Welcome to this information board. This is a national charity community aimed at helping people who suffer from severe anxiety and social phobic disorders.
We all know that feelings of anxiety are a part of our everyday life. Most of us feel uneasy about snakes, or mice. But for phobics it´s not just a question of disliking something: their fear has grown into such a distress that it affects their normal behaviour. They may have serious symptoms of pain, dizziness and nausea; feel they are short of breath or have shaking limbs. This fear may be triggered by the mere sight of animals, people or things, like insects, dentists or utensils.
Freud was the first to attempt a systematic description of the development of phobic behaviour.
The onset of social phobias generally takes place during adolescence when social awareness and interaction are evolving. Cultural influences also play a role, as well as genetic factors. In fact, parents of social phobics are more likely to develop major depression. Family difficulties, conflicts, frequent family moves, physical and sexual abuse in childhood are all factors generating phobias.
Socio-cultural variations in social phobia are beginning to emerge and receive more attention. Findings suggest that there are similarities in the expression of social phobia across cultures.
Phobic conditions are frequently manifested by a reluctance to interact, usually from childhood.
Recent studies have proved that there are physiological factors such as conditioned fear responses produced by a disorder in the neural circuitry centred on the 'amygdala'. The amygdala may function as a protective 'brake' during evaluation of a potential threat, and it has been suggested that social anxiety may involve a de-regulation or hyperactivity of the amygdala evaluative process.
Family studies have shown high rates of social phobia in offspring, or other close relatives of sufferers of social phobia. This suggests that social phobia is somehow familial and possibly specific in its transmission.
There are also parenting and family environmental factors. Obsessive controlling and over-protectiveness can play a role in causing phobic conditions while, parental modelling or avoidant responses and restricted exposure to social situations have an effect on the development of social phobic “parent/child” reinforcement of each other’s anxiety.
Compulsive washing is a phobia-like condition and so is agoraphobia, the fear of being in public places where there are many other people.
Treatments are complicated and phobics get limited help from the medical establishment. However, there are self-help groups, like “Phobics Together”, in which sufferers learn to ease their anxiety and thus reduce symptoms by sharing experiences following special training programmes implemented by psychiatrists and psychologists working together.
If you would like to discuss any kind of phobic condition you can find details of local events and confidential counselling via the website at www.phobicstogether.org.