Video special report: Phobias

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Ever since Ron Schlegel can remember he has had a fear of birds.

“As I am told my mother and I went to visit a neighbor upstairs”, Schlegel said, “I guess they had a parrot and it just dived bomb right at bird my feet.”

Doctors say traumatic experiences as a child usually turn fears into phobias.

Dr. Larry James dean of professional psychology at Wright State University treats  people with social phobias.

“Patients will  tell me, ‘Dr. James I feel like the walls are closing in on me I feel like I’m going to die.”

Read more and watch video at WKEF ABC-22