Читать книгу Anxiety For Dummies - W. Doyle Gentry, Laura L. Smith - Страница 39

Many fears appear to be hard-wired into the human brain. Cave men and women had good reasons to fear snakes, strangers, heights, darkness, open spaces, and the sight of blood — snakes could be poisonous, strangers could be enemies, a person could fall from a height, darkness could harbor unknown hazards, open spaces could leave a primitive tribe vulnerable to attack from all sides, and the sight of blood could signal a crisis, even potential death. Fear fuels caution and avoidance of harm. Those with these fears had a better chance of survival than the naively brave.

That’s why many of the most common fears today reflect the dangers of the world thousands of years ago. Even today, it makes sense to cautiously identify a spider before you pick it up. However, sometimes fears rise to a disabling level. You may have a phobia if

 You have an exaggerated fear of a specific situation or object.

 When you’re in a fearful situation, you experience excessive anxiety immediately. Your anxiety may include sweating, rapid heartbeat, a desire to flee, tightness in the chest or throat, or images of something awful happening.

 You know the fear is unreasonable. However, kids with specific phobias don’t always know that their phobia is unreasonable. For example, they may really think that all dogs bite. (See Chapter 19 for more on phobias in children.)

 You avoid your feared object or situation as much as you possibly can.

 Because your fear is so intense, you go so far as to change your day-to-day behavior at work, at home, or in relationships. Thus, your fear inconveniences you and perhaps others, and it restricts your life.

Almost two-thirds of people fear one thing or another. For the most part, those fears don’t significantly interfere with everyday life. For example, if you fear snakes but don’t run into too many snakes, then your fear can’t really be considered a phobia. However, if your snake fear makes it impossible for you to walk around in your neighborhood, go on a picnic, or enjoy other activities, then it may be a full-blown phobia.

The following description of Dylan’s life is a prime picture of what someone with a specific phobia goes through.

 Dylan trudges up eight flights of stairs each morning to get to his office and tells everyone that he loves the exercise. When Dylan passes the elevators on the way to the stairwell, his heart pounds, and he feels a sense of doom. Dylan envisions being boxed inside the elevator — the doors slide shut, and there’s no escape. In his mind, the elevator box rises on rusty cables, makes sudden jerks up and down, falls freely, and crashes into the basement.

 Dylan has never experienced anything like his fantasy, nor has anyone he knows had this experience. Dylan has never liked elevators, but he didn’t start avoiding them until the past few years. It seems that the longer he stays away from riding them, the stronger his fear grows. He used to feel okay on escalators, but now he finds himself avoiding those as well. Several weeks ago at the airport, he had no alternative but to take the escalator. He managed to get on but became so frightened that he had to sit down for a while after he reached the second floor.

 One afternoon, Dylan rushed down the stairs after work, running late for an appointment. He slipped and fell, breaking his leg. Now in a cast, Dylan faces the challenge of his life — with a broken leg, he now must take the elevator to get to his office. Dylan has a phobia.

Dylan’s story illustrates how a phobia often starts out small and spreads. Such phobias gradually grow and affect one’s life increasingly over time.