Phobias

[MOEstradamus]

This was a very interesting thing to read i think. Idc if you guys read it but i like to expand my knowledge and i thought it was cool.


In mid-interview for a new movie last week, actress Salma Hayek suddenly shrieked and scrambled out of her seat, over the shoulders of co-star Maya Rudolph sitting next to her. Clutching frantically at Rudolph and another co-star, Maria Bello, she uttered a blood-curdling scream, "Somebody do something!" Bello, also clearly unnerved at the sight of something off-camera, comforted Hayek as she teetered on the arm of a director's chair in 4-inch heels. "It's OK," Bello repeated, "We got you. Don't worry."

What prompted the visceral panic? A snake.

More than 19 million American adults have a specific phobia, a powerful, irrational fear of a particular scenario or object, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Usually the fear develops in childhood; the median age is 7 years.

This is distinct from agoraphobia, a fear of situations where it may be difficult to escape, such as in cars, planes or crowded areas. About 1.8 million American adults have agoraphobia, which typically develops around age 20. There is also social phobia, an anxiety disorder that may include speaking in front of other people, which affects 15 million American adults.

As with other mental conditions, experts believe phobias arise from a mixture of environmental and genetic factors, but there is no specific formula to determine who will have one and who won't.

There are dozens of names for specific phobias -- ophidiophobia is fear of snakes, aranchnophobia is fear of spiders -- but anyone can become afraid of anything, said John Tsilimparis, founder of the Anxiety and Panic Disorder Center of Los Angeles, California.
MOST COMMON FEARS
Public speaking
Extreme weather
Flying
Heights
Blood
Dogs
Dentists
Taking tests
Injections
Spiders
Snakes
Water
Hospitals

Source: Reid Wilson, anxieties.com
RELATED TOPICS

* Anxiety and Panic Disorders
* Chapel Hill
* Salma Hayek
* Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Upon encountering a source of fear, the brain gets alerted that what it is seeing is not what it expected, said Reid Wilson, director of anxieties.com and the Anxiety Disorders Treatment Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. This sets off a response of arousal and fear; the brain area called the amygdala plays a role in the "flight or fight" response.

The mind becomes alert to possible instances of that same source of threat, he said.

"Every stick looks like a snake, every rustling in the leaves, every garden hose," he said.

To some extent this reaction has been passed down evolutionarily, experts say. Human ancestors in the wild needed to be cautious about predators or poisonous creatures, so fearing them helped their survival.

Normally, after a while, a person would begin to reason that the snake's appearance was a rare event, and particular to that situation. Not so with phobias.

"People with phobias don't get to experience it like that. They don't unlearn it. They just stay afraid," he said.

Phobias are very treatable, but most people with phobias never get help, Wilson said.

Treatment involves getting exposure, in a controlled setting, to what you are afraid of, starting from the smallest step. For instance, a person afraid of spiders would start with a tiny square with a black-and-white drawing of a spider, and work his way up to touching that drawing, Wilson said. Color photographs, videos and live spiders also figure into getting rid of a fear of spiders.

Faryl Zaklin, 38, of San Diego, California, is still overcoming a lifelong phobia that has given her numerous panic attacks; part of her recovery involved watching episodes of "Jackass" and "Family Guy." She has emetophobia: fear of vomit.

Since childhood, Zaklin has gone out of her way to avoid people at amusement parks, concerts and on airplanes who might be on the verge of throwing up. She was always assessing her surroundings, scanning the scene for potential vomiters, and would "leap" out of the way if she detected a risk of someone throwing up.

"It's panic, it's almost painful," she said. "I don't know anything else that's ever given me that much fear."

She decided to get help last fall, and is still getting counseling for her phobia. Her therapy started with just getting adjusted to viewing the word "vomit," starting with one letter and then filling out the rest. She also used an iPhone application that makes vomit sounds to get used to that aspect of throwing up.

Zaklin feels like she has made progress. Today, she views situations that may involve vomit with a "nervous curiosity" rather than sharp fear.

"I'm scared of it scaring me, and so if I know it's not going to scare me and I can tell myself that, then there's no reason for me to be afraid of the potential fear it might cause," she said.

Zacklin has also undergone treatment for obsessive compulsive disorder, but psychologists note that this is not the same as a phobia. People with OCD engage in repetitive behaviors to go along with their obsessions; for example, washing hands dozens of times to avoid germs.

[QwarterZ]

My phobia is I'm too ill with the pen
so I dumb it down cuz the reals from within
so in my concealment I'm still for a win
yeeeea....

[MOEstradamus]

novel? what are your other 3

[Lawgix]

CLOWNS!!! My 4th novel I have planned is a book about some young adults who go through a funhouse and come out in a creepy carnival (inside the clown's head). The clown stalks them through their thoughts and takes them to their worst nightmare, drives them crazy.


CLOWNS! CLOWNS! CLOWNS!

I'm scared of lightning too, I worked at a park last summer next to a lake renting out paddle boats, and every day I had to work under crazy out lightning storms (shit gets crazy here, we get lightning showers, where it's just non stop lightning, like strobe lights in the sky).

man whatever u just described the movie It man... haha

nah i gotta fear of wasps for real... i hate them lil faggots honestly...

[The Gonz]

I have a fear of heights, which makes me uncomfortable while flying. I hate flying. I also don't care for extremely deep water. I'll never jump off a boat in the middle of the ocean. If I can't see the bottom or know for a fact there isn't shit swimming around that's bigger than me, I'm not going in it. Also have a fear of public speaking. I remember in high school I stood on stage trembling in terror while giving a speech. Fairly common phobias.

[Lawgix]

I have a fear of heights, which makes me uncomfortable while flying. I hate flying. I also don't care for extremely deep water. I'll never jump off a boat in the middle of the ocean. If I can't see the bottom or know for a fact there isn't shit swimming around that's bigger than me, I'm not going in it. Also have a fear of public speaking. I remember in high school I stood on stage trembling in terror while giving a speech. Fairly common phobias.

i have a fear of heights but i've flown and i thought it would have bothered me but it didn't... cuz i've flown 4 times now... if i'm in a controlled environment and i know or feel safe i'm not worried about it... if i'm on top of a roof or on the edge of a mountain or climbing a mountain (even watching it on tv even tho i've never done that shit) i get the jitters... REALLY BAD... public speaking tho... i'm not worried about... cuz i worked for a radio station and i went to live broadcast events and had to speak around people while my voice went thru the speakers so its not that big of a deal for me to speak to the publicly...

[360]

I have a fear of heights too.. and deep water must also be a fear of mine, since i won't fly over the ocean, but I will fly over land. It's the thought of surviving an ocean crash landing.. cause, you know, if you survive the plane crash in the ocean, you're basically just shark food.

[QwarterZ]

I hate dogs........that and heights....same with swimming and all that
I used to hate speaking in public cuz I was put on the spot
like hey....say something I was like I DONT KNOW WHAT WERE TALKING ABOUT
I joined a crew or whatever during school....I forgot what the hell it was for


I got laid that night tho me and my homey....lulz

[Lawgix]

word... i think i have a phobia of swimming cuz i don't like to go underwater... cuz as a kid i almost drowned... in a pool.... full of chlorine water.... touched the bottom... was raised to the top.... my head almost went POP!