Phobias and trauma are the same

Both phobias and trauma cause anxiety as well as fear. These two conditions also cause anxiety which is really uncomfortable. So, how do you tell the difference?

What is a phobia?

Phobias are reactions to excessive, uncontrollable, and unreasonable fear accompanied by a strong desire to avoid certain objects, people, activities, places, and situations. People with phobias are usually well aware that their fear doesn't make sense but they can't do anything about it.

Phobias are usually caused by certain events that eventually lead to excessive fear at a later date. However, not only that, genetic and environmental factors can also cause a person to experience phobias.

What is trauma?

Followed by the American Psychological Association, trauma is an emotional response to various scary events such as accidents, violence, rape, or natural disasters that they have experienced. Usually this condition is experienced right after the incident.

Trauma causes long-term effects and reactions such as unpredictable emotions, imagining frightening past events, and physical symptoms such as headaches to nausea. People who experience trauma often have difficulty continuing their life back to normal as before.

So, what is the difference between phobia and trauma?

Although both cause anxiety and excessive fear, phobias and trauma have some pretty basic differences.

According to the symptoms it causes

Although phobias and trauma may seem similar at first glance, there are some underlying differences.

Symptoms of phobias

• Stutter
• Dizziness or kliyengan
• Nausea
• Sweating
• Heart rate increases rapidly
• Hard to breathe
• Shaky
• Stomach ache
• Have excessive anxiety

Trauma symptoms

• Shock
• Insomnia or frequent nightmares
• Get startled easily
• Heart rate increases
• Dazed and hard to concentrate
• Irritable and sensitive
• Have excessive anxiety and fear
• Feeling sad and hopeless
• Feelings of guilt, shame, and self-blame
• Withdrawing from the environment
  

Although the causes and symptoms of trauma vary, there are some basic symptoms that you can look out for. People who have had traumatic experiences will appear shaken and disoriented. They may not respond to conversations the way they should. In addition, trauma victims usually experience excessive anxiety most of the time.

Whereas in phobias, these symptoms do not appear continuously, but only when a person experiences a situation or encounters something that is considered a phobia.

The appearance of symptoms

People who are phobic about something will only experience various symptoms if they come into contact with the source of the phobia. In some people who have severe phobias, just thinking about the source of the phobia can even make them feel panic and fearful.

Meanwhile, in trauma, usually these memories and thoughts are always attached without being released. Every day you can imagine the bad things that you have experienced and end up always shrouded in fear and anxiety so that the quality of your life decreases.

However, coming face to face with events that remind you of trauma will exacerbate the symptoms that will appear.