Vi DeMarais, age 15, of Great Falls, Mont., for her question:

HOW CAN PEOPLE OVERCOME PHOBIAS?

A phobia is a recurrent, persistent, unrealistic and often intense fear of some idea, situation or external object. People with type of mental illness known as a "neurosis" often have phobias. Also, many people have phobias in their everyday life that are not extreme.

One of the most common phobias is "acrophobia," or a fear of high places. Other common ones include "claustrophobia," or the fear of a confining space, and "nyctophobia," which is a fear of the dark. Other phobias include fear of open space, fear of sharp instruments, fear of cats, fear of water and fear of dirt and germs.

Psychoanalysis is a common method used to treat phobias. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, thought that phobias were symbolic of some other fear.