To be afraid of something we would usually just have jitters, chills, or just try to avoid the situation, but to have a phobia you would become physically and/or psychologically impaired to the point where we would completely take something out of our life just so we will never come into that situation. R. Reid Wilson said, "To be defined as a phobia, the fear must cause some level of impairment," (http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/fear-factor-phobias). He had met a woman whose arachnophobia was so extreme that she wouldn’t leave her house at night because she wasn’t able to see where the spiders are.
I’m sure you have heard about some common phobias like Arachnophobia ( the fear of spiders), and Claustrophobia ( the fear of small spaces). But many people don’t realize how bad a phobia can actually affect someone's life.
Phobias can be seen as just extreme fears but I think it’s a lot more than that. A phobia is “a kind of anxiety disorder in which the sufferer has a relentless dread of a situation, living creature, place or thing” ( http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/249347.php ). For a fear to turn into a phobia it is likely that genetic and environmental, a combination of several genes can create many psychological symptoms in the phobia. For the environmental aspect a person usually develops a phobia after experiencing or viewing a traumatic event. “discerning the origin of the disorder can be difficult because people tend to do a poor job of identifying the source of their fears” ( http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-we-develop-certain-irrationa/ ).
Non-psychological phobias: This is a type of phobia where you aren’t necessarily afraid of something, they just have symptoms for exposure from that thing. (Photophobia, sensitivity to light)
Discrimination or prejudice phobia: Some phobias aren’t actually fears but rather just discriminating or being prejudice. (Xenophobia is a dislike of strangers, foreigners or the unknown, rather than a fear).
Specific phobias (simple phobias): This is the phobia of a specific situations, living creatures, places, activities, or things. (Ophidiophobia is the phobia of snakes)
Social phobia: This is a social anxiety disorder where people find unbearable to be in a social setting such as parties, weddings, functions, or exhibitions.
(http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/249347.php)
There is a women, Claire Ledger who had developed agoraphobia (the fear of open spaces) one day while she was shopping in her town. She had said during her first attack it started with her feeling faint and then she started shaking and feeling sick. Initially she thought it was just stress taking over her body, but it started happening more and more often when she would go out, it had got to the point where she didn’t want to leave her own home. Then from the moment she wakes up until the moment she goes to sleep she felt sick with dread that she will have to go out that day. One day she decided that it was time to get over this hurdle in her life so she decided to start attending support groups, where she can share her phobia with others who are experiencing the same thing. For the next two years Claire became more and more comfortable with her surroundings and learned how to cope with agoraphobia.
( http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Phobias/Pages/Clairesstory.aspx )
Even well known celebrities have phobias. (http://www.cracked.com/article_16472_6-absurd-phobias-and-people-who-actually-have-them.html)
Billy Bob Thornton (actor) has Chromophobia, which is the fear of bright colours.
Nicole Kidman (actress) has Lepidopterophobia, which is the fear of butterflies.
P. Diddy (rapper) and Johnny Depp (actor) both suffer from Coulrophobia, that is the fear of clowns.
Oprah Winfrey has Chiclephobia, the of gum chewing which she developed as a child when her grandmother would put her gum on dinner plates while eating meals. She has banned chewing gum from her studios.
Pamela Anderson has Eisoptrophobia, that is the fear of your own reflection.
You may be reading this and thinking how irrational some of these phobias are but really they don’t seem like that for the almost 6.2 million US citizens who are currently living with a phobia.(http://www.fearofstuff.com/phobia-stats/ ) After reading this blog if you can take one thing out of it rather than a waste of time it would be to not make fun of people for their fears because you probably don’t know the story behind that fear and they could be struggling with something a lot bigger.
I’m sure you have heard about some common phobias like Arachnophobia ( the fear of spiders), and Claustrophobia ( the fear of small spaces). But many people don’t realize how bad a phobia can actually affect someone's life.
Phobias can be seen as just extreme fears but I think it’s a lot more than that. A phobia is “a kind of anxiety disorder in which the sufferer has a relentless dread of a situation, living creature, place or thing” ( http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/249347.php ). For a fear to turn into a phobia it is likely that genetic and environmental, a combination of several genes can create many psychological symptoms in the phobia. For the environmental aspect a person usually develops a phobia after experiencing or viewing a traumatic event. “discerning the origin of the disorder can be difficult because people tend to do a poor job of identifying the source of their fears” ( http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-we-develop-certain-irrationa/ ).
Non-psychological phobias: This is a type of phobia where you aren’t necessarily afraid of something, they just have symptoms for exposure from that thing. (Photophobia, sensitivity to light)
Discrimination or prejudice phobia: Some phobias aren’t actually fears but rather just discriminating or being prejudice. (Xenophobia is a dislike of strangers, foreigners or the unknown, rather than a fear).
Specific phobias (simple phobias): This is the phobia of a specific situations, living creatures, places, activities, or things. (Ophidiophobia is the phobia of snakes)
Social phobia: This is a social anxiety disorder where people find unbearable to be in a social setting such as parties, weddings, functions, or exhibitions.
(http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/249347.php)
There is a women, Claire Ledger who had developed agoraphobia (the fear of open spaces) one day while she was shopping in her town. She had said during her first attack it started with her feeling faint and then she started shaking and feeling sick. Initially she thought it was just stress taking over her body, but it started happening more and more often when she would go out, it had got to the point where she didn’t want to leave her own home. Then from the moment she wakes up until the moment she goes to sleep she felt sick with dread that she will have to go out that day. One day she decided that it was time to get over this hurdle in her life so she decided to start attending support groups, where she can share her phobia with others who are experiencing the same thing. For the next two years Claire became more and more comfortable with her surroundings and learned how to cope with agoraphobia.
( http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Phobias/Pages/Clairesstory.aspx )
Even well known celebrities have phobias. (http://www.cracked.com/article_16472_6-absurd-phobias-and-people-who-actually-have-them.html)
Billy Bob Thornton (actor) has Chromophobia, which is the fear of bright colours.
Nicole Kidman (actress) has Lepidopterophobia, which is the fear of butterflies.
P. Diddy (rapper) and Johnny Depp (actor) both suffer from Coulrophobia, that is the fear of clowns.
Oprah Winfrey has Chiclephobia, the of gum chewing which she developed as a child when her grandmother would put her gum on dinner plates while eating meals. She has banned chewing gum from her studios.
Pamela Anderson has Eisoptrophobia, that is the fear of your own reflection.
You may be reading this and thinking how irrational some of these phobias are but really they don’t seem like that for the almost 6.2 million US citizens who are currently living with a phobia.(http://www.fearofstuff.com/phobia-stats/ ) After reading this blog if you can take one thing out of it rather than a waste of time it would be to not make fun of people for their fears because you probably don’t know the story behind that fear and they could be struggling with something a lot bigger.