The point of Phobia Awareness Week is to highlight the difficulties that many people (1) ... in everyday situations. It is important to (2) ... between a fear and a phobia.

It's (3) ... usual for all of us to have our own peculiar fears, for example being anxious around snakes or nervous about flying. However, only a very small proportion of us actually have a phobia of these things. When these fears begin to (4) ... you embarrassment or you feel that your life is being disrupted then you would be wise to (5) ... treatment for what could potentially be a phobia.

By far the most (6) ... phobia and potentially the most disruptive is agoraphobia. The word derives from Greek and (7) ... means 'fear of the marketplace' but we apply it today to describe a distressing (8) ... in which people (9) ... going outside because of the awful feelings of anxiety that arise.

Treatment of phobias usually consists of the patient (10) ... behavioural therapy during which they gradually get used to being near the object or the situation that causes them fear. Drugs may be (11) ... to treat anxiety and many people opt for alternative therapy such as acupuncture or hypnosis to help them come to (12) ... with their fear and conquer it.