Blogpost 1: Introducing Phobia

As I read articles about phobia, I noticed that the word "phobia" comes from Phobos, a Greek word which means gruesome fear. Phobos has a twin brother named Deimos. Deimos' name means dread or terror. The twins are recognized not only in mythology but also in astronomy. Names of moons in Mars were named after them. Phobos is the nearest satellite from Mars. And it is also 7.24 times as massive as the second moon Deimos. The satellites were discovered in 1877 and were named by an American astronomer named Asaph Hall III. 

Phobia is universally known as an excessive fear of a certain thing or situation. In fact, there are various kinds of phobia. Psychologically speaking, phobia is a persistent irrational fear that one may feel. It is a type of anxiety disorder. A phobic person commits to great lengths in avoiding, basically dissimilar from the real danger posed. Phobia cannot be evaded completely; a sufferer will undergo the situation they got into or an object that act as a stimulus to their fear.

Phobia is associated with fear. Science says that fear is a series of reaction in the brain which begins with a dreadful stimulus and ends with the unleash of chemicals that cause palpitation, irregular breathing and invigorated muscles. These outputs are also known as the fight-or-flight response. The brain is an extremely complex organ. It is composed of more than 100 billion of nerve cells that comprise a network of communications that is responsible for everything that is sensed, thought, and done. These communications may be voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary communications are consciously thought and acted. On the other hand, involuntary communications/autonomic responses are not consciously triggered and shown.

 

Brain cells constantly transfer pieces of information; there are a lot of areas of the brain that peripherally associated in fear. According to researches, there are certain parts of the brain that play central role in the process. First, it starts with the thalamus. The thalamus decides on where to pass the incoming sensory data. Second is the sensory cortex. It is responsible for the interpretation of data. Third is the hippocampus. It serves as storage and retrieves conscious and also processes the sets of stimuli to establish context. Fourth is the amygdala which decodes the emotions and determines the plausible threat. It also stores fear memories. And the last is the hypothalamus. It activates the “fight or flight” reactions.

When someone experiences fear, he or she will engage in a period of intense and terrible, often temporarily weakening sense of ultimate fear or psychological distress which is called a panic attack. Flight or fight responses are actually panic attacks. Throughout panic attacks, the body basically releases huge amounts of adrenaline into the bloodstream which causes a person to hyperventilate, vomit, tremble, and choke or to become nauseous. A number of first time sufferers of panic attacks usually believe that they are going to die or they have lost their sanity. Many often say that flight or fight responses are one of the most horrible experiences in their lives.

As I was searching for more information about phobia, I came across an article entitled, “Phobias: The Rationale behind Irrational Fears” by Dean Burnett in the site The Guardian. He stated that phobias are mainstream. The thing that scares people frequently makes a little logical sense. He says that when you fear something for no reason, then that person has a possibility of having a phobia.

 

“How do we even develop a fear that is by definition irrational? One explanation is classical conditioning; you experience something bad involving a thing, you associate the bad experience with that thing, then you become afraid of that thing.” This is stated by Dean Burnett.

I believe what Mr. Dean Burnett is trying to say is that fear can be developed through experiences which happens to be bad and is part of our history. Things that are associated with our memory that have negative connotation to one’s life. Moreover, he said that learning by observation is what clever humans do. For instance, your mother is hysterically panicking over a flying wasp when you are just a kid, probably you’ll be afraid of it too.

After reading all the articles, I came to realize that phobia can be discussed from different perspective and it is very broad. I also become enlightened about certain things such as; the origin of phobia, science and psychology of phobia, and how phobia is develop. Researching about phobia is very interesting and thrilling because I get to learn new information that is not very common.