Phobias

The word “phobia” came from the Greek word phóbos, which means fear. Phobia is described as an irrational, intense, persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, or people. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive, unreasonable desire to avoid the feared subject. There is multitude of known phobias, some of them are more serious than others, and some may even seem ridiculous, but for people who have to face them every day those phobias doesn’t seem to be funny.I am going to analyse only few of them.

Lalophobia :

Lalophobia is a fear of speaking. Unlike the fear of public speaking (called glossophobia), people with lalophobia suffer from this disorder more or less always. Lalophobia is usually caused by an intense negative experience from the past, but the mind can create this fear even without any basis. Some lalophobics may develop speech disorders, while others may develop selective mutism or even total mutism, refusing to talk at all. This phobia is not related with any kind of danger, and even lalophobiacs realize that this fear is irrational, though sometimes even thinking about facing this fear may lead to a panic attack or severe anxiety. Since lalophobia is purely psychological disorder, the best way to treat it is using hypnotherapy or Neuro-linguistic programming method. The use off drugs, though possible, is not recommended, because they may help to deal with lalophobia, but they do not actually help to overcome it.

Glossophobia:

Glossophobia or speech anxiety is the fear of public speaking. Stage fright may be a symptom of glossophobia. The cause of this phobia is usually unknown, but sometimes can be attributed to a single or multiple traumatic incidents, usually experienced personally but sometimes associated with someone who has, or slow build-up from avoiding public speaking over time until it builds into a more severe form of glossophobia. Sometimes glossophobia can be related not only with public speaking, but with any public performance, though usually glossophobics are able to dance or perform on stage as long as it does not require speaking. This fear can be overcome with psychological treatment or simply with the power of one’s will to face the fear until it is simply gone. Many famous actors or singers claim to have had this phobia in the past, and have successfully managed with it over the time by having lots of performance in front of audience.

To sum up, Phobias are the most common form of anxiety disorders. Most of them are just psychological fears and usually can be overcome step by step over the time. There are hundreds of known phobias, and despite how nonsensical many of them may sound, they are all causing huge problems for people who face them.

References:
http://knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Lalophobia/ (2009.05.18)

http://www.changethatsrightnow.com/problem_detail.asp?SDID=256:1647 (2009.05.18)

http://www.phobia-fear-release.com/lalophobia.html (2009.05.18)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobia (2009.05.18)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossophobia (2009.05.18)

http://img1.eyefetch.com/Portfolio%5Cpenrod%5C13413.jpg (2009.05.18)