Phobias And Post-traumatic Stress: How To Cope And Understand Discomfort
What are phobias? These make up a type of anxiety disorder, which manifests itself as an intense and extreme fear of a situation, animal or feeling.
In general This fear is irrational in nature but its intensity is such that it leads people to avoid as much as possible facing and interacting with the environment in a safe way.
There are many types of phobias; However, science has grouped them into two categories to understand their nature.
Simple or specific phobias
They develop in childhood or adolescence. Its origin lies most of the time because the individual faces an extreme situation understanding its psychic scope, leading him to live a very uncomfortable situation and triggering avoidant psychic defense mechanisms that lead the individual to assume resistance and radical blockage in the face of the initial stimulus and trigger of Fear, Anxiety or Anguish.
Among the examples of simple phobias we find phobias towards animals, environmental phobias, which refer to all those stimuli that are in the environment such as heights, water, depth, darkness, medical environments, among others. Body phobias are related to that intense, irrational and paralyzing fear of blood, body fluids, and injections. There is a group of sexual phobias, which manifest high indicators of anxiety specifically regarding sexual performance.
Finally, we find situational phobias such as flying, speaking in public, visiting some hospital-type environments and other places that can be very specific.
Complex phobias
Complex phobias tend to develop in adulthood, causing the same paralyzing effects associated with extreme anxiety contained in the body. Complex phobias generally tend to have a much more debilitating effect on the person who suffers from it, generating a significant impact on their quality of life, since it removes the person from some environments permanently, profoundly impacting the mental health of the individual.
The most commons are social phobia (fear of social exposure to a greater or lesser extent) agoraphobia (fear of open spaces) claustrophobia (fear of closed spaces).
How do I know if I suffer from a phobia?
Who suffers from a phobia generally tends to manifest symptoms associated with anxiety such as palpitations, sweating, dizziness, intense dizziness, exhausted breathing, debilitating muscle tremor, abdominal pain; among other bodily symptoms and psychological symptoms such as blockages. Some people only express symptoms if they are faced with the stimulus that causes their phobia, while other people Just thinking about that stimulus tends to trigger all the symptoms that underlie anxiety.
The causes of phobias can be very different, they may even have no relationship at all. Clinical cases have been studied that demonstrate that at a genetic level there is a predisposition that would facilitate the development of the disease. The environment plays a very important role, since we know that children learn by modeling.
Therefore, there are phobias learned socially, generally children exposed to punishing parents and with a tendency to extreme fear, develop either a type of personality very similar to that of their parents, or in contrast to this it is revealed and becomes the extreme opposite. It should be noted that they are also explained in isolation from genetics and upbringing and are related to the environment. Extreme situations that cause trauma can trigger post-traumatic stress and followed by a phobia.
post-traumatic stress
Post-traumatic stress is understood as a triggering consequence that is directly related to a specific situation or trauma experienced by a person or group of people. The deterioration of mental health is related to the psychic manifestation of each individual and the way in which he manages the perception of trauma in his life experience and reality, leading him or not to make adjustments to reach a serene understanding that facilitates trauma management. Post-traumatic stress is associated with people of all ages, but it especially occurs in women.
All people have experienced fear, since this phenomenon is associated with the subjective perception that the subject has in their own environment; However, in extreme situations where life and integrity are put at risk, a far-reaching impact is generated on a psychological level. People who have post-traumatic stress disorder usually experience the same symptoms associated with the triggering situation over and over again.
The experience becomes a cycle where the event and the emotions associated with the event occur again and again and hardly cease if the person does not seek clinical help that makes it easier for them to manage the psychic universe, from the structure of the unconscious and the consciousness that inhabits them to process the trauma.
Acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder are two different clinical diagnoses the latter is characterized by a greater precipitation and duration of symptoms around the trauma.
How to treat it
In general, these types of problems require professional help, from a clinical perspective, from a specialist who accompanies them in the management of the symptoms, identifying the stimuli that trigger the psychological discomfort and preparing the individual to redefine the perception that they have. has of the traumatic event or events.
The symptoms associated with anxiety are generally accompanied by an educational and close therapeutic model, where the perception of trauma is changing and relaxation techniques, conscious breathing, cognitive restructuring are used… Or even more complex processes such as hypnosis, which have been shown to have a very positive impact on the lives of people who suffer from this type of diagnosis.
It is very important to understand that the brain has a neuroplasticity mechanism, which facilitates the learning and relearning processes. Unconscious processes, being timeless, allow new perceptions to be entered into the same situation; that is why it is recommended accompaniment aimed at repeating the traumatic event which allows shaping the perception around a situation.
If you consider that you have any of the symptoms described, it is very important that you seek professional help, a person who will facilitate the process, and that you allow yourself to live a life away from the distorted memory associated with the trauma; No matter how complex the situation may have been, your brain is prepared to generate new ideas, perceptions, emotions and stories associated with well-being.
