Running Head: PHOBIA-NOT JUST A FEAR BUT A PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER

Phobias: Not Just A Fear but a Psychological Disorder

Fear, an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. Fear is an unavoidable part of everyday life, and affects everyone in the world. However, there is a more powerful form of fear known as a phobia. Not everyone is affected by phobias, approximately eleven percent of the worlds population is (de Jong & Merckelbach, 2000). The world today associates any fear as a phobia, by tacking on the suffix “phobia” to the end of any word. However, a fear is not the same as a phobia. A phobia is a psychological disorder, not just an irrational fear. Belief that a phobia is not the same as a fear is controversial. This is increasingly important in this age of advanced psychology, medicine, and technology. Many people think that a phobia is defined as having a fear of a certain stimuli, but seem to overlook the fact that a phobia is more than a fear it is a psychological disorder.
Phobias are quite difficult to understand, even to a person who has one. A phobia is an unrealistic and disproportionate fear of a certain stimuli resulting in panic, severe anxiety, lack of control and impairment. Phobias can be classified into two main groups, simple specific and complex general. Simple specific phobias are defined as an irrational fear to one specific stimulus, like a snake for example. People with this type of phobia only react to that one thing, and the reaction only results when the certain stimulus is encountered. Some examples of simple specific phobias are emetaphobia, the fear of vomiting, arachnophobia, the fear of spiders, and astraphobia, the fear of thunder and lightning. On the other side, complex general phobias result from situations, not specific stimuli. For example, a person with a crowd phobia is categorized as having a general complex phobia. Meaning they are not scared of certain places, they are solely scared when there is a crowd. Therefore the thought of a movie theater most likely does not trigger their fear, but if there is a crowd there then it is triggered. Some examples of complex general phobias are sociophobia, fear of social encounters, claustrophobia, fear of small spaces with no escape, and autophobia, the fear of being alone or isolated. There are many types of phobias that affect people worldwide each and every day, sometimes prohibiting them from certain situations due to their fear. Although people with phobias recognize that these fears are completely irrational, they avoid all confrontation of the stimuli in order to prevent triggering panic or severe anxiety (McNally, R. J. 1987). Phobias are a severe psychological disorder that sometimes cannot be cured.
Phobias have been studied for years, and are still under constant examination and testing. The main question psychologist’s pose is how phobias are formed and why. Both simple specific and complex general phobias are formed in the same ways. Psychologists have concluded that phobias are mainly caused by classical conditioning, which is defined as the process by which a once neutral stimulus obtains the ability to provoke a response through association with another stimulus. This is also known as Pavlov’s Method, or Pavlov’s experiment. In his experiment he recorded that a canine would salivate on queue when seeing food. At first it was figured that the smell of the food would create the reaction of salivation, which is an inborn reflex. However, eventually the canine would sometimes begin to salivate when entering the lab, seeing the bowl, or the person who delivered the food. This caused Pavlov to consider the idea that associating one stimulus to another could create a new reflex. He decided to test this theory by using a sound stimulus and pairing it with food. Right before the canine was fed, a bell would ring, and then a few minutes later the food would be given to the canine. Eventually, the bell was rung and the canine began to salivate, proving Pavlov’s theory correct. He was able to get the canine to associate the sound of a bell to food (Cohen, J. 1963). Classical conditioning is a main cause of phobias.
Most phobias are formed in early childhood due to a traumatic event. Meaning a child experienced an event with a certain outcome, and from now on pairs that stimuli with that result, causing an irrational fear. For example if a snake bit a child, the child might then pair snakes with pain and fear. Resulting in a phobia simple specific of snakes. This is different from a fear because someone with a fear of snakes would be either grossed out or a little jumpy. However, a person with a phobia of snakes would experience a lot more anxiety, with a prolonged panic attack, which cannot be controlled. Psychologists hypothesize that if classical conditional can cause a phobia, that maybe it can undo one as well.
Many experiments have been preformed to test phobias. The experiments try to conclude how people obtain phobias, why it is irrational, and possible ways to cure this disorder. A few tests have been run to prove phobias are not fears instead they are disorders. One example of an experiment was the arachnophobia test preformed by scientists at Bowling Green State University. A group of twenty people were split into two groups, ones who claim to be arachnophobic, and ones who have a normal dislike of spiders. In phase one each subject was in a room with a scientist, and was asked how they felt about having a tarantula in a covered box in the room across the hall. All of the subjects in the “normal” group had no response, or change in heart rate or breathing. However, a few of the subjects in the arachnophobic group showed a slight sign of fear, raised hear rate and breathing. In phase two the subjects were told to follow the instructor into the room across the hall with the spider. Subjects in the normal group had little or no reaction once again. Some subjects in the arachnophobic group stayed put and terminated the experiment while a few showed fear, increased heart rate and breathing. In phase three the instructor uncovered the box exposing the tarantula in a cage. Some subjects from the normal group showed a little fear, more from disgust than fear, and little or no change in heart rate and no change in breathing. Some subjects in the arachnophic group ran out of the room and showed high fear, high heart rate and rapid breathing. This experiment showed that a fear is different than a phobia. The subjects in the normal group, showed slight fear at times, but nothing they could not control. While subjects in the arachnophobic group showed intense fear, rapid heart rate and breathing, with no control over their reactions (Prigatano, G. P., & Johnson, H. J. 1974). This goes to show that phobias are a psychological disorder that cannot be controlled.
Phobias both simple specific and complex general result in severe reactions that are unable to be controlled by the subject experiencing them. Some reactions include symptoms of anxiety attacks and panic attacks. This can range from hyperventilation, rapid heart rate, loss of rationality, nausea, sweating, dizziness, inability to think straight, shaking, and possible loss of consciousness (Alpers, G. W. 2009). These are not reactions of a regular fear, these are the reactions of a phobia. There is a clear distinction between fear and phobia. A fear is feeling a little anxious on an airplane during takeoff or when there is turbulence. A phobia is not going to your brother’s wedding because it involves flying to the destination. A fear is feeling a little uneasy when looking down from a roller coaster or in a tall building. A phobia is not taking a promotion because it would mean working on the top floor. A fear is feeling nervous when encountering a loudly barking dog. A phobia is completely avoiding the park because there might be a dog there. A fear is feeling lightheaded and a little uneasy about giving blood. A phobia is avoiding the doctors office all together even when in pain, in fear that a needle might have to be administered. Phobias are clearly a psychological disorder.
Psychologists have been working on cures and treatments for phobias. A few prove to be effective for some people, and not for others, while a few others are still in the process of being tested. One possible treatment is reverse classical conditioning. Just as the stimulus was paired with fear, psychologists believe the same stimulus can be altered to produce a reaction other than fear. It takes multiple repetitive trials, but it can be done. For example if someone had a fear of snakes because it bit them as a child, the new conditioning would be to pair the snake with something positive like a piece of candy or another reward. The goal is to eventually have the subject pair snakes with positive thoughts instead of fear. Another possible treatment is exposure to the stimulus. This is a really difficult type of treatment because the patients have to be willing to put themselves in situations where they feel their worst, but it can be done and can be very effective. Multiple steps must be taken for this treatment and it normally takes a long time, it can take from months to years. This treatment is preformed by slowly exposing the patient to their fear stimulus. For someone with the fear of snakes they would start by looking at cartoon pictures of snakes while preforming relaxing breathing techniques. The next step would be to look at real pictures of snakes or watch a cartoon of a snake, with the breathing. Next step would be watching a clip of a real snake, and then maybe touching a plastic snake. Next step would be to hold a snakeskin, and eventually the patient would work their way up to touching a real snake. The goal would be to eventually desensitize the patient to the fear stimulus (Barber, J. P., & Luborsky, L. 1991). Another treatment some people find effective is hypnosis. There is not a whole lot of study on hypnosis with phobias, it all depends if the patient actually allows himself or herself to fall into the hypnosis. Some studies have shown this treatment works quite well, especially for people with a fear of flying. There are still many treatment possibilities being tested. The goal is to help people eliminate their phobias so they can move on with their lives instead of living in fear.

The belief that a phobia is the same thing is a fear is clearly false. While phobias are a type of fear, a fear is not a phobia. By tacking on the suffix “phobia” to any word, it lessens the meaning of the word phobia. This may not seem like a big deal, but people without phobias will never understand the difference. When someone has a phobia, it affects them all of the time, always lingering over their head, controlling and impairing them. Fears are scary and are not something people enjoy but phobias take it to a whole new level. Sometimes people want to evoke fear and be scared for fun, like on Halloween, or with scary movies. Never has a person with a phobia willingly put himself or herself in a situation where they would experience their fear stimulus for fun. People with phobias will do anything and everything to avoid contact with the fear stimulus. It takes a great deal of determination to face exposure treatments; they are the farthest things from fun. Fears are emotions while phobias are psychological disorders.

References
Alpers, G. W. (2009). Ambulatory assessment in panic disorder and specific phobia. Psychological Assessment: A Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 21(4), 476-485. doi:10.1037/a0017489
Barber, J. P., & Luborsky, L. (1991). A psychodynamic view of simple phobias and prescriptive matching: A commentary. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 28(3), 469-472. doi:10.1037/0033-3204.28.3.469
Coelho, C. M., & Purkis, H. (2009). The origins of specific phobias: Influential theories and current perspectives. Review of General Psychology, 13(4), 335-348. doi:10.1037/a0017759
Cohen, J. (1963). Salivary conditioning in the seventeenth century. American Psychologist, 18(1), 69. doi:10.1037/h0039155 de Jong, P. J., & Merckelbach, H. (2000). Phobia-relevent illusory correlations: The role of phobic responsivity. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109(4), 597-601. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.109.4.597
McNally, R. J. (1987). Preparedness and phobias: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 101(2), 283-303. doi:10.1037/003-2909.101.2.283
Prigatano, G. P., & Johnson, H. J. (1974). Autonomic nervous system changes associated with a spider phobic reaction. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 83(2), 169-177. doi:10.1037/h0036476