Phobia: The Greatest Enemy I Conquer

Phobia; the Greatest Enemy I Conquer Student Name Institution Affiliation A phobia is an absurd and excessive fear of a situation or an object. Research conducted by the American Psychiatric Association shows that Females are the most affected by phobias. However, I would describe myself as phobia enriched. In most instances, fear of harm or a sense of being in danger cause the phobias I experience. At one time when I was in sixth grade, we went for swimming classes and after jumping into the pool, a tinge of pain cut across my heart, making me lose my breath. During the confusion, I lost control of myself and started drowning. The lifeguards jumped into the water and shoved me out of the pool. Moments later, I found myself lying on the school clinic bed. On examination, the doctor observed that my heartbeat rate had gone up and my body was shaking. My breathing too was shaky and I was nauseated. My conscience told me that I would die. On further observation, the doctor disclosed that I was hydrophobic. Hydrophobia is a type of specific phobia that renders a patient unreasonably fearful of water (Muris, 2017). According to Muris, specific phobias are observed at an early age in patients hence are most common in adolescents and children. Besides the fear of water, other specific phobias that I have experienced in my life include the fear of crossing a tall bridge and standing on the roof of story buildings. Additionally, I also used to fear Spiders and was greatly shaken when speaking or doing an activity before a crowd of people in class or even when given an opportunity to grace for the family before dinner. As I described my condition to the Doctor at the clinic, he told me that I was also suffering from social phobia. Hyett and McEvoy (2018) define a social phobia as an extreme and pervasive fear of public situations such as public speaking. The crowd by the poolside, according to the doctor, could have attributed to my sudden collapse. The most...