Draft#2 Research Paper

 Origin of Fears

Howard Lovecraft, the author once said “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear.” Everyone in life has fears, whether it be fear of snakes, dogs, spiders or heights. It's natural for a person to be afraid of certain stuff, but is quite different from having a phobia. A phobia is an irrational fear, which can cause a person to have feeling of dread or panic when they encounter the source of that fear. The fear can be of a particular object, situation or person, which can affect a person's ability to function normally at work or in a social settings. However, people who suffer from phobic disorder are different in their own type of phobias and live in different environments. Therefore, in this research, we would determine whether or not genetic/or environment plays a role in having a phobia or not. So we can get a better idea of how to help people who have this issue.

Phobias are one of the most common disorder in United States, affecting up to forty million American adults between the ages of eighteen to fifty-four in which it can fall under two categorizes, social phobias and specific phobias. Specific phobias involves the excessive fear of being exposed to certain object, places or situation such as heights, needles, spiders or even something like dentist. People with specific phobia often try to avoid the feared object or situation. On the other hand, social phobia seem to be the common type of phobia that majority of young adults are facing today. According to a survey," About fifteen million adults in the United States suffer from having social phobic disorder and most developed symptoms in their early teens" ( Cherry, 2016). Social phobias deals with the fear of being shamed or embarrassed by others. Social phobias may become so severe that it can limit one's social or communication skills from developing and prevent social connections, friendships or relationships altogether.

Figure 1

In the image shown in figure 1, there is a survey that shows the common types of phobias that for the most part that a lot Americans in the United States suffer from, for example, heights is 24.7 %, and animals or insects are  22.2 %.However, public speaking is the highest type fear that has 25.3%. Therefore, illustrating how social phobia, is the top fear that a great deal of people have in America.

 The complications of phobias

Figure 2

In Addition, a phobia can worsen to the point in which a person's quality of life is disturbed, if not treated. For instance, a fear of flying can result to a person being unable to travel. Some people have even have problems with relationships, school or work because of severe phobias that make it difficult for them to act normal in society, that they suffer more problems such as depression and suicidal thoughts, which can bring on feeling of hopelessness, sadness or worthlessness. As seen in figure 2, a man is holding a gun to his head, illustrating the point on how fear is capable of dominating your behavior or actions.

Moreover, it can also cause people to turn to alcohol or other drugs to deal with the issue. This unwise and unhealthy choice can lead to abuse of drugs such as alcohol. As a result, phobic individuals may be twice as likely to suffer from alcoholism or addiction as those who have never been phobic. That is why, the only way to cure a phobia is by getting the treatment that you need to address your condition.

  Are phobias inherited or learned?

One must wonder how phobias are developed in our society. But, for most part the cause of phobia is unclear. However, there is a possibility that the cause of most phobias are childhood frights that can stay with a person throughout their adulthood. The fright can be an event that actually happened to the child, but even something that was observed, or even told to the child as part of a story, or seen in movie or show can fueling your phobia. For instance, if a child was to fall down a tree, the child may develop a fear of heights in general, acrophobia. Likewise, someone who has been bitten by a vicious dog by generalize their fear to include all dogs, regardless of the animals' dispositions. So, theoretically, it's possible to develop an irrational fear to anything. 

Nevertheless, what we need to understand is fear is a learned behavior. No person can be born with a phobia.  It has to come from our environment in which we gain a lot of our experience and understanding from, as revealed in the interview that was conducted between a relative who is also an expert in the field of phobias told me that, "The mind detaches the feeling of fear from a traumatic situation. The unconscious mind associates objects with the trauma that they experienced. They can also be learned from other people that have the same fear.” For instance, a phobia may be trigger when the child sees the fear that their parent may have. Undoubtedly, showing how all phobias are learned by the behavior or actions that are seen in our environment.

In another interview, there was also a relative of mine who had a phobia knows as trypophobia, or the fear of holes in skin gave her an unpleasant reactions towards them in which she experienced serious migraines and panic attacks. After looking at an object like a sponge or even cheese, she would get “A sentiment uneasiness and irritation over her who body.” So, it was pretty difficult for her to do. Although, when it came down to asking her how she develop this kind of phobia. She told me that “When she was a child, she saw the movie Nightmare on Elm Street 4 in which Freddy Krueger, the antagonist took a heroin addicts needle holes and brought them to life. A collection of arm holes smacking their lips with their lips.” This was a very terrified experience which trigger her phobias-trypophobia. Hence, proving how fear can only be learned from our environment.

 Symptoms of phobias

Figure 3

Besides, there are certain signs that you should when dealing with specific or social phobia. For specific phobias, you may want to consider physical symptoms of anxiety, panic attack such as sweating, trembling, and shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat in which can make it difficult to functioning normally because of your fear. As shown in this figure 3, many young adults are afraid of certain stuff that they purposeful try to avoid the object or situation that causing their fear. In most severe cases, the individual might also experience psychological symptoms, such as fear of losing control or fear of fainting. According to Kohler “Symptoms for phobias can get worse over time" (2016). Therefore, treatment is necessary for the patient to get better.

Conversely, social phobia may involve signs of embarrassment, such as blushing, sweating, trembling or shaky voice when face with the intense fear of interacting or talking with strangers. As show in the article, “Social Anxiety Disorder”, “Symptoms may become more extreme than specific phobias and disrupt one’s life.” Thus, showing how social phobia is harder kind of phobia to treat without any source of treatment.

 Treatments/Solutions

Figure 4

Further, the best treatments for any type of phobia would be a form of psychotherapy called exposure therapy which individuals who suffer from phobias are repeatedly expose to the source of their fears and the related thoughts and feelings until they learn to manage their anxiety. For example, if you're afraid of elevators, your therapy may focus first gradually on thinking about getting into an elevator, to looking at pictures of elevators, until you can finally face your fear and get on the elevator.

            Another kind of therapy is known as (CBT) it stands for cognitive behavioral therapy, which is a very effective treatment for behavioral and emotional problems that helps individual identity their fear, and then from this, learn how to cope with the feelings to better help you deal with different problems. According to Fourier (2016), “CBT is one of the leading treatment for patients who suffer from phobias or any kind of emotional disorder"(p. 5).

As illustrated in this image, many people who suffer from phobias can also take medication to reduce the symptoms such as sedatives. These kind of drugs are called benzodiazepines that helps you relax by reducing the amount of anxiety you feel. But, sedatives should be used with caution because it can become addictive just like any other drug.

                                        

 To sum up, phobias are one of the most common disorders that are affects a lot of people these days. Many people are faced with traumatic feelings that makes it hard for them to act normally in society. Therefore, it would be necessary to get the proper help and attention care to be able to live a happy and healthier life.

             References

Cherry, K. (n.d.). Afraid of What? Check This List of Strange and Common Phobias. Retrieved March 23, 2017, from https://www.verywell.com/list-of-phobias-2795453

Fourier, D. P. (2006). Treating phobias or treating people? Of acronyms and the social context. Health SA Gesondheid, 11(3), 41+. Retrieved from http://ez.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=cuny_johnjay&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA170582029&asid=85357ca2e5ebe12b16f0e3cabd2ad63d

Kohler, M., Christensen, L., &Kilgo, J. (2014). Fears and phobias in children and adolescents. Childhood Education, 90(5), 386+. Retrieved from http://ez.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=cuny_johnjay&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA384340493&asid=486cbaf85ee8a6d4b7e872b0aa88a7e1

McGill, N. (2015, May-June). Phobias: learning how to face your fears. The Nation's Health, 45(4), 24. Retrieved from http://ez.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=cuny_johnjay&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA414135394&asid=af7504ae419aedae33def21ae6597622

Phobias: Inherited or Learned? (2014, September 10). Retrieved March 24, 2017, from http://www.sanskritimagazine.com/everyday-life-tips/phobias-inherited-learned/

Social Anxiety Disorder. (n.d.). Retrieved April 25, 2017, from https://www.adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/social-anxiety-disorder