Phobias are things people are afraid of for no particular reason. To be considered a phobia however, they must have an unreasonable or overwhelming fear of the specific thing. A lot of people have phobias of things such as spiders and snakes. However, some people have a phobia of things that would be considered unusual such as a fear of the color yellow or holes/buttons. No matter what the phobia is, most people often experience many symptoms. Some of those symptoms include: anxiety, feeling nauseous, getting dizzy, or having difficulty breathing.
Whatever the phobia is, many people wonder how people get these phobias. According to the mayo clinic, it can be caused by the most obvious reason of having a bad experience with that specific thing. However, the mayo clinic also says that genetic factors also have to do with it as well as environmental factors. They can also develop at any age. All specific phobias have names. Some common ones are: Arachnopobia, which is the fear of spiders and Ophidiophobia, which is the fear of snakes. Addtionally, some are more rare. These can include: Nomophobia, which is fear of being without your cell phone and Linonophobia, which is fear of string.
I find phobias very interesting because some of them do not make a lot of sense. An example is the phobia of the color yellow. What makes people scared of the color yellow? One guess, since mayo clinic says that a tragic event could of happened, is that something bad happened to them while someone was wearing yellow. Therefore, they may unconsciously think of that event; if it happened when they were young. It would be interesting to study and find out exactly why people get such a fear of the weirder things. Snakes and spiders are understandable because they can cause harm since some are poisonous. However, string and the color yellow often can not cause harm, therefore the fear is more interesting. I wanted to study phobias because my friend has trypophobia, or the fear of holes. I find the fact that holes scare her so much to be very interesting and wanted to learn more.
References:
M. C. S. (2016, October 19). Specific phobias. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved June 23, 2022, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/specific-phobias/symptoms-causes/syc-20355156#:~:text=Many%20phobias%20develop%20as%20a,to%20genetics%20or%20learned%20behavior.
Hull, M. (2022, May 4). 21 rare, irrational, and weird phobias you've likely not heard of. The Recovery Village Drug and Alcohol Rehab. Retrieved June 23, 2022, from https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/mental-health/phobias/weird-phobias/
I also did a post about phobias and I found it interesting all the different types of phobias there are in world. There are certain ones are super weird and there is other ones that are naturally normal like you have stated spiders being one. I have a friend that actually has a phobia of sharks and hates to look at them and to even talk about them. These phobias are interesting to learn more about.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in that phobias are very interesting and there are so many of them. What is important to me is to learn how to distinguish between a phobia and a fear. Phobias are normally a very intense fear response to something. I know you mentioned trypophobia, and it is extremelly common. I know some people that cannot stand seeing a bunch of holes. However, I know others that only feel uncomfortable when seeing them, or they feel is gross, but that is not a phobia.
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