Phobophobia
Phobophobia
“Donna Birtwistle was at a business luncheon when she began to feel warm and light headed. Within seconds, her heart was throbbing and her hands were trembling. Overwhelmed by ambiguous terror, she bolted from the room. Over the next few years, these ‘panic attacks’ struck with increasing frequency, forcing her to flee from stores, banks, and other public places. Birtwistle found that just worrying about an attack would cause it to happen, so she began avoiding public places altogether. ‘My world kept shrinking,’ she recalls, ‘until all I could do was go to work and come home. And eventually I had to take a leave of absence” (Queijo 1). Donna was an example of a classic case of a panic disorder which evolved into agoraphobia when she began to associate her panic with being in public places, therefore reacting by avoiding them (Queijo 1). Phobias are exaggerated, unjustified fears of everyday objects or situations (Phobias 1418). They are the number one mental health problem in the United States and affect about 19 million people sometime in their lives (Queijo 1). According to the last count there are around 530 known phobias, but new phobias appear every day, there are phobias for everything, as long as the object or action exists, there is sure to be someone with a phobia of it. There are three major types of phobias that all others fall under, agoraphobia, social phobias, and specific phobias.
Imagine being trapped in a dark room, all alone, with no way of escape, if one begins to feel anxious or fearful when faced with this scenario, they may have Agoraphobia, a fear of situations in which escape is perceived to be difficult, or assistance unavailable (Phobias 1418). Many researchers believe that agoraphobia may involve both biological and psychological causes (Queijo 2). Despite biological evidence, many agoraphobics are clearly influenced by environmental factors, such as stress (Queijo 3).
If one experiences extreme timidity and social
“Donna Birtwistle was at a business luncheon when she began to feel warm and light headed. Within seconds, her heart was throbbing and her hands were trembling. Overwhelmed by ambiguous terror, she bolted from the room. Over the next few years, these ‘panic attacks’ struck with increasing frequency, forcing her to flee from stores, banks, and other public places. Birtwistle found that just worrying about an attack would cause it to happen, so she began avoiding public places altogether. ‘My world kept shrinking,’ she recalls, ‘until all I could do was go to work and come home. And eventually I had to take a leave of absence” (Queijo 1). Donna was an example of a classic case of a panic disorder which evolved into agoraphobia when she began to associate her panic with being in public places, therefore reacting by avoiding them (Queijo 1). Phobias are exaggerated, unjustified fears of everyday objects or situations (Phobias 1418). They are the number one mental health problem in the United States and affect about 19 million people sometime in their lives (Queijo 1). According to the last count there are around 530 known phobias, but new phobias appear every day, there are phobias for everything, as long as the object or action exists, there is sure to be someone with a phobia of it. There are three major types of phobias that all others fall under, agoraphobia, social phobias, and specific phobias.
Imagine being trapped in a dark room, all alone, with no way of escape, if one begins to feel anxious or fearful when faced with this scenario, they may have Agoraphobia, a fear of situations in which escape is perceived to be difficult, or assistance unavailable (Phobias 1418). Many researchers believe that agoraphobia may involve both biological and psychological causes (Queijo 2). Despite biological evidence, many agoraphobics are clearly influenced by environmental factors, such as stress (Queijo 3).
If one experiences extreme timidity and social