A critical analysis of selected perspectives on the etiologies, process and effects of Phobias.
We all experience anxiety at some point in our life, a threat can cause us to be scared and prepare ourselves for the ‘flight or fight’ biological response. However a phobia differs from fear when it starts to intervene with our day today life and hinders our ability to function normally. A Phobia is “a persistent fear of circumscribed stimulus (object or situation)” and the common examples include fear of animals, heights and enclosed places. (DSM-III R: 243). Phobias are classified as ‘Anxiety disorders’ in DSM –IV and are considered a common type of all anxiety disorders. Everyone has aversions to selected objects or situations, which result in making us feel unusually uncomfortable, anxious, or fearful- when encountered with them. But when this aversion becomes irrationally intense and unreasonable it is termed as a Phobia. (Prentice 1996 cited in Cardwell, Clark, Meldrum 2004: 629). The causes of phobias have been explained in a number of ways according to various models of psychopathology. (Merckelbach, De Jong, Muris & Van den Hout 1996). Eventhough the prevalence of fear has been accepted the nature of phobias remains controversial to date.
Behavioural approach to Phobias
The primary thought behind the behavioural approach is that irrational fears are learnt. However which exact learning mechanism is adopted and what is learnt are questionable as the behavioural
Coming to a Realization I never really thought about genders, equality, and etc. But after taking a few classes of Women’s Studies I’ve become a little observant about my surroundings. To think that so many mens, womens, and childrens that has to deal with such ordeal is mind boggling. After living in Bridgeport or what people call it “the hood” I never really would expect so much inequality. My eyes are more open to our home connecticut of all the gender biased in our own community.
In the introduction to Kendall Phillips’ book, “Projected Fears,” he discusses “horror films that made such an impression on American culture that they became instantly recognizable and, indeed, redefined the notion of what a horror film is.” (Phillips 3). This list of movies includes many favorites, such as Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Scream. Phillips later states his thesis, “...my argument in this book is that these [movies] are the most ‘successful’ and ‘influential’ in American history and that their level of success and influence can be correlated to broader cultural anxieties into which they somehow tapped” (Phillips 3).
In Daniel Gardner’s The Science of Fear: How the Culture of Fear Manipulates Your Brain, chapter nine which is titled “Crime and Perception” is about child abductions and the actual probability of a child getting kidnapped. The author claims that the tabloids, the government, and the media relays news using horrifying pictures. Which encourages a gut reaction instead of providing the facts that allow people to assess the situation causing them think and react based on head. In addition, the author accuses the media of not giving the public enough time to process the information given, in most circumstances the statistics are showed briefly or are viewed at the end of television broadcasting and the facts, most of the time, are not even explained.
In order to overcome the challenges of life, each person must face the fears that are indeed a part of them. The book illustrates that there are several ways to face one’s “beast”, and although each path is varied, they all will eventually come to the same realization that no fear can be conquered until it is faced. Although the fears that come from within are the most terrifying, but one reigns victorious if he or she can achieve all goals despite
Fear can be both helpful and harmful. It helps us survive, preventing us from making poor choices. It is an instinct that can save both you and others. But it can lead to paranoia, paralyzing you to the point where you can’t act. If you obsess over it too much, you won’t be able to enjoy life to the fullest.
Chapter 4 covered anxiety, phobias and obsessive compulsive disorders. Anxiety, fear and phobias are normal human emotions that in most respects are used to keep us safe by influencing us to avoid potentially dangerous situations. It is only when our emotions are not in proportion to the reality of the situation that our fears, obsessions and anxiety become pathological. It is very easy for me to see how an otherwise healthy individual could develop generalized anxiety disorder in today’s society. There is just so much to be legitimately concerned with such as the economy, the high cost of health care and war (such as the war on terrorism).
An article by Kenneth S. Kendler, MD; Michael C. Neale, PhD deals with genetic Epidemiology of Phobias in Women and the Interrelationship of Agoraphobia, Social Phobia, Situational
Seen in the eyes of many as a joke or more than often confused with fear due to it’s many similar characteristics. In his article called, “ Searching the Brain for the Roots of Fear”, published in January 2012 on The New York Times, Joseph LeDoux, gives his opinion about anxiety to those who don’t know anything about it. He proves that anxiety occurs when we over anticipate things, causing fear within ourselves. Throughout his article he provides multiple scenarios and situations showing his audience how anxiety works, and how it differentiates from fear. Fear is a feeling we all have felt at one moment in our lives.
Agoraphobia is the fear of events or places that might cause panic. IV. Anxiety and fear are connected in many ways. A. Anxiety is connected with fear. 1.
Carolyn Rodriguez believes one can outsmart his or her brain, as she presents that, “If you keep at [facing your fear], you’ll be amazed at what you can do”(Rodriguez 14). Rodriguez’s point is that by facing one’s fears they will be enabled to live life to its fullest. This is substantial, since it conveys how it is imperative to face one’s fears to reap its full benefits. In fact, Rodriguez also elaborates on how facing one’s fears can actually improve his or her life. As Rodriguez suggests that, “The more we face our fear, the stronger the links become between our biggest challenges and safety”(Rodriguez 6).
People nowadays fear different kinds of things but when it comes to not knowing what it is people get more scared by not knowing if it can harm them or
Introduction Learning enables you as an individual, to gain more knowledge about something which you have never learned about. Learning also has to do with past experiences which are influenced by behavioural changes (Weiten, 2016). There are different types of ways to learn; through, classical conditioning, operant conditioning and observational learning which will be discussed and analysed in the essay. Behaviourism Behaviourism is considered one of the main subjects in psychology and the two main people who founded behaviourism were, Burrhus Frederic Skinner, also known as B.F Skinner and Ivan Pavlov who were famous for the work they did on classical and operant conditioning (Moderato & Presti, 2006). According to Moderato and Presti
The category of psychological fears may include the fear of being along forever, becoming angry, and being weak, amongst many others. Psychological fears are not present in surroundings, but instead they are present inside of a person. Certain instances remind people of psychological fears or cause them to develop one. After reading a story about a brutal murder while sitting alone in a dark bedroom that person reading the story may end up sleeping with the lights on. Psychological fears are harder to trigger than physical fears, and you cannot see a person’s reaction to them, which makes them less
This essay would attempt to explore the onset of phobias from the behavioural, biological and psychodynamic standpoints and show which one or combination
INTRODUCTION Have you ever thought on how people explain about behaviour? How do we know when learning process has occurred? Learning is permanent change that happened in the way of your behaviour acts, arises from experience one’s had gone through. This kind of learning and experience are beneficial for us to adapt with new environment or surrounding (Surbhi, 2018). The most simple form of learning is conditioning which is divided into two categories which are operant conditioning and classical conditioning.