Distorted Fear (Phobia)

Fear is an impulse and its realization is universal.  To some extent everyone is afraid of someone.  Such as fear of death, fear of natural disaster, fear of failure etc.  The feeling of fear that occurs when the actual situation is really frightening is normal but the extreme level of fear of a situation that cannot produce fear is called perverted fear.  There is a lasting fear of stimuli that are not usually frightening.  The intensity of the feeling of fear is higher.  There seems to be no plausible reason for the perverted fear.  The distortions associated with distorted danger in DSM-V mainly feature three distortions.  

However all of these disorders are included under the classification of anxiety disorders.  

These three disorders are as follows: 

a.     Specific Phobia 

b.   Social phobia or Social Anxiety Disorder 

c.    Agora Phobia

(a) Specific fear (Specific Phobia)

Specific stimulus or symptoms of a person's extreme and irrational fear of a situation are diagnosed as a specific fear.  This disorder usually begins in infancy.  U.S.  It accounts for 8.7 per cent of the 19 million people suffering from the disorder.  

The characteristics that characterize a specific fear in DSM-V are as follows:

1. A person has a fear of not all things but any particular thing, person or situation.  

2. More extreme and irrational fears than reality.  

3. Physical distress increases in a person facing a situation that seems frightening.  There are several symptoms of anxiety disorder.  

4. Panic Attack Symptoms such as crying, numbness, trembling etc. are seen in a person while facing a frightening situation.  

5. Trying harder to avoid a dangerous situation.  

6. Difficulty in making decisions as well as maintaining interpersonal relationships.  

7. The presence of specific danger symptoms for more than 6 months.  

The DSM-V lists five main types of specific threats.  

Animal Type: Fear of animals like spiders, lizards, dogs etc. is associated.  

Environment Natural Environmental Type: In which water, danger of high places, fear of darkness, fear of hurricane etc. are seen.  

Od Blood - Injection - Inijury Type: In which a person is exposed to blood, blood tests, injections, TV.  It is scary to look at countries related to the operation.  

Situational Type: In which a person fears a specific situation such as going into an elevator, using a self-propelled escalator, boarding a plane, etc.  

Other Type: This includes the risk of suffocation or vomiting, the risk of incurable disease.  Children do not have the fear of bursting balloons.

[Reference - Std 12 psychology textbook]