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' Specific Phobia '

Introduction
The specific phobia is an unreasonable fear that is caused by the thought or presence of a particular situation or may be an object which usually possesses a little or no danger. The exposure to that condition brings an instant reaction which causes a person to feel an intense anxiety and try to avoid the condition of the particular object. The distress which is related to the object may interfere with the ability of the affected person to function. The adults who are having the specific phobia feels that the fear is unreasonable or in excessive and are not able to overcome it (Essau & Petermann, 2013). Specific phobia just like the other mental disorders arises from complex interactions between the genes and the environment. Some of the causes the inherited traits that are the anxiety disorder runs in the family structure. However, there is no clear explanation whether it is due to genetics or a learned behavior. The other cause is the amygdala which assists in the control of fear as a brain structure. Individuals who may be having an overactive amygdala always respond highly to fear which causes an increase in their anxiety. Lastly, is the environment. The condition may be a learned behavior (Roy-Byrne & Cowley, 2002). That is a person develops the condition after they witness it from others. There may be an association of specific phobia and the parents that are controlling or more protective of their children. As a conditional reflective and an inadequate reaction of fear, specific phobia is associated with the specific stimulus which occurs as a result of the human consciousness ability to compare and store a particular phenomenon which is occurring at the specific moments with the past experiences. In frightening conditions, there should be at least two symptoms of anxiety (Becker et al., 2007).

Complications
Specific phobia tends to elicit specific reactions to the patients which include an intense feeling of fear, panic, and anxiety when someone is exposed or think about the specific source of his or he fears. The individuals also have an awareness that their fears are exaggerated and unreasonable. However, they feel that they are out of control and the person is powerless in controlling these fears (Waters, Bradley & Mogg, 2014). Furthermore, the person experiences a worsening anxiety when the object or the situation is getting nearer to him, or her hence tries everything possible to avoid to prevent the situation or where it is not feasible is forced to endure it with intense anxiety. The other complications are the person will find it difficult to function normally as a result of the fear. Then a person may have physical reactions including rapid heartbeat, sweating, a tight chest and a difficulty in breathing (Parsons & Rizzo, 2008). Notably, the other common complications are feeling of dizziness, feeling nauseated and in critical situations fainting. In the children there are possible tantrums, crying clinging to the parents or refusing to leave the side of their parents.

Types of specific phobia
There are many types of the specific phobia which are based on the condition that is feared which include the animal phobias which encompass the fears of insects, snakes, and even dogs. These are the common types of specific phobias. The other is situational phobias where the person fears a specific situation for instance driving, flying, gone over bridges being enclosed in a place such as in a winch. The next one is the natural environment phobia which includes the fear of heights, storms or water. Blood injection or may be injury phobias is where a person fears sewing blood or being injured or even the invasive procedures in medicine for instance injections and the blood tests. Other phobias include the fear of loud sounds or falling (Kessler et al., 2009).

Causes
The main cause of specific phobia is not clear, but researchers believe that it is normally associated with a learned reaction or a traumatic experience. For instance, a person who had a frightening experience with an animal may develop the specific phobia. If a person witnesses a traumatic event where others are harmed may also be the case of phobia (Cairney et al., 2007). One can also learn fear from others. If a parent reacts with fear to certain objects the likely of the child adopting the same behaviors also high.

Diagnosis
The diagnosis begins with the doctor evaluating the patient with the symptoms of the specific phobia by performing the medical or the psychiatric history and a brief physical examination. There are no lab tests for diagnosing specific phobia (Wright et al., 2003). Therefore, the doctor can use the various tests to ascertain that the bodily illness is not what causes the symptoms. If the doctor found there is no any physical sickness the patient can be sent to a psychologist or a psychiatrist who is trained to carry out a diagnosis and treatment of the mental illnesses. The psychologists may use assessment tools and clinical interviews for evaluating a person for the specific phobia (Wright et al., 2003). The diagnosis of the doctor will then be based on the reported symptoms and possible problems of functioning which may be caused by the symptoms. The diagnosis of the specific phobia will be done if the person anxiety or the fear is distressing and if it interferes with the person’s daily life for instance relationships, social activities or work.

The treatment of the specific phobia may include:
 a)   Cognitive behavioral therapy  The main form of treatment for specific phobias is the psychotherapy. The treatment involves a systematic desensitization which is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy where the patients are exposed gradually to what frightens them until they are used to it (Straube, Mentzel & Miltner, 2006).

 B) Medication  This is for the situational phobias that produce temporary anxiety that is intense for instance fear of flying. Benzodiazepines for example Xanax and Ativan can be prescribed by the doctor on an occasional basis where necessary so as to help reduce the anticipatory anxiety. Daily medical prescriptions are normally not used unless if the phobia is causing other effects on the person such as panic disorder or depression. The serotonergic antidepressants, for instance, Paxil have some potential values to patients (Michael, Zetsche & Margraf, 2007) . Currently, beta- blockers which are also drugs for blood pressure have also been used for the treatment of specific phobias related to anxiety.

 C) Relaxation  Relaxation is the other technique which may also be helpful in reducing the anxiety symptoms, for example, deep breathing.

Epidemiology of special phobia
A research was conducted by Stinson et al. (2007) on the specific phobia regarding the prevalence of the specific phobia, the correlation, the situation feared, the prevalence of the objects which are specific and the situations which are feared, an association of impairment, the co-morbidity and the treatment and the data of the specified situations and also the objects feared in the adults living in the United States.

 Method 

Data was driven from a population of 43033 people in the USA and specifically the adults.

 Results 

The prevalence of between 12 months and for lifetime DSM-IV were 7.1% and 9.4% consequently. The risk was more on females who were young and with a low-income rate. The observations also indicated that being a Hispanic or Asian decreased the risk by 0.05. On the onset, the mean of the ages for specified phobia was approximately 9.7 years, and the mean length of that period was 20.1 years. Conversely, 8.0% of the sample reported having been diagnosed with a specific phobia. The findings also showed that most of the specified phobias involved increased cases of multiple fears despite the content and were mostly associated with impairments and co-morbidity seeking treatments with other disorders that are the Axis I and II. More research has revealed that children who have a specific phobia usually express themselves by throwing a tantrum, crying or clinging to parents. It is estimated that between 5% to 12% of the Americans have phobias that are according to an Institute of the Mental Health. Specific phobias affect about 6 million adults (Ollendick, King, & Muris, 2002). The first appearance of phobia is usually in the adolescent stage or when an individual reaches adulthood stage, but its occurrence is across all ages. Phobias are commonly in women as compared to the men. Specific phobias are commonly seen in children but usually disappear over time. In adults, specific phobias start suddenly are usually long lasting that the phobias in children. Only about 20% of the phobia in the adults disappears without being treated (Kessler et al., 2009).

Conclusion
Specific phobia is prevalent mostly in the grown-ups living in the United States. The onset of the specified phobia and the complications that are mostly related to it indicate the need for a study on the early ages of childhood. Research suggest a general subtype of a specified phobia that when revealed may result to a more etiological meaningful categorization of the specific phobia.