My heart starts to race. It feels like it's going to explode. My throat closes and I'm having trouble breathing. My palms are sweating now, and my head is dizzy. I feel like I might fall, I want to run, but I don't know where...
This reaction is a way to describe what people feel when they are suffering from a phobia. A phobia is an intense, ridiculous amount of fear of something or a situation that is far from what really could happen. Phobias affect people of all ages. The National Institute of Mental Health has stated that 5.1%-12.5% of all American's encounter some sort of phobia. They are the most common psychiatric illness among women of all ages and men over 25.
When someone has a phobia, they start to feel panic, dread, or anxious when they are near what they are afraid of and they feel relieved when they avoid it. There is a phobia for just about everything. But, mental health professionals group them into three categories. Specific, social and agora. The