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108-407: Four stories in the collection feature the character of Wendell Urth, who is a leading extra-terrologist (an expert on alien worlds and life originating on them). Urth is eccentric in that he has a phobia of all mechanical forms of transport (an exaggeration of Asimov's own aversion to flying). Physically Urth resembles Norbert Wiener . Urth appears in the stories when he is consulted by an agent of

216-455: A conditioned response (CR) (fear for the room) (CS+UCS=CR). For example, in case of the fear of heights ( acrophobia ), the CS is heights. Such as a balcony on the top floors of a high rise building. The UCS can originate from an aversive or traumatizing event in the person's life, such as almost falling from a great height. The original fear of nearly falling is associated with being high, leading to

324-540: A combination of environmental and genetic factors. The degree to whether environment or genetic influences have a more significant role varies by condition, with social anxiety disorder and agoraphobia having around a 50% heritability rate. Rachman proposed three pathways for the development of phobias: direct or classical conditioning (exposure to phobic stimulus), vicarious acquisition (seeing others experience phobic stimulus), and informational/instructional acquisition (learning about phobic stimulus from others). Much of

432-643: A common form of anxiety disorder , and distributions are heterogeneous by age and gender. An American study by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) found that between 8.7 percent and 18.1 percent of Americans have phobias, making it the most common mental illness among women in all age groups and the second most common illness among men older than 25. Between 4 percent and 10 percent of all children experience specific phobias during their lives, and social phobias occur in one percent to three percent of children. A Swedish study found that females have

540-459: A correlation between increased insular activation and anxiety. In the frontal lobes, other cortices involved with phobia and fear are the anterior cingulate cortex and the medial prefrontal cortex . In the processing of emotional stimuli, studies on phobic reactions to facial expressions have indicated that these areas are involved in the processing and responding to negative stimuli. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex has been said to influence

648-717: A drop in their ordinary ability, whether physical or mental, due to that perceived stress. Competitive anxiety is caused by a range of internal factors including high expectations, outside pressure, lack of experience, and external factors like the location of a competition. It commonly occurs in those participating in high pressure activities like sports and debates. Some common symptoms of competitive anxiety include muscle tension, fatigue, weakness, sense of panic, apprehensiveness, and panic attacks. There are 4 major theories of how anxiety affects performance: Drive theory, Inverted U theory, Reversal theory, and The Zone of Optimal Functioning theory. Drive theory believes that anxiety

756-490: A fear of heights. In other words, the CS (heights) associated with the aversive UCS (almost falling) leads to the CR (fear) . It is possible, however, to extinguish the CR, and reversing the effects of the CS and UCS. Repeatedly presenting the CS alone, without the UCS, can exinguish the CR. Though historically influential in the theory of fear acquisition, this direct conditioning model

864-476: A fear of rejection and negative evaluation (being judged) by other people. The philosopher Søren Kierkegaard , in The Concept of Anxiety (1844), described anxiety or dread associated with the "dizziness of freedom" and suggested the possibility for positive resolution of anxiety through the self-conscious exercise of responsibility and choosing. In Art and Artist (1932), the psychologist Otto Rank wrote that

972-420: A heart attack, when in reality all one is experiencing is mild chest pain, for example. The physiological symptoms of anxiety may include: There are various types of anxiety. Existential anxiety can occur when a person faces angst , an existential crisis , or nihilistic feelings. People can also face mathematical anxiety , somatic anxiety , stage fright , or test anxiety . Social anxiety refers to

1080-617: A higher number of cases per year than males (26.5 percent for females and 12.4 percent for males). Among adults, 21.2 percent of women and 10.9 percent of men have a single specific phobia, while multiple phobias occur in 5.4 percent of females and 1.5 percent of males. Women are nearly four times as likely as men to have a fear of animals (12.1 percent in women and 3.3 percent in men) — a higher dimorphic than with all specific or generalized phobias or social phobias. Social phobias are more common in girls than boys, while situational phobia occurs in 17.4 percent of women and 8.5 percent of men. In

1188-505: A large influence on anxiety, whereas shared environmental influences (environments that affect twins in the same way) operate during childhood but decline through adolescence. Specific measured 'environments' that have been associated with anxiety include child abuse , family history of mental health disorders, and poverty . Anxiety is also associated with drug use , including alcohol , caffeine , and benzodiazepines , which are often prescribed to treat anxiety. Neural circuitry involving

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1296-660: A long-term " trait ". Whereas trait anxiety represents worrying about future events, anxiety disorders are a group of mental disorders characterized by feelings of anxiety and fears. In his book Anxious: The Modern Mind in the Age of Anxiety Joseph LeDoux examines four experiences of anxiety through a brain-based lens: Anxiety disorders often occur with other mental health disorders, particularly major depressive disorder , bipolar disorder , eating disorders , or certain personality disorders . It also commonly occurs with personality traits such as neuroticism. This observed co-occurrence

1404-442: A more chronic course. Specific phobias in older adults has been linked with a decrease in quality of life. Those with specific phobias are at an increased risk of suicide. Greater impairment is found in those that have multiple phobias. Response to treatment is relatively high but many do not seek treatment due to lack of access, ability to avoid phobia, or unwilling to face feared object for repeated CBT sessions. Many of those with

1512-429: A negative experience with the object or situation in early childhood to early adulthood. Social phobia is when a person fears a situation due to worries about others judging them. Agoraphobia is a fear of a situation due to perceived difficulty or inability to escape. It is recommended that specific phobias be treated with exposure therapy , in which the person is introduced to the situation or object in question until

1620-512: A phobia often have more than one phobia. There are also a number of psychological and physiological disorders that tend to occur or coexist at higher rates among this population. As with all anxiety disorders the most common psychiatric condition to occur with a phobia is major depressive disorder. Additionally bipolar disorder, substance dependence disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post traumatic stress disorder have also been found to occur in those with phobias at higher rates. Phobias are

1728-442: A phobic event, these symptoms are decreased, making the event less frightening. Beta-blockers are not effective for generalized social anxiety disorder. Hypnotherapy is another effective therapy that uses hypnosis to help manage anxiety and stress. This therapy can help people gain control over their phobias. Hypnotherapy can be used alone and in conjunction with systematic desensitization to treat phobias. Through hypnotherapy,

1836-402: A reward. This suggests a link between circuits responsible for fear and also reward in anxious people. As researchers note, "a sense of 'responsibility', or self-agency, in a context of uncertainty (probabilistic outcomes) drives the neural system underlying appetitive motivation (i.e., nucleus accumbens) more strongly in temperamentally inhibited than noninhibited adolescents". The microbes of

1944-404: A role in the storage of threatening stimuli to memory. The basolateral nuclei (or basolateral amygdala ) and the hippocampus interact with the amygdala in-memory storage. This connection suggests why memories are often remembered more vividly if they have emotional significance. In addition to memory, the amygdala also triggers the secretion of hormones that affect fear and aggression . When

2052-760: A specific threat, and facilitating escape from threat. On the other hand, anxiety is long-acting, future-focused, broadly focused towards a diffuse threat, and promoting excessive caution while approaching a potential threat and interferes with constructive coping. Joseph E. LeDoux and Lisa Feldman Barrett have both sought to separate automatic threat responses from additional associated cognitive activity within anxiety. Anxiety can be experienced with long, drawn-out daily symptoms that reduce quality of life, known as chronic (or generalized) anxiety, or it can be experienced in short spurts with sporadic, stressful panic attacks , known as acute anxiety. Symptoms of anxiety can range in number, intensity, and frequency, depending on

2160-410: A specific trauma, such as a fear of dogs following a dog bite. Systematic desensitization is a process in which people seeking help slowly become accustomed to their phobia, and ultimately overcome it. Traditional systematic desensitization involves a person being exposed to the object they are afraid of over time so that the fear and discomfort do not become overwhelming. This controlled exposure to

2268-400: A teacher; fear of alienation from parents or friends; time pressures; or feeling a loss of control. Sweating, dizziness, headaches, racing heartbeats, nausea, fidgeting, uncontrollable crying or laughing and drumming on a desk are all common. Because test anxiety hinges on fear of negative evaluation , debate exists as to whether test anxiety is itself a unique anxiety disorder or whether it

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2376-406: A temporal lobectomy, or removal of the temporal lobes, results in changes involving fear and aggression. Specifically, the removal of these lobes results in decreased fear, confirming its role in fear recognition and response. Damage to both side (Bilateral damage) of the medial temporal lobes is known as Urbach–Wiethe disease. It presents with similar symptoms of decreased fear and aggression but with

2484-440: A trait leading to anxiety and depression and their persistence. Through experience, many find it difficult to collect themselves due to their own personal nature. Anxiety induced by the need to choose between similar options is recognized as a problem for some individuals and for organizations. In 2004, Capgemini wrote: "Today we're all faced with greater choice, more competition and less time to consider our options or seek out

2592-582: A treatment approach that included cognitive techniques and exposure therapy. He recommended that individuals gradually expose themselves to feared stimuli and train themselves to tolerate the experience until they reach habituation, an approach that mirrors modern therapeutic techniques for treating phobias. This is an exceptional accomplishment considering that the physical symptoms of phobias were mistakenly grouped under physical rubrics in Western medical textbooks and were not believed to be associated with phobias until

2700-524: A treatment option. For social anxiety, the SSRIs sertraline, paroxetine, fluvoxamine, and the SNRI venlafaxine have FDA approval. Similar medications may be offered for agoraphobia. Sedatives such as benzodiazepines (clonazepam, alprazolam) are another therapeutic option, which can help people relax by reducing the amount of anxiety they feel. Benzodiazepines may be useful in the acute treatment of severe symptoms, but

2808-436: Is a false presumption that often circulates that anxiety only occurs in situations perceived as uncontrollable or unavoidable, but this is not always so. David Barlow defines anxiety as "a future-oriented mood state in which one is not ready or prepared to attempt to cope with upcoming negative events," and that it is a distinction between future and present dangers which divides anxiety and fear. Another description of anxiety

2916-423: Is a major component of behavioral treatments for anxiety conditions. Performance anxiety and competitive anxiety ( competitive trait anxiety, competitive state anxiety ) happen when an individual's performance is measured against others. An important distinction between competitive and non-competitive anxiety is that competitive anxiety makes people view their performance as a threat. As a result, they experience

3024-463: Is a response in preparation of a future threat. Fear and anxiety often can overlap but this distinction can help identify subtle differences between disorders, as well as differentiate between a response that would be expected given a person's developmental stage and culture. The International Classification of Diseases (11th version: ICD-11 ) is a globally used diagnostic tool for epidemiology , health management and clinical purposes maintained by

3132-518: Is a specific type of social phobia . The DSM-IV classifies test anxiety as a type of social phobia. Research indicates that test anxiety among U.S. high-school and college students has been rising since the late 1950s. Test anxiety remains a challenge for students, regardless of age, and has considerable physiological and psychological impacts. Management of test anxiety focuses on achieving relaxation and developing mechanisms to manage anxiety. The routine practice of slow, Device-Guided Breathing (DGB)

3240-443: Is agony, dread, terror, or even apprehension. In positive psychology , anxiety is described as the mental state that results from a difficult challenge for which the subject has insufficient coping skills. Fear and anxiety can be differentiated into four domains: (1) duration of emotional experience, (2) temporal focus, (3) specificity of the threat, and (4) motivated direction. Fear is short-lived, present-focused, geared towards

3348-477: Is characterized by experiencing discomfort or awkwardness during physical social contact (e.g. embracing, shaking hands, etc.), while in other cases it can lead to a fear of interacting with unfamiliar people altogether. Those with this condition may restrict their lifestyles to accommodate the anxiety, minimizing social interaction whenever possible. Social anxiety also forms a core aspect of certain personality disorders, including avoidant personality disorder . To

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3456-464: Is common among young people. It may persist into adulthood and become social anxiety or social phobia. " Stranger anxiety " in small children is not considered a phobia. In adults, an excessive fear of other people is not a developmentally common stage; it is called social anxiety . According to Cutting, social phobics do not fear the crowd but the fact that they may be judged negatively. Social anxiety varies in degree and severity. For some people, it

3564-541: Is defined as behaviour that results in the omission of an aversive event that would otherwise occur, intending to prevent anxiety. With the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, much research has been completed looking at specific genes that may cause or contribute to medical conditions. Candidate genes were the focus of most of these studies until the past decade, when the cost and ability to perform genome-wide analyses became more available. The GLRB gene

3672-435: Is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response to a present threat , whereas anxiety is the anticipation of a future one. It is often accompanied by nervous behavior such as pacing back and forth, somatic complaints , and rumination . Anxiety is a feeling of uneasiness and worry , usually generalized and unfocused as an overreaction to a situation that is only subjectively seen as menacing. It

3780-555: Is irrational but cannot override their panic response. These individuals often report dizziness, loss of bladder or bowel control, tachypnea , feelings of pain, and shortness of breath. Phobias may develop for a variety of reasons. Childhood experiences, past traumatic experiences, brain chemistry, genetics, or learned behavior, can all be reasons why phobias develop. There are even phobias that may run in families and be passed down from one generation to another. There are multiple theories about how phobias develop and likely occur due to

3888-433: Is linked to social phobia and other anxiety disorders. The amygdala's ability to respond to fearful stimuli occurs through fear conditioning . Like classical conditioning , the amygdala learns to associate a conditioned stimulus with a negative or avoidant stimulus, creating a conditioned fear response often seen in phobic individuals. The amygdala is responsible for recognizing certain stimuli or cues as dangerous and plays

3996-459: Is necessary to best complete a task such as an exam, performance, or competitive event. However, when the anxiety or level of arousal exceeds that optimum, the result is a decline in performance. Test anxiety is the uneasiness, apprehension, or nervousness felt by students who have a fear of failing an exam . Students who have test anxiety may experience any of the following: the association of grades with personal worth ; fear of embarrassment by

4104-422: Is not always a phobia. There must also be symptoms of impairment and avoidance. Impairment is defined as an inability to complete routine tasks, whether occupational, academic, or social. For example, an occupational impairment can result from acrophobia, from not taking a job solely because of its location on the top floor of a building, or socially not participating in an event at a theme park. The avoidance aspect

4212-489: Is not built on the rock of reality ". According to Viktor Frankl , the author of Man's Search for Meaning , when a person is faced with extreme mortal dangers, the most basic of all human wishes is to find a meaning of life to combat the "trauma of nonbeing" as death is near. Depending on the source of the threat, psychoanalytic theory distinguishes three types of anxiety: realistic, neurotic and moral. According to Yerkes-Dodson law , an optimal level of arousal

4320-424: Is not the only proposed way to acquire a phobia. This theory in fact has limitations as not everyone that has experienced a traumatic event develops a phobia and vice versa. Vicarious fear acquisition is learning to fear something, not by a subject's own experience of fear, but by watching others, oftentimes a parent ( observational learning ). For instance, when a child sees a parent reacting fearfully to an animal,

4428-457: Is often accompanied by muscular tension, restlessness, fatigue , inability to catch one's breath, tightness in the abdominal region, nausea, and problems in concentration. Anxiety is closely related to fear , which is a response to a real or perceived immediate threat ( fight-or-flight response ); anxiety involves the expectation of a future threat including dread. People facing anxiety may withdraw from situations which have provoked anxiety in

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4536-910: Is often called interracial or intergroup anxiety. As is the case with the more generalized forms of social anxiety , intergroup anxiety has behavioral, cognitive, and affective effects. For instance, increases in schematic processing and simplified information processing can occur when anxiety is high. Indeed, such is consistent with related work on attentional bias in implicit memory . Additionally recent research has found that implicit racial evaluations (i.e. automatic prejudiced attitudes) can be amplified during intergroup interaction. Negative experiences have been illustrated in producing not only negative expectations, but also avoidant, or antagonistic, behavior such as hostility. Furthermore, when compared to anxiety levels and cognitive effort (e.g., impression management and self-presentation) in intragroup contexts, levels and depletion of resources may be exacerbated in

4644-432: Is one that is not regularly encountered such as flying a short course may be provided. Beta blockers (propranolol) are another therapeutic option, particularly for those with the performance only subtype of social anxiety disorder. They may stop the stimulating effects of adrenaline, such as sweating, increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, tremors, and the feeling of a pounding heart. By taking beta-blockers before

4752-414: Is partly due to genetic and environmental influences shared between these traits and anxiety. It is common for those with obsessive–compulsive disorder to experience anxiety. Anxiety is also commonly found in those who experience panic disorders , phobic anxiety disorders , severe stress , dissociative disorders , somatoform disorders , and some neurotic disorders . Anxiety has also been linked to

4860-701: Is positive and performance improves proportionally to the level of anxiety. This theory is not well accepted. The Inverted U theory is based on the idea that performance peaks at a moderate stress level. It is called Inverted U theory because the graph that plots performance against anxiety looks like an inverted "U". Reversal theory suggests that performance increases in relation to the individual's interpretation of their arousal levels. If they believed their physical arousal level would help them, their performance would increase, if they didn't, their performance would decrease. For example: Athletes were shown to worry more when focusing on results and perfection rather than

4968-463: Is reported by the Cleveland Clinic that panic disorder affects 2 to 3 percent of adult Americans and can begin around the time of the teenage and early adult years. Some symptoms include: difficulty breathing, chest pain, dizziness, trembling or shaking, feeling faint, nausea, fear that you are losing control or are about to die. Even though they have these symptoms during an attack, the main symptom

5076-608: Is the persistent fear of having future panic attacks. Anxiety disorders are a group of mental disorders characterized by exaggerated feelings of anxiety and fear responses. Anxiety is a worry about future events and fear is a reaction to current events. These feelings may cause physical symptoms, such as a fast heart rate and shakiness. There are a number of anxiety disorders: including generalized anxiety disorder , specific phobia , social anxiety disorder , separation anxiety disorder , agoraphobia , panic disorder , and selective mutism . The disorder differs by what results in

5184-473: Is there to help manage stressful situations and respond better. This therapy requires the person to be honest with themselves and confront their feelings and phobias. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can be beneficial by allowing the person to challenge dysfunctional thoughts or beliefs by being mindful of their feelings to recognize that their fear is irrational. CBT may occur in a group setting. Gradual desensitization treatment and CBT are often successful, provided

5292-460: Is typically with a type of cognitive behavioral therapy . Medications, such as antidepressants or beta blockers , may improve symptoms. A 2023 review found that regular physical activity is effective for reducing anxiety. About 12% of people are affected by an anxiety disorder in a given year and between 12% and 30% are affected at some point in their life. They occur about twice as often in women than they do in men, and generally begin before

5400-488: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition ( DSM-5 ), such phobias are considered subtypes of anxiety disorder. The categories are: Phobias vary in severity among individuals. Some individuals can avoid the subject and experience relatively mild anxiety over that fear. Others experience full-fledged panic attacks with all the associated impairing symptoms. Most individuals understand that their fear

5508-506: The World Health Organization (WHO) . The ICD classifies phobic disorders under the category of mental, behavioural or neurodevelopmental disorders. The ICD-10 differentiates between Phobic anxiety disorders, such as Agoraphobia, and Other anxiety disorders, such as Generalized anxiety disorder. The ICD-11 merges both groups together as Anxiety or fear-related disorders. Most phobias are classified into 3 categories. According to

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5616-467: The amygdala , which regulates emotions like anxiety and fear, stimulating the HPA axis and sympathetic nervous system , and hippocampus , which is implicated in emotional memory along with the amygdala, is thought to underlie anxiety. People who have anxiety tend to show high activity in response to emotional stimuli in the amygdala. Some writers believe that excessive anxiety can lead to an overpotentiation of

5724-436: The cingulated gyrus , hippocampus , corpus callosum , and other nearby cortices. This system has been found to play a role in emotion processing, and the insula, in particular, may contribute to maintaining autonomic functions . Studies by Critchley et al. indicate the insula as being involved in the experience of emotion by detecting and interpreting threatening stimuli. Similar studies monitoring insula activity have shown

5832-399: The limbic system (which includes the amygdala and nucleus accumbens), giving increased future anxiety, but this does not appear to have been proven. Research upon adolescents who as infants had been highly apprehensive, vigilant, and fearful finds that their nucleus accumbens is more sensitive than that in other people when deciding to make an action that determined whether they received

5940-561: The psychological trauma of birth was the pre-eminent human symbol of existential anxiety and encompasses the creative person's simultaneous fear of – and desire for – separation, individuation, and differentiation. The theologian Paul Tillich characterized existential anxiety as "the state in which a being is aware of its possible nonbeing" and he listed three categories for the nonbeing and resulting anxiety: ontic (fate and death), moral ( guilt and condemnation), and spiritual (emptiness and meaninglessness ). According to Tillich,

6048-416: The 1960s is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Phobia A phobia is an anxiety disorder , defined by an irrational, unrealistic, persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation. Phobias typically result in a rapid onset of fear and are usually present for more than six months. Those affected go to great lengths to avoid the situation or object, to a degree greater than

6156-574: The 19th century. The Western understanding of phobias as a physical condition was influenced by a combination of medical dogma and a limited understanding of psychology and mental health. This view persisted from antiquity through the Renaissance and into the 19th century, until more nuanced psychological frameworks were developed. Anxiety Anxiety is an emotion which is characterised by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety

6264-423: The 2 year remission rates for anxiety disorders found that those with multiple anxieties were less likely to experience remission. The majority of those that develop a specific phobia first experience symptoms in childhood. Often individuals will experience symptoms periodically with periods of remission before complete remission occurs. However, specific phobias that continue into adulthood are likely to experience

6372-463: The 9th century, Islamic polymath Abu Zayd al-Balkhi (850-934) was likely the first to identify phobias accurately. In his treatise Sustenance of the Body and Soul , Al Balkhi described phobia as a psychological disorder that may manifest with physical symptoms such as paleness of the skin and trembling of the hands. Remarkably, Al-Balkhi not only recognised phobias as psychological in nature but also proposed

6480-481: The Terrestrial Bureau of Investigation, H. Seton Davenport, in cases which have him baffled – a parallel with the way in which Inspector Lestrade consults Sherlock Holmes . In a fifth story in the collection, "The Dust of Death", Asimov shows Davenport a generosity that Conan Doyle never extended to Lestrade in demonstrating the former's ability to solve a case for himself without Urth's assistance. Criticizing

6588-470: The United States and 0.5–2.5% of people in the rest of the world. Agoraphobia affects about 1.7% of people. Women are affected by phobias about twice as often as men. The typical onset of a phobia is around 10–17, and rates are lower with increasing age. Those with phobias are more likely to attempt suicide . Fear is an emotional response to a current perceived danger. This differs from anxiety which

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6696-549: The Urth stories as "rather contrived and not particularly entertaining", Algis Budrys said that the collection was "a poor book because it is a book about clevernesses, and clevernesses are not Isaac's long suit". Edward Wellen wrote a pastiche story featuring Urth, "Murder in the Urth Degree," that was included in the 1989 volume Foundation's Friends . This article about a collection of mystery short stories published in

6804-468: The activities become more difficult. Progressive muscle relaxation helps people relax before and during exposure to the feared stimulus. Virtual reality therapy is another technique that helps phobic people confront a feared object. It uses virtual reality to generate scenes that may not have been possible or ethical in the physical world. It is equally as effective as traditional exposure therapy and offers additional advantages. These include controlling

6912-670: The actual danger posed. If the object or situation cannot be avoided, they experience significant distress . Other symptoms can include fainting , which may occur in blood or injury phobia , and panic attacks , often found in agoraphobia and emetophobia . Around 75% of those with phobias have multiple phobias. Phobias can be divided into specific phobias , social anxiety disorder , and agoraphobia . Specific phobias are further divided to include certain animals, natural environment, blood or injury, and particular situations. The most common are fear of spiders , fear of snakes , and fear of heights . Specific phobias may be caused by

7020-409: The addition of the inability to recognize emotional expressions, especially angry or fearful faces. The amygdala's role in learned fear includes interactions with other brain regions in the neural circuit of fear. While damage in the amygdala can inhibit its ability to recognize fearful stimuli, other areas such as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the basolateral nuclei of the amygdala can affect

7128-402: The age of 25. The most common anxiety disorders are specific phobias, which affect nearly 12% of people, and social anxiety disorder, which affects 10% of people at some point in their life. They affect those between the ages of 15 and 35 the most and become less common after the age of 55. Rates appear to be higher in the United States and Europe. Anxiety can be either a short-term "state" or

7236-406: The ages of 7 and 9 reflective of normal development. Additionally, specific phobias are most prevalent in children between the ages 10 and 13. Situational phobias are typically found in older children and adults. There are various methods used to treat phobias. These methods include systematic desensitization , progressive relaxation, virtual reality , modeling, medication, and hypnotherapy. Over

7344-614: The amygdala activates this circuit, while the hippocampus is responsible for suppressing it. Glucocorticoid receptors in the hippocampus monitor the amount of cortisol in the system and through negative feedback can tell the hypothalamus to stop releasing CRH. Studies on mice engineered to have high concentrations of CRH showed higher levels of anxiety, while those engineered to have no or low amounts of CRH receptors were less anxious. In people with phobias, therefore, high amounts of cortisol may be present, or there may be low levels of glucocorticoid receptors or even serotonin (5-HT). For

7452-451: The amygdala by monitoring its reaction to emotional stimuli or even fearful memories. Most specifically, the medial prefrontal cortex is active during the extinction of fear and is responsible for long-term extinction. Stimulation of this area decreases conditioned fear responses, so its role may be in inhibiting the amygdala and its reaction to fearful stimuli. The hippocampus is a horseshoe-shaped structure that plays an essential part in

7560-417: The amygdala) has been shown to slow down the speed of extinguishing a learned fear response and how effective the extinction is. This suggests there is a pathway or circuit among the amygdala and nearby cortical areas that process emotional stimuli and influence emotional expression, all of which can be disrupted when damage occurs. It is recommended that the terms distress and impairment take into account

7668-429: The anxiety-provoking stimulus is key to the effectiveness of exposure therapy in the treatment of specific phobias. It has been shown that humor is an excellent alternative when traditional systematic desensitization is ineffective. Humor systematic desensitization involves a series of treatment activities that elicit humor with the feared object. Previously learned progressive muscle relaxation procedures can be used as

7776-437: The areas in the brain involved in emotion - most specifically, fear - the processing and response to emotional stimuli can be altered when there are damage to any of these regions. Damage to the cortical areas involved in the limbic system, such as the cingulate cortex or frontal lobes, has resulted in extreme emotion changes. Other types of damage include Klüver–Bucy syndrome and Urbach–Wiethe disease . In Klüver–Bucy syndrome,

7884-419: The brain's limbic system . This is because it forms memories and connects them with emotions and the senses. When dealing with fear, the hippocampus receives impulses from the amygdala that allow it to connect the fear with a certain sense, such as a smell or sound. The amygdala is an almond-shaped mass of nuclei located deep in the brain's medial temporal lobe. It processes the events associated with fear and

7992-457: The chance of fearful and phobic behaviours. In some cases, physically experiencing an event may increase the fear and phobia more than observing a fearful reaction of another human or non-human primate. Informational/instructional fear acquisition is learning to fear something by getting information. For instance, fearing electrical wire after hearing that touching it causes an electric shock. A conditioned fear response to an object or situation

8100-601: The child can also become afraid of the animal. Through observational learning, humans can learn to fear potentially dangerous objects—a reaction observed in other primates. A study on non-human primates, showed that the primates learned to fear snakes at a fast rate after watching parents' fearful reactions. An increase in fearful behaviours was observed as the non-human primates observed their parents' fearful reactions. Although observational learning has proven effective in creating reactions of fear and phobias, it has also been shown that by physically experiencing an event, increases

8208-400: The context of the person's environment during diagnosis. The DSM-IV-TR states that if a feared stimulus, whether it be an object or a situation, is absent entirely in an environment, a diagnosis cannot be made. An example of this situation would be an individual who has a fear of mice but lives in an area without mice. Even though the concept of mice causes marked distress and impairment within

8316-525: The effort and growth involved. The Zone of Optimal Functioning theory proposes that there is a zone where positive and negative emotions are in a balance which lead to feelings of dissociation and intense concentration, optimizing the individual's performance levels. Humans generally require social acceptance and thus sometimes dread the disapproval of others. Apprehension of being judged by others may cause anxiety in social environments. Anxiety during social interactions, particularly between strangers,

8424-529: The experience of intrusive thoughts . Studies have revealed that individuals who experience high levels of anxiety (also known as clinical anxiety) are highly vulnerable to the experience of intense intrusive thoughts or psychological disorders that are characterised by intrusive thoughts. Anxiety disorders are partly genetic, with twin studies suggesting 30-40% genetic influence on individual differences in anxiety. Environmental factors are also important. Twin studies show that individual-specific environments have

8532-486: The extent that a person is fearful of social encounters with unfamiliar others, some people may experience anxiety particularly during interactions with outgroup members, or people who share different group memberships (i.e., by race, ethnicity, class, gender, etc.). Depending on the nature of the antecedent relations, cognitions, and situational factors, intergroup contact may be stressful and lead to feelings of anxiety. This apprehension or fear of contact with outgroup members

8640-424: The fear or aggression response is initiated, the amygdala releases hormones into the body to put the human body into an "alert" state, which prepares the individual to move, run, fight, etc. This defensive "alert" state and response are known as the fight-or-flight response . However, inside the brain, this stress response can be observed in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA). This circuit incorporates

8748-579: The fear resolves. Medications are not helpful for specific phobias. Social phobia and agoraphobia may be treated with counseling, medications, or a combination of both. Medications used include antidepressants , benzodiazepines , or beta-blockers . Specific phobias affect about 6–8% of people in the Western world and 2–4% in Asia, Africa, and Latin America in a given year. Social phobia affects about 7% of people in

8856-424: The gut can connect with the brain to affect anxiety. There are various pathways along which this communication can take place. One is through the major neurotransmitters . The gut microbes such as Bifidobacterium and Bacillus produce the neurotransmitters GABA and dopamine , respectively. The neurotransmitters signal to the nervous system of the gastrointestinal tract, and those signals will be carried to

8964-477: The individual, because the individual does not usually encounter mice, no actual distress or impairment is ever experienced. It is recommended that proximity to, and ability to escape from, the stimulus also be considered. As the phobic person approaches a feared stimulus, anxiety levels increase, and the degree to which the person perceives they might escape from the stimulus affects the intensity of fear in instances such as riding an elevator (e.g. anxiety increases at

9072-511: The intergroup situation. Anxiety can be either a short-term "state" or a long-term " personality trait". Trait anxiety reflects a stable tendency across the lifespan of responding with acute, state anxiety in the anticipation of threatening situations (whether they are actually deemed threatening or not). A meta-analysis showed that a high level of neuroticism is a risk factor for development of anxiety symptoms and disorders. Such anxiety may be conscious or unconscious. Personality can also be

9180-519: The last of these three types of existential anxiety, i.e. spiritual anxiety, is predominant in modern times while the others were predominant in earlier periods. Tillich argues that this anxiety can be accepted as part of the human condition or it can be resisted but with negative consequences. In its pathological form, spiritual anxiety may tend to "drive the person toward the creation of certitude in systems of meaning which are supported by tradition and authority " even though such "undoubted certitude

9288-498: The limited role of benzodiazepines, do not currently have established guidelines due to minimal supporting evidence. Antidepressant medications such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs ), serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors ( SNRIs ), or monoamine oxidase inhibitors ( MAOIs ) may be helpful in some cases. SSRIs / SNRIs act on serotonin, a neurotransmitter in the brain. Because of serotonin's positive impacts on mood, an antidepressant may be offered and prescribed as

9396-423: The midway point between floors and decreases when the floor is reached and the doors open). The DSM-V has been updated to reflect that an individual may have changed their daily activities around the feared stimulus in such a way that they may avoid it altogether. The person may still meet criteria for the diagnosis if they continue to avoid or refuse to participate in activities they would involve possible exposure to

9504-437: The most persistent mental problems and often last decades. Anxiety can also be experienced within other mental disorders , e.g., obsessive-compulsive disorder , post-traumatic stress disorder . Anxiety is distinguished from fear , which is an appropriate cognitive and emotional response to a perceived threat . Anxiety is related to the specific behaviors of fight-or-flight responses , defensive behavior or escape. There

9612-462: The past several decades, psychologists and other researchers have developed effective behavioral, pharmacological, and technological interventions for the treatment of phobia. Virtual Reality treatments produce similar effects to in vivo exposure, another efficacious therapy great for treating phobias. Although Virtual Reality is great for treating phobias, the treatment will not work for every phobia. The treatment has positive effects, but depending on

9720-548: The past. The emotion of anxiety can persist beyond the developmentally appropriate time-periods in response to specific events, and thus turning into one of the multiple anxiety disorders (e.g. generalized anxiety disorder , panic disorder ). The difference between anxiety disorder (as mental disorder ) and anxiety (as normal emotion), is that people with an anxiety disorder experience anxiety excessively or persistently during approximately 6 months, or even during shorter time-periods in children. Anxiety disorders are among

9828-645: The person is willing to endure some discomfort. In one clinical trial, 90% of people no longer had a phobic reaction after successful CBT treatment. Research in the UK has suggested that for childhood phobias a single session of CBT can be effective. Evidence supports that eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is effective in treating some phobias. Its effectiveness in treating complex or trauma-related phobias has not been empirically established. Primarily used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder , EMDR has been demonstrated to ease phobia symptoms following

9936-650: The person. However, most people do not suffer from chronic anxiety. Anxiety can induce several psychological pains (e.g. depression ) or mental disorders , and may lead to self-harm or suicide . The behavioral effects of anxiety may include withdrawal from situations which have provoked anxiety or negative feelings in the past. Other effects may include changes in sleeping patterns, changes in habits, increase or decrease in food intake, and increased motor tension (such as foot tapping). The emotional effects of anxiety may include feelings of apprehension or dread, trouble concentrating, feeling tense or jumpy, anticipating

10044-402: The phobia, in vivo would be another ideal treatment to use over Virtual Reality. In vivo exposure is a great way to reduce fear over time and is actually more preferred when trying to treat anxiety and fear related problems. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based treatment that can help with phobias. It is a talk therapy that can be used alone or along with other therapies. CBT

10152-622: The phobic stimulus. A specific phobia is a marked and persistent fear of an object or situation. Specific phobias may also include fear of losing control, panicking, and fainting from an encounter with the phobia. Specific phobias are defined concerning objects or situations, whereas social phobias emphasize social fear and the evaluations that might accompany them. The DSM breaks specific phobias into five subtypes: animal, natural environment, blood-injection-injury, situational and other. In children, blood-injection-injury phobia , animal phobias, and natural environment phobias usually develop between

10260-401: The process of receiving stimuli, interpreting them, and releasing certain hormones into the bloodstream. The parvocellular neurosecretory neurons of the hypothalamus release corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), which is sent to the anterior pituitary. Here the pituitary releases adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which ultimately stimulates the release of cortisol . In relation to anxiety,

10368-492: The progress in understanding the acquisition of fear responses in phobias can be attributed to classical conditioning (Pavlovian model). When an aversive stimulus and a neutral one are paired together, for instance, when an electric shock is given in a specific room, the subject can start to fear not only the shock but the room as well. In behavioral terms, the room is a conditioned stimulus (CS). When paired with an aversive unconditioned stimulus (UCS) (the shock) , it creates

10476-462: The region's ability to not only become conditioned to fearful stimuli but to extinguish them eventually. Through receiving stimulus info, the basolateral nuclei undergo synaptic changes that allow the amygdala to develop a conditioned response to fearful stimuli. Damage to this area, therefore, have been shown to disrupt the acquisition of learned responses to fear. Likewise, damage in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (the area responsible for monitoring

10584-428: The right advice." Overthinking a choice is called analysis paralysis . In a decision context, unpredictability or uncertainty may trigger emotional responses in anxious individuals that systematically alter decision-making. There are primarily two forms of this anxiety type. The first form refers to a choice in which there are multiple potential outcomes with known or calculable probabilities. The second form refers to

10692-413: The risk-benefit ratio usually goes against their long-term use in phobic disorders. This class of medication has recently been shown as effective if used with negative behaviours such as excessive alcohol use. Despite this positive finding, benzodiazepines are used with caution due to side effects and risk of developing dependence or withdrawal symptoms. In specific phobia for example if the phobic stimulus

10800-412: The same specific phobia. Similarly, social anxiety disorder is found two to six times more frequently in those with first degree relatives that have it versus those that do not. Agoraphobia is believed to have the strongest genetic association. Beneath the lateral fissure in the cerebral cortex , the insula, or insular cortex , of the brain has been identified as part of the limbic system , along with

10908-461: The scenes and having the phobic person endure more exposure than they might handle in reality. Medications are a treatment option often utilized in combination with CBT or if CBT was not tolerated or effective. Medications can help regulate apprehension and fear of a particular fearful object or situation. There are various medication options available for both social anxiety disorder and agoraphobia. The use of medications for specific phobias, besides

11016-477: The severity of an individual's disorder as well as how long they have been experiencing symptoms. For example, in social anxiety disorder (social phobia) a majority of individuals will experience remission within the first couple of years of symptom onset without specific treatment. On the other hand, in Agoraphobia as few as 10% of individuals are seen to reach complete remission without treatment. A study looking at

11124-689: The symptoms. People often have more than one anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders are caused by a complex combination of genetic and environmental factors. To be diagnosed, symptoms typically need to be present for at least six months, be more than would be expected for the situation, and decrease a person's ability to function in their daily lives. Other problems that may result in similar symptoms include hyperthyroidism , heart disease , caffeine , alcohol , or cannabis use, and withdrawal from certain drugs, among others. Without treatment, anxiety disorders tend to remain. Treatment may include lifestyle changes, counselling , and medications. Counselling

11232-649: The uncertainty and ambiguity related to a decision context in which there are multiple possible outcomes with unknown probabilities. Panic disorder may share symptoms of stress and anxiety, but it is actually very different. Panic disorder is an anxiety disorder that occurs without any triggers. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this disorder can be distinguished by unexpected and repeated episodes of intense fear. Someone with panic disorder will eventually develop constant fear of another attack and as this progresses it will begin to affect daily functioning and an individual's general quality of life. It

11340-457: The unconscious can be retrieved. This state makes people more open to suggestion, which helps bring about desired change. Consciously addressing old memories helps individuals understand the event and see it less threateningly. Outcomes vary widely among the phobic anxiety disorders. There is a possibility that remission occurs without intervention but relapses are common. Response to treatment as well as remission and relapse rates are impacted by

11448-454: The underlying cause of the phobia may be uncovered. The phobia may be caused by a past event that the person does not remember, a phenomenon known as repression. The mind represses traumatic memories from the conscious mind until the person is ready to deal with them. Hypnotherapy may also eliminate the conditioned responses that occur during different situations. People are first placed into a hypnotic trance, an extremely relaxed state in which

11556-442: The worst, irritability, restlessness, watching for signs of danger, and a feeling of empty mindedness. as well as "nightmares/bad dreams, obsessions about sensations, déjà vu , a trapped-in-your-mind feeling, and feeling like everything is scary." It may include a vague experience and feeling of helplessness. The cognitive effects of anxiety may include thoughts about suspected dangers, such as an irrational fear of dying or having

11664-489: Was identified as a possible target for agoraphobia. An area still in development is reviewing epigenetic components or the interaction of the environment on genes through methylation. A number of genes are being examined through this epigenetic lens which may be linked with social anxiety disorder, including MAOA, CRHR1, and OXTR. Each phobia related disorder has some degree of genetic susceptibility. Those with specific phobias are more likely to have first degree relatives with

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