The feeling of fear is essential for all people. When scared by something, we react very quickly and it helps us to avoid a potential threat to life. But phobias are something different. A phobia is an irrational stable fear associated with a certain objects or phenomena. Many of us have more than one phobia which we cannot explain. Why are some people afraid of rats and other – of spiders? What makes us be scared merely by darkness? How is it possible to feel panic before the flight if the chances to crash are less than 1 percent? There are no objective explanations why a person develops a phobia to things which do not threaten our life. Nevertheless, these little scary things can sufficiently spoil our life.
Phobic people cannot fully live and enjoy their everyday life because of the phobias. Fears have the power to isolate individuals from their social environment and cause awkward situations in interaction. Friends who do not fully understand why their close ones behave in a strange way may misinterpret continual refusal to go out with them. Teachers or colleagues may think of a phobic individual as of a troubled person or someone retarded in their mental development.
Another nasty feeling experienced by people with phobias is losing control over one’s own life. Some phobic people can perfectly handle even challenging tasks, but as soon as they see the object which frightens them to death, they cannot control the situation anymore. Therefore, phobic individuals frequently feel helpless as they anticipate living the whole life with obsessive fears. In fact, damaging phobias can be successfully cured when we are supported by family or therapists.