What are the signs and symptoms of specific phobia?
• Fear level and duration: You have a very bad, ongoing fear of an object, or a certain place and time. • Knowledge of fear level: You know that your fear is more than other people. You know that your worrying is too much, is not needed, and is more than it should be. • Response to feared situations: Seeing the object or being in the setting that you fear makes you anxious. You may try to stay away from it. You may try to cope with it, but you dread having to. You may feel fear when you first see the object, or enter the situation. You may feel afraid after you are already in the feared setting. • Physical signs and symptoms: Your symptoms may be worse when the object or situation is close to you, and you see no way to escape. Your symptoms may not be as bad if it is further away, and you see a way to escape. You may have any of the following when you are faced with your fear: • Fast or pounding heartbeat. • Feeling dizzy, unsteady, light-headed, or faint (pass out). • Feeling short of
