Phobias : Theories Of Origin

Judy Monroe states that "Hippocrates lived from about 460 to about 377B.C., and is known as the father of medicine. He recorded detailed descriptions of people with phobias. Over two thousand three-hundred years ago, he wrote of a man named Damocles who could not go near an overhang, or over a bridge, or even near a shallow body of water" (33). During the 1800s, people began to study how the mind works. Phobias were increasingly described in psychiatric studies and writings. For several decades, people wrote about and named many phobias. Many of those names are still used today. Judy Monroe states that "Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) contributed great work on understanding phobias in the late 1800s. He was one of the first people to describe the feelings of anxiety that occur with phobic reactions" (36). During the late 1970s, research on the brain and brain chemistry helped scientists better understand human behavior and emotions. Along with research on mental health, this research led to increased knowledge about phobias. Judy Monroe states that "the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) conducted the first survey of mental health in the United States, the Epidemiological Catchment Area (ECA) survey. Researchers interviewed nearly twenty thousand people in five cities: Baltimore, Maryland; New Haven, Connecticut; St. Louis, Missouri; Durham, North Carolina; and Los Angeles, California. This survey uncovered a startling fact: Anxiety disorders,

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).

Every one of us either experiences or feel fear in certain situations or under some scenarios or conditions. Moreover, when we grow and step into the outside world, we get scared of everything,

In this paper I will be describing phobias and fear, but more specifically coulrophobia (the fear of clowns) and Monophobia (the fear of being alone). I also will describe possible causes of phobias, the history of phobias, how fear is helpful in small amounts, what fear does to someone and how to defeat it. Fear is present in all people but some more than others and I would like to know why. The definition of a phobia is “an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something”. Phobias are never simple and often do not have a simple answers or cures, but there are ways of dealing with phobias. There are some treatments that can help you get over your fears. Phobias are not easy to get into without getting into very

Of the many disorders presented in chapter 15, I find phobias the most interesting. A phobia is an anxiety disorder. It is an intensive fear of something that has little to no danger at all. Phobias can range in many different varieties such as; acrophobia which is the fear of heights, arachnophobia which is the fear of arachnids otherwise known as spiders, and claustrophobia which is the fear of closed spaces.

Phobias are irrational sensations of fear that are triggered by a traumatizing event in a person's life. At a young age we are taught fear. Dont touch the stove, it's hot. Dont talk to strangers, they could take you. “Although they would pay me to take you back” Mom would say.

Another common factor in the development and course of specific phobias are traumatic experiences. For example, patients who have been attacked by an animal can develop a specific phobia and become conditioned to fearing the animal. Patients who witness others experiencing a trauma are at risk of developing a specific phobia related to that trauma. This is due to the people experiencing the trauma becoming a behavior model for the patient that will be affected. For example, patients who watch as someone falls from a building may develop a specific phobia of heights or falling. Phobias with a traumatic origin can develop acutely, or, in other words, they can become phobias more suddenly than other phobias that develop more gradually. Changes

There are several causes of specific phobia, in all biological, psychological and social components. One social cause of specific phobia is cognitive bias, resulting in catastrophic thinking. A cognitive bias is a way of thinking that involves errors of judgement and faulty decision making (Grivas & Letch, 2017). A type of cognitive bias is catastrophic thinking, a thought process where the individual predicts the worst possible outcome if faced with a phobic stimulus. “Catastrophic thinking has been demonstrated to play a role in a wide variety of

Fear-triggering events can have long-lasting and significant changes on the developing child, beginning with infancy. Research shows that very young infants can learn to fear people, certain places and events. Science has also proved that young children can sense a threat in their environment, but unlike adults they do not have the physical or cognitive ability to control their psychological response nor to remove themselves from a dangerous situation or to lessen the threat. Learned fear responses may disrupt the function of the stress response system. It could make it harder for the body to react to typical everyday stress. Normal situations and circumstances can cause outcomes that are harmful to a child’s development when a fear is learned. Children do not

When we think about phobias today we are less inclined to think of the greek god of fear but of an intense fear of something or situation.

The title of my paper is ‘’Phobias in Evolutionary Psychology.’’ The purpose of my essay is to answer the question of ‘’Why do I have this phobia?’’ and ‘’Can I conquer and face my worst fears?’’ I explain what a phobia is in detail using psychology expert Kendra Cherry and Science Daily newspaper as sources. My conclusions were not theoretical as they were all based on fact and respectable research from reliable

Known as a mental disorder a phobia is a persistent fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that leads to compelling desire to avoid it. Phobias tend to affect the way people live their lives, for example, their working and social environments, considering that they last for a very long time and are capable to cause intense psychological physical stress. It is considered today the most common mental and anxiety disorder in the United States (Matig Mavissakalian & David H. Barlow 1981 pp 2). There are many phobias such as: the fear of aging, fear of changing, fear of clowns, fear of getting fat, fear of being in closed spaces, etc.

Furthermore, phobia of spiders is a case where the biopsychosocial approach to understanding anxiety is not helpful, and an example of that is Kate phobia (The Open University, 2016a). The reason is that spider phobia happens because of an environmental learning process about a frightening experience, and an evidence about this is the case study of “little Albert” (McLannahan, 2010, p107). On the other hand, snake phobia is the result of the evolutionary process of human, which is genetically inherited for protecting the survival of human; thus, it has a biological explanation only (McLannahan, 2010, p108). Also, there is evidence from twins’ studies for the genetic predisposition for specific animal phobias (Kendler, et all, 1992, cited in Mclannahan, p 109). Thus, a biopsychosocial approach did not contribute to understanding these specific phobias.

Thereby it is not completely clear, what the causes for phobia are. Phobia is often caused by something scary that happened earlier in somebody’s life, but not every one develop phobias after special experiences. An explanation for this could be that for some people certain parts of the brain and specific neural pathways are associated with phobias. It is

A research group stated "Specific phobia is one of the most prevalent disorders in the general population and yet it has received limited attention from researchers in the growing field of neuroscience" (Caseras et al., 2010). The need for understanding phobias is imperative for the people who are suffering from the symptoms that challenge their daily life. One study has done research on links between the phobias and neurobiological substrates. The authors state: