Phobia Complications

Video Transcript

"In this clip we'll discuss some of the complications that can come along with having a phobia. Once a phobia has progressed beyond just annoying or you know uncomfortable. And starts interfering with your daily activities and keeping you perhaps from going to your job or parenting or just really is starting to become all consuming. That's when you know it's becoming severe. One of the complications that can arise from that is social isolation. You might start distancing yourself from co-workers, friends, people that usually you would count on to help you relax, trust, and just really feel safe around. They might be the people that you want to start keeping away from you if the phobia starts progressing. Another thing is, that you might start feeling a depression. Now depression is a big word and a lot of people are worried about it, but what that means is if you start isolating yourself and you start having these intense fears, and there's nowhere, no outlet you have to talk about it or to help control them. Sometimes a depression can set in. And lastly one of the other things is it can lead to other problems such as, substance abuse, and the reason I say this is because a lot of people will try to self medicate. And in doing so without any kind of medical advice or without really knowing what they're treating, it can lead to substance abuse problems. Either through drinking or pills or drugs, and it can lead, some people have been known to even go the other route and led to gambling problems as well."