- I’m afraid of only two things: dentists and the dark.- Well, dentists are understandable, but why the darkness?- Do you know how many dentists there can be there?! It is perhaps difficult to find a person who is not afraid of anything at all. And for most of us, fear is not a problem - the frightening situation has gone, and the fear has disappeared. A phobia is a completely different matter. Despite the fact that this word is literally translated from Greek as fear, it is customary to designate a specific category of fears. How does a phobia differ from fear? Let's start with an example: suppose you came to the exam knowing absolutely nothing about the subject. In such a situation, it is quite natural to feel fear (of course, if you care about this exam:) Now imagine that you are perfectly prepared, you know everything, but you are so afraid that your guts are shaking. This is a manifestation of a phobia. Firstly, phobia is characterized by irrationality. For example, it is known that an airplane is a much safer mode of transport than a car and the likelihood of dying in a plane crash is tens of times less than in an accident. However, this does not reassure a person experiencing aviophobia at all. Moreover, he can drive a car in a very risky manner without experiencing fear. Secondly, phobic experiences are extremely strong, and they are often accompanied by autonomic disturbances - palpitations, sweating, nausea, balance problems, etc. Another characteristic feature of a phobia is obsession. That is, a phobia is experienced by a person as existing against his will. Even understanding the irrationality of his fear, its groundlessness, and often absurdity, a person cannot get rid of it or switch to something else. For example, in the case of an obsessive fear of infection, a person knows that it is stupid and harmful to endlessly wash his hands in hot water, but continues to do this against his will. Psychiatry has numerous definitions for various types of phobias, for example, claustrophobia - fear of closed spaces, agoraphobia - fear in front of an open space, ereytophobia - fear of blushing in the presence of strangers, etc. Using a Greek dictionary, you can list these names endlessly, since every situation, object, person can be a source of obsessive fear (you can look at the Wikipedia article “List of phobias,” of which there are at least 500, including such exotic ones as apophobia - fear of the absence of phobias, or Hexakosioyhexekontahexaparaskavedekatriaphobia - fear of the number 666 on Friday the 13th). Therefore, these names are now used less and less. In life, most of us are familiar with phobias in a more or less mild form: fear of speaking in front of an audience, unpleasant experiences when being in a crowd, fear of the dark, dogs or spiders. You can live your whole life calmly with some fears, avoiding relevant situations (for example, meeting snakes). However, phobias often become a serious hindrance in careers, relationships and life in general. Moreover, the phobia can progress, limiting freedom more and more. For example, the fear of an exam mentioned above can spread to other situations where a person needs to “keep an answer”: when communicating with superiors, when speaking in front of an audience. Ultimately, this can extend to any communication situation, since in one way or another interaction with other people involves evaluation. Is it possible to cope with phobias on your own? If you have mild phobias, you can easily alleviate your problems with the help of auto-training, yoga and other mentally calming methods. In any case, it is useful to pay attention to yourself and study the subject of your phobia. If a phobia interferes with your life and, moreover, progresses, you should seek help from a psychotherapist or psychologist. It should be understood that the treatment of phobias is quite complex and, unfortunately, it is not possible to guarantee a 100% cure..