Phobia is an extreme rational fear of something, a kind of disorder in which an individual is afraid of a situation, living creature, place or thing. Fear of something and stress reactions are probably the most fundamental of all emotions. They enable folks to go after important goals and react accordingly to dangerous situation.
The history of phobias goes farther back than humans and our consciousness. Animals develop fears of all things all the time. The name phobia came from the Roman mosaic of Phobos, god of fear, the Olympian Greek god of fear and panic. (Steven, 2016) The first written reference to phobic problems that we have is in the works of the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, who wrote about the many problems of his patients. The first modern use of the word phobia was not until the year 1786, when a writer defined the word as meaning “A fear of imaginary evil, or an undue fear of real one.” (Korgeski, 2008)
…show more content…
Such disorder is based on the patient’s experience. The American Psychiatric Association provides criteria for the diagnoses for the three different kinds of phobia; agraphia, social phobia, and specific phobia. The diagnostic criteria for Agoraphobia; the person experiences anxiety about being trapped in places situations that might be difficult or embarrassing or that might trigger a panic attack. The diagnostic criteria for Social Phobia; the person fears or is anxious about experiencing public embarrassment or humiliation in social or performance situations. Lastly, the diagnostic criteria for Specific Phobia; the person experiences excessive or irrational fear of a specific object or situation. (Swierzewski MD,