Identify and overcome your fears and anxieties
When a thirty-three-year-old woman named Nora had a panic attack in the middle of a grocery store, she felt like she was being strangled. Her heart raced. She felt dizzy. She had no choice but to leave her cart in the middle of the aisle and run for the door and the fresh air outside. … Read more
When nine-year-old Nicole moved with her mother to a new city, she started to dread school. Her worries about her new class kept her up at night. She stopped eating and drank six cans of soda every day. She began faking illnesses so she could stay home from school. It was obvious that something was … Read more
People who fear natural phenomena may use sickness as their excuse for staying indoors, but some people fear a sick day itself. Terror at the thought of getting hurt or becoming ill is the fourth type of simple phobia, and it is one of the most common and troublesome. Fiona Rittigan has such a phobia, … Read more
Thunderstorms, tornadoes, earthquakes, and other natural events can happen almost anywhere, sometimes with little or no warning. People with specific phobias of natural phenomena, therefore, usually feel they have very little control over their fear. They cannot prevent a thunderstorm or predict when an earthquake might happen, and therefore, there is no guarantee that they … Read more
Some people who fear animals might be afraid to stray too far from a city sidewalk, because they are paralyzed by the thought of an encounter with the creature they fear. People with a different kind of simple phobia may also avoid nature, but it might be a situation, not an animal, that petrifies them—a … Read more