Different things elicit unreasonable fears in almost every individual. For some, it could be fear for height or depth; some even get so jittery and nervous at the sight of cockroach or other flying insects. A good number of people experience this fear momentarily while beholding the object of their fear. But to some others, this fear is so serious that it produces anxiety in them and even gets in the way of their daily activities. This type of devastating fear is known as phobia. Phobias and fears are two ills associated with causes of panic attacks.

Phobia is a serious level of fear of a particular thing, whereas there is little or no imminent peril that could accrue from the objects of such fear. As mentioned earlier, the general objects of phobias and fears are depths and heights, enclosed places, dark zones, harmful creatures like snakes and driving on the highway. However, there are some other things that can constitute objects of severe fear for certain individuals. Most cases of phobia seen in adulthood are traceable to have developed during childhood days. But some other individuals develop phobia at adulthood and even in the later years of their lives.

Phobias and fears hold their victims to ransom. Just a minute thought of the object of their fear erupt terror and trembling in phobic individuals; and they become incapacitated that same moment. Phobic situation could be so devastating that it can even prevent an individual from accepting employment offer in certain companies. For instance those that are excessively afraid of height will do anything to reject any job that will place a traveling demand on them, no matter how lucrative and high paying such job might be.

Phobia has symptoms that are closely related to that of anxiety and such symptoms could be emotional or physical in nature; it could also be a combination of the two. Such symptoms might start out as mild feelings of fear and then escalate to severe fear and eventually to panic attacks. Phobia translates to panic attacks especially when a victim is unable to find a way of escape from what constitutes an object of fear to such person. Symptoms of phobia includes: suffocation, very short intervals of breathes, dizziness, shivering, racing heartbeat, fear of fainting, unnecessary sweating, discomfort at the chest region and such other symptoms of anxiety.

Phobias and fears are closely associated with most issues of panic attacks; especially when such victims see no possibility of taking off from the objects of their fear. At that moment, those individuals become panicky and eventually suffer panic attacks.

But then, there is hope of overcoming phobias and fears. Few tips on how to overcome phobia include gaining knowledge about phobia and knowing that phobia is common and can be treated easily. Another important tip is to stop nursing thoughts of fear. Phobic individuals need to understand that F-E-A-R is just a “FALSE EVIDENCE APPEARING REAL” All you need to do is to shun such thoughts of fear and see them as being unreal.