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Top Ten Phobias

People Suffer From Myriads of Different Phobias
But the Top Ten Most Prevalent Are Listed Below

#7 Acrophobia - The Fear of Heights

Acrophobia is defined as a fear of heights. It is different from aerophobia, or fear of flying, as well as other similar specific phobias, because this fear is more generalized. Depending on the phobia's severity, an acrophobic person may equally fear being on a high floor of a building, climbing a ladder and any other activity that involves being at height.

Acrophobia and Vertigo

Acrophobia is sometimes confused with vertigo. Vertigo is a specific medical condition that causes a sensation of spinning and dizziness. The fear caused by acrophobia can sometimes cause a similar feeling, but the two conditions are not the same. If you experience a sensation of vertigo, it is important to see a doctor for tests. Medical tests may include bloodwork, CT scans and MRIs, which can rule out a variety of neurological conditions. Only a medical professional can determine the cause of vertigo.

Symptoms of Acrophobia

If you experience acrophobia, you may never experience vertigo symptoms. Instead, you may feel a sense of panic when at height. You may instinctively begin to search for something to cling to. You may find that you are unable to trust your own sense of balance. Common reactions include descending immediately, crawling on all fours and kneeling or otherwise lowering the body.

Emotionally and physically, the response to acrophobia is similar to the response to any other phobia. You may begin to shake, sweat, experience heart palpitations and even cry or yell out. You may feel terrified and paralyzed. It might become difficult to think.

If you have acrophobia, it is likely that you will begin to dread situations that may cause you to spend time at height. For example, you may worry that an upcoming vacation will put you into a hotel room on a high floor. You may put off home repairs for fear of using a ladder. You might avoid visiting friends’ homes if they have balconies or upstairs picture windows.

Danger of Acrophobia

The biggest danger that most phobias present is the risk of limiting one’s life and activities to avoid the feared situation. Acrophobia is unusual, however, in that having a panic attack while high in the air could actually lead to the imagined danger.

The situation may be safe as long as normal precautions are taken, but panicking could lead you to make unsafe moves. Therefore, it is extremely important that acrophobia be professionally treated as quickly as possible, particularly if heights are a regular part of your life.

Causes of Acrophobia

Research shows that a certain amount of reluctance around heights is normal, not only for humans but for all visual animals. In 1960, famed research psychologists Gibson and Walk did a “Visual Cliff” experiment which showed crawling infants, along with babies of numerous species, who refused to cross a thick glass panel that covered an apparently sharp drop-off. The presence of the infant’s mother, encouragingly calling him, did not convince the babies that it was safe.

Therefore, acrophobia seems to be at least partially ingrained, possibly as an evolutionary survival mechanism. Nonetheless, most children and adults use caution but are not inordinately afraid of heights. Acrophobia, like all phobias, appears to be a hyper-reaction of the normal fear response. Many experts believe that this may be a learned response to either a previous fall or a parent’s nervous reaction to heights.

Treating Acrophobia

Cognitive-behavioral therapy, or CBT, is a main treatment of choice for specific phobias. Behavioral techniques that expose the sufferer to the feared situation either gradually (systematic desensitization) or rapidly (flooding) are frequently used. In addition, the client is taught ways of stopping the panic reaction and regaining emotional control.

Traditionally, actual exposure to heights is the most common solution. However, several research studies performed since 2001 have shown that virtual reality may be just as effective. A major advantage of virtual reality treatment is the savings in both cost and time, as there is no need for “on-location” therapist accompaniment. More research will need to be conducted before this method becomes a readily available option, but if it is available it may be worth trying.

Acrophobia appears to be rooted in an evolutionary safety mechanism. Nonetheless, it represents an extreme variation on a normal caution, and can become quite life-limiting for sufferers. It can also be dangerous for those who experience a full panic reaction while at a significant height. Acrophobia can share certain symptoms with vertigo, a medical disorder with a variety of possible causes. For these reasons, if you experience the signs of acrophobia, it is extremely important to seek professional help as soon as possible.

_Sources:

_{Gibson, E. J., & Walk, R. D. “The ‘visual cliff’." Scientific
American. 1960. 202, 67–71. May 5, 2008. Retrieved from http://www.wadsworth.com/psychology_d/templates/student_resources/0155060678_rathus/ps/ps05.html}

_{Emmelkamp, Paul, Bruynzeel, Mary, Drost, Leonie, van der Mast,
Charles. “Virtual Reality Treatment in Acrophobia: A Comparison with
Exposure in Vivo” CyberPsychology & Behavior. June 1, 2001,
4(3): 335-339. May 5, 2008.}

# 2. Social Phobia - Fear of Interaction

Social anxiety is the fear of social situations and the interaction with other people that can automatically bring on feelings of self-consciousness, judgment, evaluation, and criticism. Put another way, social anxiety is the fear and anxiety of being judged and evaluated negatively by other people, leading to feelings of inadequacy, embarrassment, humiliation, and depression. If a person usually becomes anxious in social situations, but seems fine when they are alone, then "social anxiety" may be the problem.

Social anxiety disorder (social phobia) is a much more common problem than past estimates have led us to believe. Millions of people all over the world suffer from this devastating and traumatic problem every day of their lives, either from a specific social phobia or from a more generalized social phobia. In the United States, epidemiological studies have recently pegged social anxiety disorder as the third largest psychological disorder in the country.

A specific social phobia would be the fear of speaking in front of groups, whereas generalized social anxiety indicates that the person is anxious, nervous, and uncomfortable in almost all (or the majority of) social situations.

People with social anxiety disorder usually experience significant emotional distress in the following situations:

Being introduced to other people

Being teased or criticized

Being the center of attention

Being watched while doing something

Meeting people in authority ("important people")

Most social encounters, particularly with strangers

Making "small talk" at parties

Going around the room in a circle and having to say something

#1 Arachnophobia - Fear of Spiders

# 3. Necrophobia - The Fear Of Death

All have to come to grips with their own mortality, however, millions of people constantly worry about dying daily. Many stay hidden away in their homes, in fear of interacting with situations in order to somehow cheat death.

Thanatophobia, or fear of death, is a relatively complicated phobia. Many, if not most, people are afraid of dying. Some people fear being dead, while others are afraid of the actual act of dying. However, if the fear is so prevalent as to affect your daily life, then you might have a full-blown phobia.

Religious Issues

Many people’s fear of death is tied into their religious beliefs, particularly if they happen to be going through a period of questioning. Some people think that they know what will happen after death, but worry that they may be wrong. Some believe that the path to salvation is very straight and narrow, and fear that any deviations or mistakes may cause them to be eternally condemned.

Religious beliefs are highly personalized, and even a therapist of the same general faith may not fully understand a client’s beliefs. If the fear of death is religiously based, it is often helpful to seek supplemental counseling from one’s own religious leader. However, this should never be used to replace traditional mental health counseling.

Fear of the Unknown

Thanatophobia may also have roots in fears of the unknown. It is part of the human condition to want to know and understand the world around us. What happens after death, however, cannot be unequivocally proven while we are still alive. People who are highly intelligent and inquisitive are often at greater risk for this type of thanatophobia, as are those who are questioning their own philosophical or religious beliefs.

Fear of Loss of Control

Like knowledge, control is something for which humans strive. Yet the act of dying is utterly outside anyone’s control. Those who fear loss of control may attempt to hold death at bay through rigorous and sometimes extreme health checks and other rituals. Over time, it is easy to see how people with this type of thanatophobia may be at risk for obsessive-compulsive disorder, hypochondriasis and even delusional thinking.

Fear of Pain, Illness or Loss of Dignity

Some people with an apparent fear of death do not actually fear death itself. Instead, they are afraid of the circumstances that often surround the act of dying. They may be afraid of crippling pain, debilitating illness or even the associated loss of dignity. This type of thanatophobia may be identified through careful questioning about the specifics of the fear. Many people with this type of fear also suffer from nosophobia, hypochondriasis or other somatoform disorders.

Concerns About Relatives

Many people who suffer from thanatophobia are not nearly as afraid to die as they are of what would happen to their families after their death. This appears to be especially common in new parents, single parents and caregivers. They may worry that their family would suffer financially or that no one would be around to care for them.

Related Fears

It is not uncommon for people who suffer from thanatophobia to develop related phobias as well. Fears of tombstones, funeral homes and other symbols of death are common, as they can serve as reminders of the main phobia. Fear of ghosts or other entities is also common, particularly in those whose thanatophobia is based in religious factors.

Diagnosing Thanatophobia

As there are so many possible causes and complications, it is important that thanatophobia be diagnosed only by a trained mental health professional. He can ask guided questions and help the sufferer figure out exactly what is going on. She can also recognize the symptoms of related disorders and prescribe the appropriate course of treatment.

Treating Thanatophobia

The course of treatment largely depends on the client’s personal goals for therapy. Is she trying to resolve a religious conflict? Does he simply want to be able to attend Halloween events without panicking? The therapist must first determine the client’s expectations before designing a treatment plan.

Depending on the circumstances, a variety of talk therapy solutions may be appropriate, ranging from cognitive-behavioral to psychoanalytic. Supplemental religious counseling, medications and other therapeutic alternatives may also be used in conjunction with therapy.

Source: American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th Ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

The sun will rise in the sky and set every day. We have to make a choice whether we wish to participate in seeing that event for ourselves.

WWW.LEAVEITUPTOGOD.COM

#2. Why Don't My True Friends Ever Spend The Time To Call Me If They Truly Are My Friends?

I'll Certainly Tell Why. The Cell Phones Never Connect Me Direct Me To My True Friends. The People That I'm Talking To Are Pretending To Be Interested In Me But Are Burning Up The Man Hours In Congested Traffic Over The Tele And The Internet Conference Calls. Because It's Much To Scary For Them To Spend Quality Time With A Real Person That Is Unconcerned About Any Real Horrors About People's Actual Feelings and Are Totally Interested In Substituting and DayLight Between Their Sleepless Nights.

#3. The Light Of Day Shines Upon Us All, But Why Is It That I Sleep All Day And Stay Up All Night Like A Vampire.
Is It Truly The Doctors, Lawyers, Or Fear Of The Banking Process. I Spend Most Of My Waking Daylight Hours Trying To Understand the reasons why.
Actual worry is one thing. An active imagination is another.

#4. Knowing Very Well That I'm Totally Saved And That My Salvation Is Totally Bought By Jesus Christ, Yet, I'm Always Obsessing About Whether Or Not I'm Still Going To HEAVEN.

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#5. KNOWING IN MY HEART THAT THE NATION AS A WHOLE HAS GONE STRAIGHT TO HELL IN A BREAD BASKET AND THE TIME TO STOP THE BREAD FROM MOLDING IS WAY TOO LATE TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT NOW AND FOR EVER MORE.

#7. Fear of Flying

The fear of flying has many components, not all of which are specific to flight itself. Some of these components are anxieties about

•	Heights
•	Enclosed spaces
•	Crowded conditions
•	Sitting in hot, stale air
•	Being required to wait passively
•	Not understanding the reasons for all the strange actions, sounds, and sensations occurring around you
•	Worrying about the dangers of turbulence
•	Being dependent on unknown mechanical things to maintain your safety
•	Being dependent on an unknown pilot’s judgment
•	Not feeling in “control”
•	The possibility of terrorism

Safest Airliners & Airline Safety

How safe is flying? Recent stats show that only one flight in 8,000,000 crashes. Still, no matter how safe flying may be statistically, it feels the same emotionally. How can we change how flying feels? How can we stop the high anxiety? And what about panic? Feelings are caused by the release of stress hormones. SOAR trains your mind to not react to flying, to not release stress hormones. High anxiety and panic end when the release of stress hormones is controlled.

Safest Airliners at a glance:

Quick Facts

The Top 3 safest Airliners:

Airbus 340
Boeing 777
Boeing 747

The Bottom 3 safest Airliners (of 20):

Tupelov Tu-154
Ilyushin IL-76
Boeing 737-200

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#8. Fear of Germs

9. Fear of Being Struck by Lightning

10. Fear of Closed Places - Classic Claustraphobia

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