Cynophobia

Fear of dogs

According to the magazine "knowledge" by BBC, 3% people in the world suffer from cynophobia.

Phobia may not always be associated with the harmful venomous creatures, but also with friendly beasts like dogs. Cynophobia is one of the most commonly found phobias in people, signified by irrelevant and extreme fear of dogs.  In almost all cases, the subject is not visibly dangerous or possesses no risk in reality. A normal person would always be alert around a stray dog. But if your fear is over the extreme and you start avoiding a friend’s place or your own home to avoid a pet dog, you might be cynophobic.

Causes

The fear of dogs is known to be quite common owing to the historic association between dogs and wolfs, as a result, most cynophobics generally fear large and vicious looking dogs, though, in extreme cases one might even fear small or aggressive puppies. In reality dogs are considered loyal and faithful companions that are capable of forming close ties with humans, however to a phobic owing to a prior bad experience with dogs all canines appear dangerous or evil.

Parents may unknowingly instill a fear of dogs in their child by warning them against petting or approaching dogs. Thus the negative experience one has had with a dog in the past might not necessarily be a direct one: having watched a sibling or a close friend getting attacked or barked at by a dog can also sometimes result in an excessive fear of dogs.

Cynophobic individuals are often afraid of the barks or the growling sounds made by dogs rather than just their bites.

 

Symptoms

As with most other phobias, Cynophobia can cause the sufferers to feel terribly anxious and frightened. This can lead to different physical and psychological symptoms such as:

 

Physical symptoms

• Dizziness and feeling faint, disoriented
• Excess sweating
• Shaking and trembling
• Nausea and gastrointestinal distress
• Dry mouth, feeling of choking or difficulty in swallowing
• Freezing
• Running away
• Crying

Psychological symptoms

• Having thoughts of dying
• Feeling like losing control or going crazy
• Inability to distinguish between reality and unreality
• Trying to avoid situations which bring confrontation with a dog

These symptoms might be present days before an actual confrontation with a dog and the individual might go to great lengths to avoid it.

Treatment

Many people are afraid of dogs; hence diagnosis of Cynophobia includes determining if the fear is persistent or triggers an immediate anxiety response. To be categorized as Cynophobia, one’s fear of dogs would also be required to interfere with social, familial or occupational activities.
Therapy and self help techniques can be used for treating Cynophobia.

• The most popular and effective technique for treating phobias is the systematic desensitization technique developed by Joseph Wolpe in 1958. It involves having the patient imagine being in the same room with a dog while employing specific breathing and relaxation techniques to reduce one’s anxiety.
• In-vivo or exposure therapy can also help one get rid of one’s fear of dogs. This therapy involves a prolonged exposure to a dog until the patient can have a normal response to the animal.
• Exposure therapy can also be utilized in the form of self-help technique wherein the patient gradually exposes himself to canines, looks at photos, and progresses gradually to petting a dog etc. This type of gradual exposure can help one realize that his/her fears are unfounded.

Acrophobia

Irrational fear of heights.

While many people tend to enjoy adventurous sports of bungee and paragliding, from huge heights these days, many others may even have a hard time looking down from the fifth floor of a building. Acrophobia is a word derived from Greek word “acron” which means height. Any person who has persistent and intense fear and nervousness with heights may have acrophobia. It is signified by an overwhelming amount of fear that onsets upon encountering a great height. In fact, the fear may occur even when the person is merely climbing simple stairs.
It occurs in 5% of the world's population.

Causes

The major cause factors that have seen to develop acrophobia in people are:

A traumatic experience

Many times the phobia can be developed due to a traumatic incident related with falling from a great height or such accidents. The fear of heights is a naturally formed fear in human beings. However, if any such event occurs, the fear is magnified and leads to acrophobia. The fear can also get morbid simply by witnessing someone else go through a hurtful accident from height.

Evolutionary factor

All of us are born with the fear of heights. It is like a defense mechanism formed by our body as a response to huge heights like during cliff climbing or looking down from a hill. Studies show that event infants and toddlers become fearful when brought to a height. This is a learned behavior in all human beings since early civilizations. People tend to get acrophobia when the learned behavior goes over the extreme.

Symptoms

Common symptoms include the onset of panic attacks and vertigo. Vertigo is the medical condition in which the person develops dizziness. The major symptoms that occur with both children and adults having acrophobia are:

• Intensely fearful of climbing, going down or being at a height
• Anxiety upon anticipation of great heights
• Immediate reactions such as lowering the body, kneeling, going down instantly or desperately finding something to clutch when brought to a height
• Complete avoidance of places at height ( the person may even avoid a workplace or visiting a friend's place located at a height)
• Realizing that the fear is irrelevant (except in children)
• May or may not develop vertigo. It is a medical condition signified by the fear of dizziness
• Panic attacks accompanied by physical signs such as sweating, trembling, fainting or dizziness, nausea and vomiting, trouble in breathing, chest pain, racing heart beat, numbness around limbs, getting frozen, detachment from reality and feeling that one is getting mad

Treatment

Acrophobia can be treated in similar ways to other phobic and anxiety disorders, with a range of treatments including reality therapy and cognitive behavior therapy and the use of anti-anxiety medication.  Effective treatment is based on the assumption that acrophobia is a learned response to being in certain situations. This learned response is typically powerful, uncomfortable, embarrassing, inconvenient, and debilitating at times. And just as you can learn to have a particular response you can un-learn it.
Therapists can help people who have acrophobia to develop coping skills to manage their fear and anxiety. This involves understanding and adjusting thoughts and beliefs that help create the anxiety, learning and practicing specific behavioral social skills to increase confidence, and then slowly and gradually practicing these skills in real situations.

Cognitive behavior therapy is an approach where the person is encouraged to confront and change the specific thoughts and attitudes that lead to feelings of fear. Systematic desensitization, which is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), is a preferred behavioral technique used to treat acrophobia and other phobias. It based upon having the person relax, then imagine the components of the phobia, working from the least fearful to the most fearful. Gradual exposure to real life phobias has also been used with success to help people overcome their fears.  According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about 75% of people with specific phobias overcome their fears through cognitive-behavioral therapy. 

Relaxation and stress relief techniques are frequently an accompaniment to other therapeutic approaches.  Relaxation techniques may include things like specific ways of breathing, muscle relaxation training, guided mental imagery, or soothing self-talk.

Anti-anxiety and anti-depressive medications are sometimes used to help relieve the symptoms associated with acrophobia. Though medication doesn't solve the whole problem, it can reduce anxiety so the person can more easily deal with their problem. Drugs such as tranquilizers and anti-depressants and drugs known as beta blockers may be used to treat the physical symptoms of anxiety, such as a pounding heart.

Hypnotherapy can also be effective.  This usually consists of systematic desensitization and other therapeutic techniques conducted under hypnosis by a clinical hypnotherapist.