History of Phobias by Chloe Ford
People can have many fears that can get in the way of their lives. A way to describe these fears are phobias. A phobia is “a persistent, excessive, unrealistic fear of an object, person, animal, activity or situation. It is a type of anxiety disorder. A person with a phobia either tries to avoid the thing that triggers the fear, or endures it with great anxiety and distress” (LeWine). Understand that phobias are completely treatable and normal. Most people have been afraid and have had experiences of being afraid.
Evolutionarily, humans have these fears for survival reasons. As much of our fears were from “ fac[ing] danger from predatory animals (ranging from mammalian carnivores to venomous animals such as spiders and snakes); from hostile members of their own species; from invisible pathogens, bacteria and viruses; from loss of status, ostracization, and ultimately social exclusion, which in ancestral environments could mean death; and they faced the risk of lethal injury following dangerous weather events such as violent thunderstorms, falls from cliffs, and other potentially hazardous topographical features” (Clasen). As you can see, psychologically much of our fears come from a survival standpoint. These pressures cause our reaction to certain stimuli to be extreme, and could mean fearing something that may not be completely likely to happen. These fears have been around for a very long time, dating back to 600 B.C.E. The Byzantine Emperor, Heraclius, was recorded as being fearful of large bodies of water (Chao). As time progressed many famous historical figures like Ghengis Khan and more were recorded having phobias. It wasn’t until 1980 that the DSM-III that they added social phobia as an official psychiatric disorder (Cuncic). Nowadays there are many studies on phobias and all the different types. With new technology, like VR or other computer systems, they may find new ways to treat phobias.
Different types of phobias by Aveen Pouranpir
Some common types of phobias include:
Specific phobia: Fear of a particular object, situation or activity such as heights, animals, needles or enclosed spaces.
Social phobia: This is a type of anxiety disorder that involves an intense fear of social situations, especially those that involve interacting with others. People with social phobia may be extremely anxious or even avoidant of situations like public speaking, meeting new people, or performing in front of others, as they fear being judged, embarrassed or humiliated. They may worry excessively about being negatively evaluated, appearing foolish, or saying or doing something inappropriate. This fear can significantly interfere with their ability to function in social, academic, or occupational settings.
Agoraphobia: This is a type of anxiety disorder in which a person is afraid of being in situations or places where escape might be difficult or embarrassing, or where help may not be available in case of a panic attack or other physical symptoms. People with agoraphobia may have intense fear of open or public spaces, crowded areas, public transportation, bridges, tunnels, or even leaving their home alone. They may avoid these situations altogether, or endure them with extreme distress or panic symptoms.
Claustrophobia: This is a type of anxiety disorder characterized by an intense fear of being in small, enclosed spaces or situations where escape might be difficult or impossible. People with claustrophobia may experience panic, anxiety, or other physical symptoms when they are in confined spaces like elevators, small rooms, cars, or even in crowds. They may avoid these situations altogether, or feel the need to escape or get out quickly when they are in them. This fear can significantly impact their ability to engage in daily activities or travel.
Acrophobia: Acrophobia is a specific phobia characterized by an intense and irrational fear of heights. People with acrophobia may experience extreme anxiety, panic attacks, or a strong desire to avoid situations involving heights, such as climbing tall buildings, crossing bridges, or even looking out of a high window. The fear often stems from a perceived danger of falling and getting injured or a loss of control over the situation. This phobia can vary in severity, ranging from mild discomfort to a debilitating fear that significantly impacts a person's daily life.
Arachnophobia: Arachnophobia is the irrational and excessive fear of spiders. It is one of the most common specific phobias. People with arachnophobia may exhibit extreme anxiety, distress, and even panic attacks when encountering spiders or even thinking about them. This fear often extends beyond just real spiders and can include pictures, videos, or even representations of spiders in various forms. Like other specific phobias, arachnophobia can lead to avoidance behaviors, such as avoiding certain locations or situations where spiders might be present. The fear of spiders can be attributed to various factors, including evolutionary influences, cultural beliefs, negative experiences, or learned behaviors.
Aviophobia: Aviophobia, also known as the fear of flying or flight phobia, is an intense and irrational fear or anxiety related to flying in an airplane. People with aviophobia may experience extreme distress or panic attacks when boarding a plane or even thinking about flying. The fear can be triggered by various factors, including fear of crashes or accidents, fear of being out of control or trapped in a confined space, fear of heights, or a combination of these factors. Aviophobia can significantly impact a person's ability to travel by air, leading to avoidance of flying or causing significant distress when flights are unavoidable.
Hemophobia: Fear of blood.
Germophobia: Fear of germs or contamination.
These are just a few examples of the many different types of phobias that people can experience.
Different types of phobias (Cont'd) by Brittney Truong
Many people may experience multiple phobias where they are broadly categorized into two groups: specific phobias and complex phobias. Specific phobias are targeted at objects and it is situational where it is often developed in childhood or adolescence. On the other hand, complex phobias tend to have an overwhelming impact on our life.This tends to develop when you are an adult (Dorwar. L, 2023). The most common complex phobias include social phobia and agoraphobia. Agoraphobia is the fear of crowded places where some of the symptoms include avoidance in crowded places where one may experience chest pain, difficulty breathing,feeling sick, and rapid heartbeat.
There are various situational phobias that encompass different fears. Examples include amaxophobia, the fear of driving or being a passenger in a car, which often involves extreme anxiety and thoughts of accidents. Ataxophobia is the fear of untidiness or disorder, leading individuals to experience discomfort in messy environments. Ergophobia is the fear of work, causing anxiety or avoidance towards work-related tasks. Hodophobia, on the other hand, is the fear of traveling, resulting in anxiety or avoidance of transportation. In addition, there are fears related to sexual and bodily aspects, such as erotophobia (fear of sexual intimacy), omphalophobia (fear of belly buttons), philematophobia (fear of kissing), podophobia (fear of feet), and trichophobia (fear of hair). Furthermore, specific phobias include automatonophobia (fear of animatronics), chronomentrophobia (fear of clocks), cibophobia (fear of food), and papyrophobia (fear of paper). Additionally, there are phobias not easily categorized, such as emetophobia (fear of vomiting), latrophobia (fear of doctors), nosocomephobia (fear of hospitals), and obesophobia (fear of gaining weight). These phobias reflect the wide range of fears individuals may experience in different situations and contexts.
Different perspectives on phobias by Phoenyx Greicius
There are different perspectives on where phobias come from, with some emphasizing behavioral theories and others emphasizing evolutionary ones. Evolutionary theories explain why some phobias are quite common. Martin Seligman is a psychologist who suggested the concept of preparedness, which posits that evolution has made particular phobias more likely than others (Nickerson, 2023). For instance, people are more likely to fear snakes and heights than flowers (Mills, 2023). According to this theory, our ancestors who had these fears probably avoided these dangers, ultimately increasing their chances of survival and passing on these genes. On the other hand, because fearing flowers likely had no adaptive value, phobias of flowers are now less common. Additionally, even though people have fears of things that would have been dangerous in our evolutionary past, we don’t have phobias for things that are dangerous in modern society. For example, electrical sockets are dangerous, but phobias of electrical sockets are unheard of compared to phobias of snakes and spiders. Evolutionary theorists would argue that this is because people haven’t evolved yet to acquire and pass on these fears.
Still, the evidence for evolutionary theories is unclear (Nickerson, 2023). Moreover, although fears of spiders, snakes, and heights are all very common, it’s not uncommon for people to have more unusual phobias like fears of moths or buttons (Mills, 2023). In this case, behavioral theories offer some explanations of where these phobias come from. First, people can have direct negative experiences with something that leads to the development of a phobia. An example of this would be someone who develops a phobia of driving after getting in a car accident. Alternatively, people can develop phobias through modeling, or learning a phobia by observing others. This means that a person can have a phobia of driving without ever having a direct negative experience with it as long as they observe someone else consistently being afraid of driving. Lastly, people can develop phobias if they are constantly told to be afraid of something. For example, repeatedly being told to be alert when driving can lead someone to fear and even have a phobia of driving.
Overall, evolutionary theories of phobias offer helpful insights when it comes to understanding why people might still be afraid of things that were more dangerous in our evolutionary past but less so now (Nickerson, 2023). Behavioral theories, on the other hand, are quite helpful not only for understanding other, more unusual phobias, but also how to target and treat them through different therapeutic approaches (Mills, 2023).
Different therapeutic approaches to phobias by Christina Dinh
Many treatment options, in fact, may need to be combined based on the own client’s needs and disposition.
The United Kingdom’s National Health Services highlights these various treatment approaches.
Talking Treatments
Counseling has been seen to be very helpful to treat phobias
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT can fall under the umbrella of “Talking Treatments” but given its more specific nature, we have included it here as its own category.
Definition: CBT involves managing problems by changing behavior and ways of thinking.
According to verywellmind.com, phobias are maladaptive as believing something or a situation is dangerous can lead to automatic negative thinking which in turn reinforces the phobia and the emotional and behavior reaction to said phobia. However, CBT allows patients to change their way of thinking, to reshape the negative automatic thoughts surrounding their phobias to eventually extinguish them. This is a slow and gradual process to change this pattern of thinking that has become habitual.
3. Exposure Therapy
Exposure therapy can be a component of CBT, as to change thought pattern, there is an incremental step-taking to slowly extinguish the phobia by exposing the client to their fear, slowly and surely, and then in conjunction, also changing their way of thinking as they are physically present with their phobia.
According to Zalta and Foa (2012), exposure therapy follows this process: patients are confront “safe” objects, reactions, situations, etc. that are similar to the stimuli that their phobia involves.This allows for a slow and gradual process of reducing the fear to similar stimuli step-by-step before the patient is exposed to the actual phobia stimuli itself. Desensitization is key, as the stimuli is within a controlled environment with the trusted clinician.
For example: Phobia of snakes
The patient is exposed to a snake cartoon image
The patient is then exposed to a snake plush
The patient is then exposed to snake skin
The patient is then exposed to a snake in a cage
The patient is then exposed to the snake on the ground
The patient is then exposed to the clinician holding the snake
The patient is then exposed to touching the snake
The patient is then exposed to holding the snake
This is all up to the patient, who will gradually be exposed to each step until the official phobia stimuli and the patient must overcome fear for each step until moving to the next.
C. Furthermore, Zalta and Foa (2012) also describe the various types of exposure therapy. The researchers note that length, high versus low arousal level, and the type of exposure all vary to the discretion of the clinician and their client’s needs.
As defined by Psychology Tools:
In-vivo: Exposure to the feared stimuli in person/real life
Imaginal: Being exposed to the stimuli as an object or memory
Interoceptive: exposure to bodily sensations
d.It is essential to note that exposure therapy is considered the “gold standard” to treat phobias due to its reliability and prosperous outcomes.
4. Medications
UK’s NHS notes that medication can also be used but it is not recommended due to side effects as other therapeutic approaches are effective but without the side effects. However, phobias related to anxiety can use medicine as one of the a type of treatment, combining medicine and other therapeutic approaches for maximum efficacy.
Medications such as:
Antidepressants
Tranquilisers
Betablockers
Can be used to treat phobias.
Phobias are viewed to not always need treatment as many believe by avoiding phobias, one does not need to seek treatment for it. However, at times, the debilitating effects of phobias can be too much and not every phobia can be avoided (especially ones that are part of daily life as we noted above). Therefore, professional help and advice is needed when it comes to treating particular phobias, as a disclosure. Phobias are very treatable nonetheless, it is important to recognize the symptoms and also life interferences and seek professional help accordingly. Below are some resources from Mental Health America which may be helpful to you.
RESOURCES (Mental Health America)
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Phone: 988 988lifeline.org
National Institute of Mental Health 866-615-6464 www.nimh.nih.gov
Social Anxiety Association http://socialphobia.org/
American Psychiatric Association 703-907-7300 www.psychiatry.org/
Anxiety and Depression Association of America 8730 Georgia Ave # 600 Silver Spring MD 20910 (240) 485-1001
REFERENCES
Dorwar. L., (2023). List of common and unusual phobias. Very Well Health.
Cancic, Arlin. (2020). A brief history of social anxiety disorder.
Clansen, Mathias. (2017). How Evolution designed your fear.
Chao, Helen. (2017). Phobia through the ages.
Fritscher, L. (2021). Role of behavioral therapy in treating phobias.
LeWine, Howard. (2022). Phobia.
Legg. J.T ., (2020). What are the different types of phobias?. Medical News Today. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/list-of-phobias#what-is-a-phobia
Mills, K. (Host). (2023, January 11). Understanding and overcoming phobias, with Martin Antony, PhD [Audio podcast transcript]. In Speaking of Psychology. APA. https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/overcoming-phobias
Nickerson, C. (2023). Biological Preparedness Theory in Psychology. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/what-is-biological-preparedness.html
Phobias. (n.d). Mental Health America.
Treatment 一 Phobias. (2022). NHS. https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/phobias/treatment/#:~:text=Talking%20treatments%2C%20such%20as%20counselling,very%20effective%20for%20treating%20phobias
Whalley, M. (2019). Delivering more effective exposure therapy in CBT. Psychology Tools. https://www.psychologytools.com/articles/delivering-more-effective-exposure-therapy-in-cbt/#:~:text=It%20can%20be%20practiced%20in,to%20objects%20and%20situations%20in
Zalta, A.K., & Foa, E.B. (2012). Exposure therapy: promoting emotional processing of pathological anxiety. In W. O'Donohue & J.E. Fisher (Eds.), Cognitive behavior therapy: Core principles for practice (p. 75-104). Wiley
Commentaires