Transcript Thomas Bestul Kevin Murphy

PHOBIAS
Thomas Bestul
Kevin Murphy
List of PHOBIAS
• Agoraphobia- fear of open spaces
• Acrophobia- fear of heights
• Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia- Fear of long words
(Ironic, eh?)
• Hemophobia- fear of blood
• Genuphobia- fear of knees
• Mysophobia- fear of germs
• Phobophobia- fear of phobias
• Xenophobia- fear of strangers
• Zoophobia- fear of animals
• Pteriphobia- fear of ferns
(Cherry, 2010) (Liebgold, 1995)
Prognosis
• Phobias are the most easily treatable
mental health problem
• However, an untreated phobia will
usually never go away, and some, like
agoraphobia, only get worse over time
• Attempts to avoid these phobias usually
result in self-destructive behavior, such as
smoking, alcoholism, and low self-esteem
Symptoms of a Phobia
• Feelings of panic, dread, or terror
• Recognition that the fear is abnormal
• Rapid heartbeat, trembling,
overwhelming desire to get away
• Taking extreme measures to avoid the
fear
• Impaired ability to function at
normal tasks due to the fear
DIAGNOSIS
• Only trained mental health professional can
diagnose phobias
• Phobias can appear with other mental
disorders
• Can be diagnosed under one of the 3 types
of phobias ( social phobia, specific phobia,
and agoraphobia)
• Exact diagnosis varies depending on the
phobia
• (Fritscher, 2009)
Treatment for Phobias
• The most common treatment for phobias is
exposure therapy
• This allows the patient to face his phobia in a safe
environment
• After they face their phobia in the controlled
environment and believe they are ready, they will
face their fear in real life
• Each phobia has a specialized treatment
depending on the particular phobia
• (Melinda, 2001)
Statistics
• Phobias are very hard to track statistically, since
a phobia usually cannot be medically diagnosed
until age 18
• Out of all American adults between ages 18-54,
5.3 million suffer from social phobia, 3.2 million
from agoraphobia, and 6.3 million from specific
phobia
• The three most popular fears are animals, heights,
and blood
Comorbidity with other Disorders
• Social phobia is comorbid with many other
disorders
• Some of the disorders are low self-esteem,
bipolar disorder, clinical depression, drug
addictions, panic disorder, alcoholism, and
social anxiety disorder
• (“Social phobia: comorbidity”, 2007)
Etiology of Phobia
• There are many theories to the origin, or etiology, of the
specific phobias a person holds
• One theory says that phobias have an organic base. For
example, firstborn children have an 80% greater chance
of developing phobias than younger siblings
• Another theory states that phobias are developed by
watching other people during childhood, mainly parents,
and observing how they react to their own phobias.
• Most experts would agree that traumatic childhood
events are also a cause of phobias
Celebrity Phobias
• Nicole Kidman- Lepidopterophobia (fear of
butterflies)
• Carmen Electra- Hydrophobia (fear of water)
• Orlando Bloom- Swinophobia (fear of pigs)
• Pamela Anderson- Eisoptrophobia (fear of
mirrors)
• Christina Ricci- Pteriphobia (fear of ferns)
• Billy Bob Thornton- Altussessiophobia (fear
of antique furniture)
• Lyle Lovett- Bovine phobia (fear of cows)
• Uma Thurman- Claustrophobia (fear of small
spaces)
• ( “Fears and phobias”, 2010)
Strange Phobias
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Aerophobia- fear of swallowing air
Aulophobia- fear of flutes
Basophobia- fear of walking
Chaetophobia- Fear of hair
Chromatophobia- Fear of colors
Geumaphobia- Fear of taste
Kathisophobia- Fear of sitting down
Nomatophobia- Fear of names
Pogonophobia- Fear of beards (Ke$ha does not
have this disorder)
• Xanthophobia- Fear of the color yellow (Silva,
2010)
Works Cited
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Silva, S. (2010). Weird phobias, strange phobias, funny phobias, unusual phobias.
Retrieved from http://www.saviodsilva.net/ph/11.htm
Liebgold, H. (1995, July 17). The phobia list. Retrieved from http://phobialist.com/
Cherry, K. (2010). Phobia list- an a to z list of phobias. Ask.com part of The New
York Times, Retrieved from
http://psychology.about.com/od/phobias/a/phobialist.htm
Social phobia: comorbidity. (2007). Retrieved from
http://www.psychotherapy.ro/resources/mental-disorders/social-phobiacomorbidity/
Smith, M. (2001). Phobias and fears. HELPGUIDE, Retrieved from
http://helpguide.org/mental/phobia_symptoms_types_treatment
Fears and phobias of 25 big time celebrities. (2010). Netscape Celebrity, Retrieved
from
http://webcenters.netscape.compuserve.com/celebrity/package.jsp?name=fte/cel
ebrityfears/celebrityfears
Fritscher, L. (2009, February 07). Diagnosing a phobia. Ask.com part of The New
York Times, Retrieved from
http://phobias.about.com/od/symptomsanddiagnosis/tp/diagnosingphobias.htm