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Fears and phobias
Fear is something natural. You may feel afraid when you hear strange noises, or when your surroundings are unfamiliar. These phenomena are not only natural but in fact go some way to protect you — the fear produces a hormone called adrenalin which stimulates you to become alert in what may be a potentially dangerous situation.
It is when the fears become too strong and irrational, that they assume the character of phobias. Phobias often adversely affect the quality of the victim’s life.
There are a variety of things which individuals have phobic reactions to — like lizards, spiders and other creepy crawlies. There are fears of both open and confined spaces, individuals may be afraid of flying, of certain colours and so on, the list is as infinite as human experiences.
The causes of phobias are innumerable and have, through the ages, given birth to a number of theories including supernatural, mythological and cultural explanations of their existences. In recent times, however, there are two views. One is concerned with psychological conflicts and experiences and the other with conditioning and learning.
The psychological hypothesis associate the phobias with an incident which occurred in an earlier period of life but the conscious mind seems to have forgotten it because the incident was so distressing. For instance there was a case of a young woman who was intensely afraid of the sight or sound of running water. Apparently, at the age of seven she had gone on a picnic with her aunt. The girl wandered away alone in the woods and was later found by the aunt in a stream wedged between two rocks with water splashing over her head. The aunt said nothing of the incident at that time.
She did not visit the family for many years and meanwhile the girl developed the phobia. It was only after the aunt visited and the story was told that the girl could get rid of her paralyzing phobia.
The sound grouping of theories regarding the development of phobias relate to the conditioning as a form of learning. Thus it is referred to as the learning theory — in which it is thought that phobia to some stimulus which is then generalised to situations which would otherwise produce fear.
Phobias are very real for persons who experience them. Their life can quite often be ruled by the phobias, preventing them from participating in activities which others simply take for granted; family and friends can often be unsympathetic to the sufferer, not understanding the effect of the fear. They make harsh comments like “snap out of it” or “stop being silly” without realising the agony of the victim. It is important when attempting to overcome a phobia that the individual seeks the support and help of a sympathetic person.
Fears and phobias are reactions to things in specific situations. When fear is objectless, or vague it is known as anxiety. Anxiety often co-exists with phobias and is more likely to become an actual fear.
Phobias in the western world are ever increasing with therapy centres springing up to deal with this growing problem. It is true that the more industrialised and developed nations become, the tighter the restrictions become on the individual’s behaviour through often complex sets of rules. These in turn create an atmosphere of general anxiety where individuals seek to conform or to rebel against these rules. This is true not only of the phenomena of phobias, but of other mental illness as well.
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