Phobia

Are you afraid of mice or are you afraid of flying? Almost everyone has a mild fear or phobia. As long as that fear has no negative influence on your daily life, there is no problem. When a fear is really going to influence your life (limitation in your functioning and in your experience of pleasure or happiness) and it leads to avoidance behavior, there can be a phobia.

With a phobia, you often develop a great fear of specific matters or situations, for unclear reasons. You can also develop a phobia after a traumatic experience, such as a car accident, after which you no longer dare to drive a car. You usually know very well that the fear is not real, but the fear prevails over common sense.

Social phobia

If you are very afraid of the reaction or criticism of others, you can have a social phobia. For example the fear of a critical or negative review, the fear of showing strange behavior (blushing, stuttering, shaking, perspiring), of blundering, of not being liked or of the fear of giving a presentation to a group of people. Because of the fear you will escape or avoid these situations. Fear of failure or excessive embarrassment can often be traced to social phobia.

Social phobia is also known as a social anxiety disorder. To learn more about the characteristics, symptoms, causes, consequences and how we can help you with your social phobia, read our Social anxiety disorder page.

Specific phobias

A specific phobia is a specific fear of certain things, animals or situations. The anxiety can be accompanied by severe physical symptoms (such as heart palpitations, chills, fainting, hyperventilating) and feelings of panic. Common phobias are fear of heights, fear of flying, claustrophobia, fear of the dentist, spiders and mice. A specific phobia is almost always accompanied by avoidance behavior or the situation is endured with great fear.

Treatment of phobia

Sometimes a phobia can pass spontaneously. Often, however, therapy is necessary. Fortunately, there are various forms of therapy that can resolve the fears completely. In therapy we will tackle your fears together. This allows you to look into your fear and to understand it better. From this insight, we work towards resolving your fear and the unpleasant feelings that come with it.

Also read our Phobia treatment page, if you want additional information about how we can treat your phobia symptoms.

Contact Psychologen Amsterdam

Do you recognize your symptoms and do you need help or do you just have a question about the treatment of your phobia? Then call for an appointment or send a message to Psychologen Amsterdam.