The Nature of Phobia Essay Example for Free

The Nature of Phobia Es submitYour heart starts whacking faster. Your palms start to sweat. Youre shaking, and suddenly youre short of breath. This is panic, an emotion we all work through at some point in our lives. It warns us when something is not safe, or even when we are outside our own comfort zone. Like, for instance, some of us might be glossophobic. Not familiar with the term? Well, it means youre afraid of public speaking. According to a recent study, it affects at least 75% of the population. Glossophobia is the most cat valium phobia, even more so common than Necrophobia, the fear of dying. But what exactly is a phobia, anyway? Well, to have a phobia of something is to have an innate and irrational fear of something to a point where it is disabling and is considered a mental disorder. Sometimes people willing say they have a phobia when theyre just afraid of something.For example, many people tend to say that theyre arachnophobic, which is the fear of spiders an d other arachnids. But really, most people are just afraid of them and dont have an actual phobia for them. In fact, an Ameri basis study found that only somewhere between 8.7% and 18.1% of Americans suffer from a phobia. Now Ive introduced, what, three phobias to you already? Well, thats just the tip of the iceberg. There are literally hundreds of phobias out there, and if you can name it, theres probably a phobia for it. Like theres heliophobia, the fear of sunlight anthophobia, the fear of flowers phonophobia, the fear of loudly noises and tetraphobia, the fear of the number four. These may seem a bit ridiculous to us, these phobias affect hundreds of people about the world. And I suppose one must wonder how is it possible for somebody to develop a fear of flowers?There are a few ways. People can be taught to fear something, by predisposing someone to something specifically to frighten them or simply by telling them they should be afraid of it. For example, if a crushed chil d is told not to play by the well because its dangerous, this child could very possibly develop a fear of wells. Another way to develop a phobia is to have a traumatic experience regarding the object they fear. For instance, if a child were to fall down a well, the child may develop a fear of wells in general, aquaphobia (the fear of water), acrophobia (fear of heights) or claustrophobia (the fear of enclosed spaces). So theoretically, its possible for someone to develop an irrational fear of just about anything.