WHOS AFRAID of phobia?
June 21st, 2011 § 4 Comments
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A phobia is an uncontrollable and irrational fear of a specific object, situation, or activity. The fear experienced by people with phobias can be so great that some individuals go to extreme lengths to avoid the source of their dread. They often know that their fear is excessive, but are unable to overcome the emotion.
There are three main types of phobia:
Specific phobia – An extreme or excessive fear of an object or situation that is not harmful under general conditions.
Social phobia – An anxiety related to fear of being embarrassed in social or performance situations (e.g., public speaking, meeting people, or using public restrooms).
Agoraphobia – The fear of experiencing a panic attack in situations from which escape may be difficult or embarrassing. Untreated, agoraphobics can become so debilitated that they refuse to leave the house.
To an outsider, phobias can seem weird, but to the sufferer they are all too real. Here are a few of the stranger varieties:
Cliniophobia- fear of going to bed / Hylophobia- fear of forest / Placophobia- fear of tombstones / Technophobia- fear of technology / Sicophobia- fear of shadows / Triskaidekaphobia- fear of the #13 / Pyrophobia- fear of fire / Pnigerophobia- fear of smolderin / Aerophobia- fear of fresh air / Aelurophobia- fear of air sickness / Ommetaphobia- fear of eyes / Eremophobia- fear of being alone / Abluthophobia- fear of bathing / Acarophobia- fear of itching / Acerophobia- fear of sourness / Agyophobia- fear of crossing streets / Odynephobia- fear of pain / Arachnaphobia – fear of spiders
A phobias is part of the human ‘flight’ mechanism that has irrationally attached itself to something that is not dangerous. A phobic response to an approaching lion is a useful thing. If early humans had seen a lion and had to think, “Oh dear, here comes a lion, this would be a good time to panic”, we wouldn’t have lasted very long. This type of response takes place at an emotional level so it can bypass the ‘thinking brain’. We therefore evolved with the ability to become phobic, about things for which there is no rational need to feel fear.
What is frightening about a lion is not necessary true of an approaching need to bathe, or the idea going to bed, but the brain gets confused. To become phobic, all you need is a high anxiety state paired with an object. The object does not have to be causing the anxiety. Robert Graves the poet, for example, had a phobia of phones because he was using one when a bomb went off near him during the war! You can also generate a phobia through the misuse of the imagination. Children often get phobias this way, or by seeing a phobic parent.
Phobias are just another example of the somewhat less-than-perfect mechanism that is the brain. This should remind us that we do not always live our lives as rationally as we think. In fact, rational behaviour plays only a minor role in the drama of our life.
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phobias do seem weird to other people, but there is also something they are afraid of
I enjoyed that! xx LIke the brooding photo..