Many of us have a phobia – an extreme or irrational fear – of something. Most of the time we can live with such fears, but in some cases they can take over a person’s life. Luckily, help is at hand.

What is a phobia?

A phobia is an intense fear or feeling of anxiety that occurs only in a particular situation that frightens you.

This might be something as seemingly logical as a fear of heights, or as illogical as a fear of the colour green. At other times you don’t feel anxious. For example, if you have a phobia of spiders (as millions of people do), you only feel anxious when there’s a spider around, otherwise you feel fine.

About one in ten people has a significant phobia, although few people seek treatment.

People develop phobias to all sorts of things. Each phobia has its own name. Some (of a very long list) include:

* Musophobia – fear of mice
* Peladophobia – fear of bald people
* Amathophobia – fear of dust
* Pnigophobia – fear of choking or smothering
* Maieusiophobia – fear of childbirth
* Homichlophobia – fear of fog
* Arachibutyrophobia – fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth

Phobias make people avoid situations they know will make them anxious, but this can make the phobia worse. A person’s life can become increasingly dominated by the precautions they take to avoid a situation they fear. You may know there’s no real danger and you may feel embarrassed by your fear, but you’re still unable to control it. It’s better to confront your fears, even if it’s in a very careful way or with the help of a trained therapist.

A phobia is more likely to go away if it began after a distressing or traumatic event.

What’s the treatment?

Cognitive behavioural therapy – a ‘talking treatment’ where you learn all about the thing or situation you are scared of and how to change your behaviour – has a high success rate in phobias. Your GP can refer you.

For a more detailed look at phobias and the effect they can have, go to the Mental health site.

This article was last medically reviewed by Dr Trisha Macnair in August 2007.

source: www.bbc.co.uk/health/emotional_health/mental_health/mind_phobias.shtml

It’s uncertain what causes depression, however there are some important issues known about depression. Probably it depends on the following components: Genetic tendency, factors that affected you essentially while growing up.

Now you can get further information about the causes of depression here.

Genetics

Depression may show transition between family members. If your mother, father, children or siblings go through repeating depression attacks, unfortunately the risk of having once or more depression episodes of yours is 20%.

Sex

The possibility of progress in depression in women is as twice as much in men. What is more, it is claimed that recently in fact there are much men getting depressed in number than that are assumed in the first place, however they are much more in volunteer to get into a research of treatment. Depression affects men in different aspects so that most men don’t even realize that they’ve got depressed. That leads to existence of decreased per cents in researches.

Socio-economic situation

The relation between social situation and depression isn’t verified eventually, but it seems like the risk of progress in depression in lower socio-economic groups is higher.

Psychological trauma

Some people who have gone through psychological shocks and traumas react these issues by getting depressed. Some of them react in anxiety or alcoholism. In some of them, there hardly occurs a psychological damage. The reaction that you’ll give depends on mostly your genetics and personality.

Sexual abuse

The risk of depression stands higher in people who have been exposed to sexual abuse in childhood.

Divorce

It’s uncertain whether divorce increases the risk of depression or not. The possibility of having been divorced is higher in people depressed than other people, but it’s uncertain whether people get depressed due to divorce or get divorced due to depression.

Unemployment

The possibility of being unemployed is higher in depressed people. However it’s uncertain whether people get depressed due to unemployment or get unemployed due to depression.

Lamentation

It’ll probably surprise you to find out that there’s no relation between the death of a close friend or a relative and the risk of getting into depression. Lamentation is a different situation; however if lasts for too long or causes loss of sense, you may get depressed.

Illness

Physical illnesses increase the risk of depression. Any kind of illness may lead to depression. That is valid for serious problems like coroner thromboses and cancer as well as small problems like flu.

Pregnancy and birth

The risk of progress in depression is higher in weeks and months that follow giving birth. It’s essential that both of your body and mind to get into synchronization in the birth process. It requires harmony in functional systems to look after your baby. This is a most emotional period of life and every one of ten women gets into postnatal depression.

Diet and lifestyle are among the various factors that can contribute to hypertension, along with age, sex, genetics and stress. In addition to stopping smoking and exercising regularly, the following dietary advice is appropriate:

Reduce salt intake – There is evidence that high sodium intake increases the risk of hypertension and that reducing salt intake may reduce risk.

However, the influence of salt on blood pressure may be smaller than that of obesity or alcohol. Salt restriction has more effect in older people and in those with higher initial blood pressure.
The UK recommendation is that the average adult sodium intake should fall by one-third (ie, from the current level of 9g/day to 6g/day). This can be achieved by cutting down on salt added during cooking or at the table. However, two-thirds of sodium is derived from processed foods (eg, pies, breakfast cereals, bread, canned soups, sausages, corned beef, savoury snacks), cheese, bacon and ham. Most fresh food contains little salt and should be recommended.

Increase potassium intake – An increased potassium intake may be protective because potassium is a metabolic counterbalance to sodium. Potassium is found in fresh fruit and vegetables, especially in bananas, blackcurrants, rhubarb, apricots, dried fruit, fruit juice, mushrooms and spinach. It is also in baked beans.

Avoid obesity and overweight – Obesity is a major determinant of hypertension, and weight reduction is an important part of its management.

Keep alcohol intake within sensible limits – There is a strong link between high alcohol intake (eg, >30 units/week) and hypertension. Alcohol intake should be limited to a maximum of two to three units/day. (One unit is equivalent to a glass of wine, a single measure of spirits or half a pint of ordinary strength beer, lager or cider.) Intake should be spread evenly through the week and binge drinking avoided. A large amount of alcohol in the evening may raise blood pressure significantly the following day.

The nonprofit advocacy Environmental Working Group (EWG) recently tested 21 cleaners used in schools, including a few that are also sold for household use. They sent products used in 13 California school districts to an air-quality lab, where levels of air pollutants were checked after the products were used according to instructions. Among the 21 tested cleaners were four household cleaning products that you may have underneath your kitchen sink.

Here are the test results for those four cleaners, and some alternative cleaning strategies that will leave you with clean indoor air instead of a hazy fog of pollutants:

#1: Febreze Air Effects (Hawaiian Aloha)

Ingredients listed on the bottle: Odor eliminator, water, fragrance, nonflammable natural propellant, quality-control ingredients.

What EWG found: 89 air contaminants, including ethyl acetate (toxic to the brain and nervous system), acetaldehyde (a known respiratory irritant and possible human carcinogen), and butylated hydroxytoluene (a preservative that’s toxic to the immune system and suspected of interfering with hormones). “We were very concerned about this, given the large number of air contaminants detected, many of which haven’t been tested and we don’t know what they do to us,” says Rebecca Sutton, PhD, an environmental chemist and senior scientist at EWG, who authored the report.

What to do about it: Fix the source of the odor, rather than masking it with a cloud of hormone-disrupting chemicals that may or may not bear any resemblance to a Hawaiian aloha. Household air could be musty because of a leaky pipe, and that stench in the closet could be sweaty gym shoes. To get rid of tough kitchen odors, boil a pot of water with some orange peels, cloves, and cinnamon sticks and leave it simmering on the stove for a while (it could freshen up your whole ground floor).