Phobias plague America

Claire Napier

Claire Napier

By Naomi Miyake

Potamophobia: the fear of running water. Gerontophobia: the fear of the elderly. And finally Phobophobia: the fear of developing a phobia. With phobias like these, it’s difficult to find something that doesn’t inspire fear. Fortunately, most people aren’t scared of bizarre obscurities such as these; but fear, nonetheless, is something everyone experiences.

Most fear resembles anxiety. Children are commonly afraid of spiders, ghosts, the dark or monsters, while teenagers are more likely to have anxieties about exams, public speaking or going on a date. Linda Cox, Director of University Counseling Center, said performance anxiety, fear of how one is going to be judged or critiqued for a performance, is one of the most common anxieties college students face.

The American Psychiatric Association has reported that 5.1 percent to 12.5 percent of Americans have phobias. They are the most common psychiatric illness among women of all ages and are the second most common illness among men older than 25, according to the APA’s Web site.

Mike Fazelian, sophomore in LAS, said he gets nervous during exams.

“I have a fear of not performing well and I start thinking about what’s going to happen if I don’t do well,” Fazelian said.

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Even mild anxiety negatively affects some students’ schoolwork.

“My fear of loneliness tends to make me want to not be alone ever,” said Steve Krone, sophomore in business. “I’ll be sitting in the lounge and want to be around people, so I’ll stop doing homework and go find people to spend time with and totally forget about my homework.”

Phobias are grouped into three categories. Specific phobias involve a fear of certain objects, usually animals such as spiders, rats or snakes. When people fear embarrassment or being watched by others, they suffer from a social phobia. People with social phobias try to avoid social interactions, such as meeting new people, or most commonly, speaking in front of an audience. They may also view blushing as extremely humiliating, be uncomfortable using public restrooms or fear something as insignificant as talking on the phone in front of others, according to the APA’s Web site.

“A phobia moves from the normal range of fear into a pathological fear; a really extreme, severe, persistent, almost crippling fear that someone has,” Cox said.

Though almost everyone is afraid of something, there are those that are overtaken by their fear so much that it interferes with daily life.

Tim Ro, sophomore in business, had an experience that led to his fear of dogs.

“There was one incident when I was on a farm. There were three huge bulldogs coming at me, so I ran to a picket fence. I tried to go underneath but I got cut,” he said.

Although Ro did not develop a diagnosable phobia of dogs, childhood experiences are one way to develop phobias. Other times phobias “seemingly come out of the blue,” Cox said.

The Nemours Foundation Web site reported that, based on inherent personality traits and the traits of their family members, some people are more likely to develop phobias than others. Children can learn anxiety from parents by observing how their parents react to stressful situations. The intensity with which people react to fear can also be passed down biologically. The temporary appeasement of avoidance encourages the dodging of the situation until anxiety accumulates so much that it spins out of control.

“Think of it like a snowball,” Cox said. “The more you avoid it, the bigger it grows.”

She said they are some of the most treatable problems people have and can be eliminated permanently. For patients with severe phobias, medication to calm panic attacks or professional help may be the best option. Behavioral therapy is another option, which includes meeting with a professional and exposing the fear to the patient in a calm, progressive manner. But many times fears are self-treatable, she added.

The second type of fear people experience creates a quicker physical response.

The Mind/Body Education Center Web site defines the “fight or flight response” as the “body’s primitive, automatic, inborn response that prepares the body to ‘fight’ or ‘flee’ from perceived attack, harm or threat to its survival.” During this response, all parts of your body react and may include responses such as increased respiratory rate, dilated pupils, sharpened sight and quickened impulses. A violent thunderclap, a surprise attack or a firecracker pop are a few sounds and actions that might cause this type of fear.