem basing on the clients arguments (Barber, 2004).  This method aims at empowering the client and negotiating for a change in their personality.

Life coaching therapeutic approach is a technique used by therapists to assist the anxious clients in the realization of their goals and focus.  An example of such a therapeutic process is assistance offered to a client to realize their full potentials in romantic fulfillment as guided by a love coach. Cognitive behavioral therapy involves study of a clients thinking process and helping them to appreciate their work and avoid the negative thinking that they would be involved in (Cochrane, Dermot, 2008).  Clients depression and stress are reducing by more assignments. Dream analysis is a method which involves the study of a number of dreaming situations that the patient experiences and study the level of anxiety in the patient then assist them appropriately.

Other therapeutic approaches used by psychologist include, transpersonal thereapy in which enables the client to connect more to the environment, people and heightens their spirit rather than sticking to ones own feeling.  Social learning therapy a method than drives at the improvement of clients relationship with others and boost their social skills through interactive teaching processes (Ivan, Jose, 2007).

Transactional analysis, self- psychology, relational therapy, play therapy, psychoanalytic therapy, Jungian therapy and humanistic therapy are other techniques used to recover clients levels of phobia.
In general, psychologist try to find out if a patient suffers from any form of inferiority complex that could be breeding fear in their lives.  The family background is one of the best sources of information about the client great fears, determinations, goals and success already achieved.  An examination of a clients behavior is important to the psychologist in order to initiate change in behavior of the client after which treatment begins.