John Dickson was walking down the street with his friend Len when a cute, friendly, little dog ran over to them. Len knelt down and petted the dog, but John froze and backed away in terror. Although the dog was clearly not a threat, John felt so terrified that his heat began pounding. He broke out in a cold sweat, and he felt like he was about to faint. Why did John have such an extreme reaction to such a harmless animal? John has a phobia of dogs.
A phobia is an intense, irrational fear of a specific situation, activity, or thing that, in actuality, doesn’t pose any true danger. People with phobias have a feeling of uncontrollable anxiety when they are exposed to the source of their phobia. This psychological reaction causes many physical symptoms. Some symptoms include shaking, rapid heartbeat, difficulty breathing, sweating, chest dizziness, and a feeling of overwhelming anxiety. When a person has such physical reactions to something they fear, they are said to be having a panic attack.
People with phobias feel such great distress when they encounter the thing they go out of their way to avoid such encounter. People with phobias often know that their fears
are irrational, but feel completely unable to control their fears. Sometimes a phobia has only a minimal impact on a sufferer’s life. For example, Janet Acra has a paralyzing fear of spiders (arachnophobia). However, as long as she avoids going into woodsy or grassy areas, she is generally able to avoid seeing them. Some phobias, however, can prevent sufferers from participating in normal, everyday activities. These kinds of phobias can have a devastating impact on the suffere’s life. For example, after being in a car accident, George Ramirez developed ochophobia, a fear of riding in vehicles. After that, the only way George could get from one place to another was to walk. And, since his college was 20 miles (32 kilometers) away-too far to walk -George dropped out.
There are hundreds of different kinds of phobias, but only a handful are very common. One of these phobias is the fear of heights (acrophobia). People with this fear are unable to look out the window of a tall building without feeling a panic attack coming on. Another common phobia is the fear of being in confined spaces (claustrophobia). People with claustrophobia commonly feel trapped when they are in small, enclosed places like elevators, or closets, tunnels, or closets. On the other hand, people who suffer from agoraphobia fear being in large, wide-open spaces, or places where leaving would be difficult. Agoraphobics generally avoid places like shopping malls, stadiums, and other crowded places. Some people develop such intense agoraphobia that they are not able to leave their home for years.
In addition to the more common phobias, there are dozens of unusual, little-known phobias, such as the fear of clowns(coulrophobia), fear of taking a bath or shower(ablutophobia), and fear of trees of trees (dendropohobia). In fact, there is even a fear of phobias (phobophobia)!
Although no one knows for sure how phobias develop, some researchers believe that phobias are passed from parents to children in one of two ways: either by inheriting the gene for a phobia, or by observing a parent’s phobic reaction to
something and leaning to react in the same way. Another possibility is that phobias are a reaction to something frightening a person may have previously experienced. For example, John Dickson could have developed his of dogs
(cynophobia) when, as a child, he saw a dog bite another child.
Luckily, there are treatments that can help people with phobias. While some people take medication to alleviate their phobias, many others go to counseling where they learn techniques to overcome their phobias permanently. For example, learning simple relaxation exercises can help people feel more in control when confronted with feared objects and situations. People can also be taught to overcome their fear through gradual exposure to it. For example, a person with a fear of heights might be encouraged to imagine being in a tall building. Once capable of doing this without having a panic attack, the person might be brought into the ground floor of a tall building. After becoming comfortable there, the person would be brought to the second floor. Eventually, the phobic person would reach the top floor of the building and the end of their fear.
There is a Japanese proverb that says, “Fear is only as deep as the imagination allows.” People who have learned to overcome phobias understand how true this is.