Phobias

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• QWhy do we often freeze up during public speaking?

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  A Dr. Michael Roizen, MD , Internal Medicine, answered

  This response is called tonic immobility, and it's not be confused with the inability to walk out of a bar after a half-dozen cocktails. The response is common in animals that are avoiding other predators.
  
  See, most animals will not eat meat that they didn't kill, so if you're caught and play dead, a predator will pass by. This same instinct is sometimes stimulated by our autopilot nervous system to make us feel like a Volkswagen in two feet of mud-completely stuck and paralyzed about spinning our wheels trying to get out of the situation.
  
  The solution: Focus by speaking to one person during group talks, then move to another. We do that too.
• QWhen does social phobia start?

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  A Portsmouth Regional Hospital answered

  Social phobia usually starts during the child or teen years, usually at about age 13. A doctor can tell that a person has social phobia if the person has had symptoms for at least six months. Without treatment, social phobia can last for many years or a lifetime.

  This answer is based on source information from the National Institute of Mental Health.

• QWhat are the common symptoms of people with social phobia?

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  A Dr. Michael J. Mufson, MD , Psychiatry, answered

  The symptoms of social phobia include:
  

  • Extreme uneasiness, self-consciousness, and fear of embarrassment in ordinary social situations.
  • Avoidance of parties and social gatherings.
  • Blushing, sweating, trembling, nausea, and difficulty talking in social situations, possibly coupled with the sensation that all eyes are turned on you.
  • In some cases, panic attack (marked by shortness of breath, sweating, palpitations, chest pain, or a smothering sensation) triggered by social gatherings.

  
  

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• QWho pays for treatment of social phobia?

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  A Portsmouth Regional Hospital answered

  Most insurance plans cover treatment for anxiety disorders. People who are going to have treatment should check with their own insurance companies to find out about coverage. For people who don't have insurance, local city or county governments may offer treatment at a clinic or health center, where the cost is based on income. Medicaid plans also may pay for social phobia treatment.

  This information is based on source information from the National Institute of Mental Health.

• QWhy do people get social phobia?

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  A Portsmouth Regional Hospital answered

  Social phobia sometimes runs in families, but no one knows for sure why some people have it, while others don't. Researchers have found that several parts of the brain are involved in fear and anxiety. By learning more about fear and anxiety in the brain, scientists may be able to create better treatments. Researchers are also looking for ways in which stress and environmental factors may play a role.
  
  This answer is based on source information from the National Institute of Mental Health.
• QWhat is the treatment for social phobia?

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  A Dr. Michael J. Mufson, MD , Psychiatry, answered

  In the treatment of social phobia, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are usually tried first, often with benzodiazepines. Some antidepressants -- including venlafaxine (Effexor) -- are also effective. Monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors are sometimes prescribed for people who don't respond to SSRIs.
  
  Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is usually combined with medication in treating social phobia. Two forms of CBT are especially beneficial: anxiety management training and cognitive restructuring. Anxiety management focuses on teaching relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing, to help control anxiety. Cognitive restructuring teaches people how to recognize the thought processes that lead to the phobia and replace them with new assessments and expectations. Group CBT and advice on improving social skills can also help build confidence in social situations.

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• QWhat is social phobia or social anxiety disorder?

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  A Dr. Michael J. Mufson, MD , Psychiatry, answered

  People with social phobia feel a persistent and powerful uneasiness, self-consciousness, and fear of humiliation in ordinary social situations with unfamiliar people or where scrutiny by others is possible. These situations usually cause anxiety and sometimes a panic attack. Social phobia often leads people to avoid parties and other gatherings. Adults with social phobia realize that their fear is excessive or unreasonable, but most children do not.
  
  

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• QWhat is a specific phobia?

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  A Portsmouth Regional Hospital answered

  A specific phobia is an intense, irrational fear of something that poses little or no actual danger. Some of the more common specific phobias are centered around closed-in places, heights, escalators, tunnels, highway driving, water, flying, dogs, and injuries involving blood. Such phobias aren't just extreme fear; they are irrational fear of a particular thing. You may be able to ski the world's tallest mountains with ease but be unable to go above the 5th floor of an office building. While adults with phobias realize that these fears are irrational, they often find that facing, or even thinking about facing, the feared object or situation brings on a panic attack or severe anxiety.

  Specific phobias affect an estimated 19.2 million adult Americans and are twice as common in women as men. They usually appear in childhood or adolescence and tend to persist into adulthood. The causes of specific phobias are not well understood, but there is some evidence that the tendency to develop them may run in families.

  If the feared situation or feared object is easy to avoid, people with specific phobias may not seek help; but if avoidance interferes with their careers or their personal lives, it can become disabling and treatment is usually pursued.

  This answer is based on source information from the National Institute of Mental Health.

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• QWhat is xenophobia?

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  A Katherine Lee , Social Work, answered on behalf of Tarzana Treatment Centers

  Xenophobia is an irrational and abnormal fear of and/or hatred towards strangers and/or foreigners.

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• QWhat is a phobia?

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  A Dr. Michael J. Mufson, MD , Psychiatry, answered

  A specific phobia is extreme fear of situations that pose little or no danger, or that are no more dangerous than other situations that don't induce fear. Common phobias include fear of flying, heights, animals, insects, injections, and the sight of blood. Facing the situation or object that induces the phobia produces anxiety immediately, sometimes in the form of a panic attack. Children may cry, have tantrums, freeze, or cling to an adult. Although adults with phobias realize that their fears are excessive or unreasonable, they try to avoid the situations that provoke them. They may refuse to fly in an airplane or visit the home of a friend who has a dog. But this avoidance may interfere with their ability to function normally at work, at school, or in social situations. Many people with this condition also have social phobia, a fear of social situations.

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