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Deep Learning Technology: Sebastian Arnold, Betty van Aken, Paul Grundmann, Felix A. Gers and Alexander Löser. Learning Contextualized Document Representations for Healthcare Answer Retrieval. The Web Conference 2020 (WWW'20)
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The following symptoms can be exhibited when a person suffering from equinophobia either thinks of a horse or is physically near one:
- Feeling of terror
- Anxiety (even if the horse is calm)
- Trembling
- Panic
- Palpitations
- Shortness of breath
- Sudden increase in pulse rate
- Nausea
- Crying
Sufferers of equinophobia may also fear other hoofed animals such as donkeys, mules, and ponies.
A person with astraphobia will often feel anxious during a thunderstorm even when they understand that the threat to them is minimal. Some symptoms are those accompanied with many phobias, such as trembling, crying, sweating, panicked reactions, the sudden feeling of using the bathroom, nausea, the feeling of dread, fingers in the ears and rapid heartbeat. However, there are some reactions that are unique to astraphobia. For instance, reassurance from other people is usually sought, and symptoms worsen when alone. Many people who have astraphobia will look for extra shelter from the storm. They might hide underneath a bed, under the covers, in a closet, in a basement, or any other space where they feel safer. Efforts are usually made to smother the sound of the thunder; the person may cover their ears or curtain the windows.
A sign that someone has astraphobia is a very heightened interest in weather forecasts. An astraphobic person will be alert for news of incoming storms. They may watch the weather on television constantly during rainy bouts and may even track thunderstorms online. This can become severe enough that the person may not go outside without checking the weather first. In very extreme cases, astraphobia can lead to agoraphobia, the fear of leaving the home.
The "DSM-IV-TR" provides the following criteria for the diagnosis of a specific phobia:
The book "Phobias" defines a panic attack as "a sudden terror lasting at least a few minutes with typical manifestations of intense fear". These manifestations may include palpitations, sweating, trembling, difficulty breathing, the urge to escape, faintness or dizziness, dry mouth, nausea and/or several other symptoms. As with other specific phobias, patients suffering from cynophobia may display a wide range of these reactions when confronted with a live dog or even when thinking about or presented with an image (static or filmed) of a dog. Furthermore, classic avoidance behavior is also common and may include staying away from areas where dogs might be (i.e., a park), crossing the street to avoid a dog, or avoiding the homes of friends and/or family who own a dog.
People with a fear of driving may experience trembling, sweating, accelerated pulse, loss of sense of reality, and thoughts of losing control while driving, even in situations that are reasonably safe. This fear will cause many to avoid driving, create excuses to not drive, or even refuse to get a driver's license for years.
Those with associated post-traumatic stress disorder may experience intrusive thoughts or dreams of the original accident—both when driving and not—lack of emotional responsiveness and irritability.
Anticipatory anxiety of being out of control and overwhelmed can prevent a person from planning to travel by air. The thought of an upcoming flight can cause great distress, particularly when compelled to travel by air. The most extreme manifestations can include panic attacks or vomiting at the mere sight or mention of an aircraft or air travel.
The symptoms of autophobia vary by case. However, there are some symptoms that a multitude of people with this disease suffer from. An intense amount of apprehension and anxiety when you are alone or think about situations where you would be secluded is one of the most common indications that a person is autophobic. People with this disorder also commonly believe that there is an impending disaster waiting to occur whenever they are left alone. For this reason, autophobes go to extreme lengths to avoid being in isolation. However, people with this disease often do not need to be in "physical" isolation to feel abandoned. Autophobes will often be in a crowded area or group of people and feel as though they are completely secluded.
There has also been some connection to autophobia being diagnosed in people who also suffer from borderline personality disorders.
Below is a list of other symptoms that are sometimes associated with autophobia:
- Mental symptoms:
- Fear of fainting
- A disability to concentrate on anything other than the disease
- Fear of losing your mind
- Failure to think clearly
- Emotional symptoms:
- Stress over up-coming times and places where you may be alone
- Fear of being secluded
- Physical symptoms:
- Lightheadedness, dizziness
- Sweating
- Shaking
- Nausea
- Cold and hot flashes
- Numbness or tingling feelings
- Dry mouth
- Increased heart rate
Individuals with scopophobia generally exhibit symptoms in social situations when attention is brought upon them like public speaking. Several other triggers exist to cause social anxiety. Some examples include: Being introduced to new people, being teased and/or criticized, embarrassing easily, and even answering a cell phone call in public.
Often scopophobia will result in symptoms common with other anxiety disorders. The symptoms of scopophobia include an irrational feelings of panic, feelings of terror, feelings of dread, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, nausea, dry mouth, trembling, anxiety and avoidance. Other symptoms related to scopophobia may be hyperventilation, muscle tension, dizziness, uncontrollable shaking or trembling, excessive eye watering and redness of the eyes.
Blood phobia (also AE: hemophobia or BE: haemophobia) is the extreme and irrational fear of blood, a type of specific phobia. Severe cases of this fear can cause physical reactions that are uncommon in most other fears, specifically vasovagal syncope (fainting). Similar reactions can also occur with trypanophobia and traumatophobia. For this reason, these phobias are categorized as "blood-injection-injury phobia" by the DSM-IV. Some early texts refer to this category as "blood-injury-illness phobia."
The phobia manifests itself in different ways. For most people it is less about fear than about loathing, similar to the reaction many people have to snakes or rats. Some people experience it almost all the time, others just in response to direct stimuli. Some possible situations that can trigger the loathing of cats are: hearing purring, seeing a cat in real life, imagining the possibility of a cat touching or rubbing against one, the thought of meeting a cat in the dark, seeing the staring eyes of a cat (cats have the tendency to stare at passers-by) cats in pictures and on television, and cat-like toys and cat-like fur. Big cats such as lions or tigers can also trigger the stimuli associated with a phobia.
Mental and emotional symptoms of lilapsophobia include
- Obsessive thoughts
- Difficulty thinking
- Feeling of unreality or being detached
- Fear of losing control or going crazy
- Anticipatory anxiety
- Terror
- Desire to flee or hide
Physical symptoms of lilapsophobia include
- Dizziness, shaking, palpitations, lightheaded, or faint
- Shortness of breath
- Accelerated heartbeat
- Chest pain or discomfort
- Shaking
- Feeling of choking
- Sweating
- Nausea
- Numbness or tingling sensations
Many lilapsophobes also suffer autophobia, fear of being alone. Sufferers often make arrangements with people they know to help soothe the fear.
Spectrophobia (from Latin: "spectrum", n. specio, an appearance, form, image of a thing; an apparition, spectre) or catoptrophobia (from Greek κάτοπτρον "kátoptron", "mirror") is a kind of specific phobia involving a morbid fear of mirrors. This phobia is distinct from eisoptrophobia, which is the fear of one's own reflection.
Astraphobia, also known as astrapophobia, brontophobia, keraunophobia, or tonitrophobia is an abnormal fear of thunder and lightning, a type of specific phobia. It is a treatable phobia that both humans and animals can develop. The term astraphobia is composed of the words ἀστραπή (astrape; lightning) and φόβος (phobos; fear).
Fear of flying is a fear of being on an airplane (aeroplane), or other flying vehicle, such as a helicopter, while in flight. It is also referred to as flying phobia, flight phobia, aviophobia or aerophobia (although the last also means a fear of drafts or of fresh air).
Fear of flying may be a distinct phobia in itself, or it may be an indirect combination of one or more other disorders, such as claustrophobia (a phobia of being restricted, confined, or unable to escape) or acrophobia (anxiety or dread of being at a great height). It may have other causes as well, such as agoraphobia (especially the type associated with having a panic attack in a place they can't escape from). It is a symptom rather than a disease, and different causes may bring it about in different individuals.
This phobia receives more attention than most other phobias because air travel is often difficult for people to avoid—especially in professional contexts—and because it is common, affecting a significant minority of the population. Inability to maintain emotional control when aloft may prevent a person from going on vacations or visiting family and friends, and it can cripple the career of a businessperson by preventing them from traveling on work-related business.
Cynophobia (from the "kýōn" "dog" and "phóbos" "fear") is the fear of dogs. Cynophobia is classified as a specific phobia, under the subtype "animal phobias". According to Dr. Timothy O. Rentz of the Laboratory for the Study of Anxiety Disorders at the University of Texas, animal phobias are among the most common of the specific phobias and 36% of patients who seek treatment report being afraid of dogs or cats. Although snakes and spiders are more common animal phobias, cynophobia is especially debilitating because of the high prevalence of dogs (for example, there are an estimated 25 million stray dogs in India, and an estimated 62 million pet dogs in the United States) and the general ignorance of dog owners to the phobia. The "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" ("DSM-IV-TR") reports that only 12% to 30% of those suffering from a specific phobia will seek treatment.
Equinophobia or hippophobia is a psychological fear of horses. "Equinophobia" is derived from the Greek word φόβος ("phóbos"), meaning "fear" and the Latin word "equus", meaning "horse". The term "hippophobia" is also derived from the Greek word "phóbos" with the prefix derived from the Greek word for horse, ἵππος ("híppos").
An example of the phobia can be found in Freud's psychoanalytic study of Little Hans.
Ailurophobia is a type of specific phobia: the persistent, irrational fear of cats. The name comes from the Greek ("ailouros"), "cat" and ("phóbos"), "fear". Other names include felinophobia, elurophobia, and cat phobia.
The symptoms of Ablutophobia as well as many specific phobias are as follows:
- Feelings of panic, dread, horror, or terror
- Recognition that the fear goes beyond normal boundaries and the actual threat of danger
- Reactions that are automatic and uncontrollable, practically taking over the person’s thoughts
- Rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, trembling, and an overwhelming desire to flee the situation—all the physical reactions associated with extreme fear
- Extreme measures taken to avoid the feared object or situation.
Feelings of shame are also not uncommon. Many cultures place a heavy value on cleanliness, and refusing to bathe can make someone the target of mockery or teasing, which can increase the severity of the phobia. It may also cause the sufferer to not seek treatment.
Hyperalgesic fear of needles is another form that does not have as much to do with fear of the actual needle. Patients with this form have an inherited hypersensitivity to pain, or hyperalgesia. To them, the pain of an injection is unbearably great and many cannot understand how anyone can tolerate such procedures.
This form of fear of needles affects around 10% of needle phobes. The symptoms include extreme explained anxiety, and elevated blood pressure and heart rate at the immediate point of needle penetration or seconds before. The recommended forms of treatment include some form of anesthesia, either topical or general.
Necrophobia is a specific phobia which is the irrational fear of dead things (e.g., corpses) as well as things associated with death (e.g., coffins, tombstones, funerals, cemeteries). With all types of emotions, obsession with death becomes evident in both fascination and objectification. In a cultural sense, necrophobia may also be used to mean a fear of the dead by a cultural group, e.g., a belief that the spirits of the dead will return to haunt the living.
Symptoms include: shortness of breath, rapid breathing, irregular heartbeat, sweating, dry mouth and shaking, feeling sick and uneasy, psychological instability, and an altogether feeling of dread and trepidation. The sufferer may feel this phobia all the time. The sufferer may also experience this sensation when something triggers the fear, like a close encounter with a dead animal or the funeral of a loved one or friend. The fear may have developed when a person witnessed a death, or was forced to attend a funeral as a child. Some people experience this after viewing frightening media.
The fear can manifest itself as a serious condition. Treatment options include medication and therapy.
The word "necrophobia" is derived from the Greek "nekros" () for "corpse" and the Greek "phobos" () for "fear".
Whilst witnessing procedures involving needles it is possible for the phobic present to suffer the symptoms of a needle phobic attack without actually being injected. Prompted by the sight of the injection the phobic may exhibit the normal symptoms of vasovagal syncope and fainting or collapse is common. While the cause of this is not known, it may be due to the phobic imagining the procedure being performed on themselves. Recent neuroscience research shows that feeling a pin prick sensation and watching someone else's hand get pricked by a pin activate the same part of the brain.
In 2009, a study investigated the impact of anthropophobia in specific cultures. 50 patients diagnosed with anthropophobia, 50 patients diagnosed with neurasthenia, and 50 control subjects were recruited from hospitals in Beijing, China. Measures of anthropophobic and anxiety symptoms were administered to the subjects. The patients with anthropophobia could not even make eye contact with others and were afraid of being watched. The conclusion drawn was that anthropophobics, like neurasthenics, experience anxiety and depression, but "more cognitively and less somatically".
Driving phobia, also called vehophobia or a fear of driving, can be severe enough to be considered an intense, persistent fear or phobia. It is often great enough that people will avoid driving at all costs, and instead find someone to drive them or use public transportation, regardless of how inconvenient or expensive.
A fear of driving may escalate to a phobia during difficult driving situations, such as freeway driving or congested traffic.
People with arachnophobia tend to feel uneasy in any area they believe could harbor spiders or that has visible signs of their presence, such as webs. If arachnophobics see a spider, they may not enter the general vicinity until they have overcome the panic attack that is often associated with their phobia. Some people scream, cry, have emotional outbursts, experience trouble breathing, sweat, have heart palpitations, or even faint when they come in contact with an area near spiders or their webs. In some extreme cases, even a picture or a realistic drawing of a spider can trigger intense fear.
Entomophobia (also known as insectophobia) is a specific phobia characterized by an excessive or unrealistic fear of one or more classes of insect, and classified as a phobia by the DSM-5. More specific cases included apiphobia (fear of bees) and myrmecophobia (fear of ants). One book claims 6% of all US inhabitants suffer from it.
Entomophobia may develop after the person has had a traumatic experience with the insect(s) in question. It may develop early or later in life and is quite common among the animal phobias. Typically one suffers from a fear from one specific type of insect, and entomophobia leads to behavioral changes: the sufferer will avoid situations where they may encounter the specific type of insect. Cognitive behavioral therapy is considered an effective treatment.
Like many phobias, lilapsophobia is caused by an unwanted experience, specifically tornadoes or hurricanes that cause injuries, destruction, or loss of loved ones to self or others they know. People who survive those storms should seek professional advice, especially to determine if a person is suffering post-traumatic stress disorder. This phobia can even be caused by learning news about tornadoes or hurricanes using the media, like television, internet, radio, or newspaper, even though they happened far away from homes.
If a person learns that someone in the family has the phobia, then that person is more likely to suffer from it.