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Recommended: Abstract On Phobias
Imagine walking into a party and thick mob people. A woman walks in at the same time with a horrified look on her face. She grabs her head, she is shaking, her eyes close, and she starts to hyperventilate. This woman has a fear of crowds. Fears like, what this woman has, develop into phobias. People live their lives in fear and are consumed by it but some fear is actually good. Too much fear can result in a phobia. A phobia is a fear that interferes with normal living. This fear can be so over bearing that it can cause someone to have stomach aches, high blood pressure, ulcers, skin rashes, headaches, and other health problems (Orr, 1999). Phobias can cause a person to avoid tasks if their fear gets in the way. According to Abramovitz (2003), “5 to 12 percent of Americans have some kind of phobia.” Phobias are not just a recent discovery. The origins of phobias date back 2,400 years ago when Hippocrates was documenting cases of them. According to Hippocrates the first patient, “through bashfulness, suspicion and timorousness will not be seen abroad, loves darkness as life and cannot endure the light, or sit in lightsome places, his hat over his eyes, he will neither see nor be seen by his good will” and the second patient, he said, ”dared not to come in company for fear he should be misused, disgraced, overshoot himself in gesture or speech, or be sick; he thinks every man observes him, aims at him, derides him, owes him malice.” As Hippocrates observed back then, phobias have not changed. He saw people with all different kinds of phobias. That is anywhere from animal phobias to social phobias and other fears that can be seen in any case today. It just so happens that the Greek word phobos means “intense fear or terror” and it... ... middle of paper ... ...elp. Other ways involve systematic desensitization and virtual reality exposure that are both done by a psychologist or psychiatrist. As Steven Richards says, “Fear can make a moth seem the size of a bull elephant.” Works Cited Abramovitz, M. (2003, 10). Conquering fears and phobias. Current Health 1, 27, 20-22. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/209832694?accountid=14752 Orr, T. (1999, 10). Tackling fears and phobias. Current Health 1, 23, 26-28. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/209837125?accountid=14752 Saul, H. (2001). Phobias: Fighting the fear. New York: Arcade Pub. 18-20, 26, 31-32, 78, 206-207
Just imagine for a moment that you have a cynophobia or the fear of dogs, would this be how you would feel. Driving down the road the oil light comes on. "I must stop the car to add more oil or I will damage the car engine. This looks like a good place to pull over. I'll just stop in front of this house. The oil is in the trunk, so I'll pop the top first, then get the oil out of the trunk. OK, I have the oil, but what if there is a dog at this house. Hurry, I have to hurry. A dog might come running out and bark at me any minute. Just get the oil in the engine. I can't my hands are shaking. Don't worry, there is no dog. Just get the oil in the engine. I don't care if I spill it, just get some in the engine. Take another look around, is there a dog anywhere. OK, the oils in, now hurry get back in the car. I can't breath. I'm safely back in the car, now just take a minute and breath. When will my hands stop shaking." This is how a person with a phobia of dogs might feel. There is no dog around anywhere in sight, but the thought of a dog running at them barking is enough to cause a panic attack. In "Exploring Psychology" David G. Myers defines phobia as "an anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object or situation" (432). This paper will explore the history, causes, effects, and treatment of Phobias.
Karl Albrecht, Ph.D. "The (Only) Five Basic Fears We All Live By." Psychology Today (2012).
Anxiety is a concept that most people experience daily, but severe anxiety is associated with panic attacks and other disorders can debilitate a person’s life. In the 1997 documentary, Secret Fear directed by Sarah Barton, real-life people express their stories and experiences with anxiety. The film uses the stories of people who have recovered and / or continue to cope with their disorder. Furthermore, different types of therapy, medications, and coping methods are described for the viewer to understand the ways in which people are able to overcome anxiety. Since anxiety is not limited solely to panic attacks, the film uses people who have experienced Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), hoarding, depression, or social phobias. The film
A phobic disorder is marked by a persistent and irrational fear of an object or situation that presents no realistic danger. Agoraphobia is an intense, irrational fear or anxiety occasioned by the prospect of having to enter certain outdoor locations or open spaces. For example, busy streets, busy stores, tunnels, bridges, public transportation and cars. Traditionally agoraphobia was solely classified as a phobic disorder. However, due to recent studies it is now also viewed as a panic disorder. Panic disorders are characterised by recurrent attacks of overwhelming anxiety that usually occur suddenly and unexpectedly (Weiten, 1998).
Pollard, C. Alec, and Elke White. The Agoraphobia Workbook: a Comprehensive Program to End Your Fear of Symptom Attacks. Oakland, Calif.: New Harbinger, 2003. Print.
anxiety and panic attacks, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (1). Many of these symptoms cause people to avoid contact with the outside world, thus thrusting them deeper into their fears.
“Nosophobia and hypochondriasis in medical students”. Wikipedia, encyclopedia. 20 May 2013, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosophobia. Web. 15 Ap 2014.
First, I have the client form a hierarchy of different fears. Next, I give a training session on relaxation, showing them how to control their breathing and release tension through meditation. In this step, they learn to relax when presented with their fear, for it is impossible to be both relaxed and anxious at the same time. Finally, my clients are presented with their fears according to the hierarchy they had documented. Thus, I start with the lesser ones and build up to the greater fears. Of course, if you’re terrified of spiders, I’m not going to put a tarantula on your arm. We would start with maybe something as simple as a picture of someone looking at a spider at the zoo or seeing a spider on television. Then I use the relaxation techniques to control their anxiety so they are able to lessen their anxiety when confronted with their
Almost everyone alive has a fear of something whether it be heights, spiders or even clowns. Some people however have more serious issues with their fears, fears that follow them almost everywhere they go, these fears are called phobias. It is estimated that 4 to 5 percent of Americans have some type of phobia, which is an irrational fear of situations and certain objects. There are over 500 known phobias; a very common phobia is social phobia.
Having anxiety is common and a part of everyday life however; there is a huge difference between a fear and a social phobia or anxiety disorder. The difference and important distinction psychoanalysts make between a fear and a phobia is “a true phobia must be inconsistent with the conscious learning experience of the individual” (Karon 1). Patients with true phobias “do not respond to cognitive therapy but do respond well to psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic therapy” (Karon 2). Social phobia is a serious anxiety disorder that should not be taken lightly or mistaken as a fear you will simply grow out of the older you get. Social phobia has the power to destroy lives and can prevent people from living and enjoying their life to the fullest. Social phobia is a disabling condition that often starts between the ages of early childhood and late adolescence. The origins of social phobia can be linked to “traumatic social experiences and social isolation” (Hudson118-120). Social phobia is treatable however; research and statics show that not many seek help.
...6. Generalization from the original phobic stimulus to stimuli of a similar nature will occur; 7. Noxious experiences which occur under conditions of excessive confinement are more likely to produce phobic reactions; 8. Neutral stimuli which are associated with a noxious experience, may develop motivating properties. This acquired drive is termed the fear drive; 9. Responses (such as avoidance) which reduce the fear drive are reinforced; 10. Phobic reactions can be acquired vicariously (Rachman 31). These theories are used to identify how people obtain phobias and other situations that may occur with phobias.
One of the characteristics of a phobia is a feeling that is greater than the fear of a situation or object with an exaggeration of the danger associated with the said situation or even object. This persistent fear often leads to an anxiety disorder that leads an individual to develop mechanisms that ensure one avoids the object or situation that triggers the occurrence of the phobia. Phobias can have highly debilitating effects on an individual including the development of depression, isolation, substance abuse, and even suicide. Many people take phobia for granted however, it is clear that it has the potential to impair the quality of life for both the affected and the people around them. The fact that many of the phobias are manageable using
Introduce Topic: A phobia as defined by medicalnewstoday.com, “is an irrational fear, a kind of anxiety disorder in which the sufferer has a relentless dread of a situation, living creature, place or thing.”
This paper is focused on how fear as a subject is being perceived by many as a dominant and primitive human emotion. An uncontrollable energy that’s exists and created within every individual, which is directed towards an object or a given situation that does not present an actual danger. The individual then analyzes that the fear is contradictory and thus cannot help the reaction. Gradually, the phobia aims to build up and aggravate as the fear of fear response takes hold. Eventually they distinguish their fear responses as negative, and go out of their way to avoid those reactions. ‘Fear is derived as a basic feeling and therefore created by us – it is not something we have, but something we do. The principle of fear is to keep us safe.’
Gulli, C. (2009, 10 19). Fear Factor. Maclean's, 122(40), p. 100. Retrieved April 30, 2014