A phobia is an anxiety disorder involving fear of a situation or object. Image: Phobia Stock Photos
Phobia of the Day: What is Amathophobia?
A phobia is an anxiety disorder involving fear of a situation or object. Exposure to the source of the fear triggers an irrational response.
A phobia is an anxiety disorder involving fear of a situation or object. Image: Phobia Stock Photos
A phobia is an anxiety disorder involving excessive and persistent fear of a situation or object. Exposure to the source of the fear triggers an immediate anxiety response.
Most specific phobias fall into one of four major categories:
- Fears of the natural environment
- Fears related to animals
- Fear related to medical treatments or issues
- Fears related to specific situations
Phobia of the Day: Amathophobia refers to the fear of dust
Amathophobia is the irrational fear of dust. Someone experiencing this mental illness may endure intense bouts of anxiety due to their condition and may even need to be hospitalized if such a debilitating panic attack were to ensue. Someone with amathophobia may find it extremely difficult to cope with their day to day life seeing as how dust can be found virtually everywhere. Below, you will see some common symptoms of this phobia:
- Intense anxiety when around dust
- Anxiety when thinking of dust
- Cleaning things that are already clean
- The extreme impulse to clean things
- Inability to control strong emotions
- Isolating oneself
- Feelings of helplessness
SELF-CARE TIPS FOR PHOBIAS THAT BRING ON ANXIETY
- Talk to someone you trust.
- Learn to manage panic and anxiety.
- Look into joining a support group.
- Use self-help resources.
- Take a course for your specific phobia.
RECENT PHOBIA WORD POSTS:
Do you have a phobia you suffer from that you’d like to share?
If so, send an email to info@thesouthafrican.com or a WhatsApp to 060 011 0211 and we’ll publish the ones that we feel are most interesting!
You can also follow @TheSAnews on Twitter and The South African on Facebook for all the latest phobias.
