Phobias

By Melissa Oates 

Another Feature I produced earlier this year for a university module.

There are many phobias out there but just how many come across as unusual or bizarre and what happens when they are confronted with their phobias.

Phobia.

Definition as from the NHS: A phobia is an overwhelming fear of an object, place, situation, feeling or animal.

Phobias are more then just a fear, they tend to develop when a person has an exaggerated or a somewhat unrealistic sense of danger.  Phobias can become very severe to an extent that a person will revolve their lives avoiding things that cause them the anxiety from the phobia.

Phobias are apart of the mental health they are a cause of anxiety which can make a person struggle, there are some resources to help manage with phobias such as hypnotherapy, group discussion on phobias, talking therapies and exposure therapy. There are also self-help books as well as medication. 

I myself have a phobia of moths, I hate how they are attracted to light, and they always seem to fly towards my face which makes me petrified of them. I know that they are just what people call night-time butterflies, but the expression I would use is ‘evil’, I have discovered that the name for my phobia is Mottephobia.

There is however, a top 10 of the most common phobias, that are in the U.K. These being;
Heights – Acrophobia
Public speaking – Glossophobia
Snakes – Ophidiophobia
Flying – Aerophobia
Spiders – Arachnophobia
Crowds or being outside – Agoraphobia
Clowns – Coulrophobia
Enclosed spaces – Claustrophobia
Mice and rats – Musophobia
The dark – Nyctophobia

Phobias are an interest to me, finding out friends or families or even acquaintances phobias are fascinating, because there are some that you won’t even expect, and there are some bizarre phobias out there, that and I do tend to find the most bizarre one out there.

Reaching out on social media through twitter and Instagram especially, I asked if anyone was willing to speak about their phobias. I was lucky enough to get three responses back, all through Instagram each explaining to me what their phobia is, when it started and how it has affected their lives.

Ommetaphobia: fear of eyes or fear of the thought of touching eyes.

The first person to respond was from the username itsbethanevans, her real name being Bethan. Her phobia is Ommetaphobia which is fear of eyes; “I believe it started when I was really young” she wrote, phobias can tend to start from a young age, something or someone can set the phobia off. She continues “I watched Bugs Life, there’s a shot that zooms in on the protagonist’s eyes widening and as a really young kid that scared me shitless.” She also explained to me that its also to do with touching eyes, she can’t stand contacts or seeing friends or family put in their contacts. I asked how she managed, and her blunt reply was, “I don’t.” many people do struggle with managing with their phobias this can lead to closing themselves out to the world because it had become so bad.

Gerascophobia: fear of growing old

This is quite unusual; I have never heard of this phobia until I got a response from the username aquariusmagick. Real name being Abbie. Her phobia is Gerascophobia, which is fear of growing old, her phobia came on quiet recently as she says, “It started last year, after I turned 23” she spoke about how she doesn’t want to grow old, “Makes me not want to be around after I’m 30. I don’t want to live beyond 30 and want to die ‘young.’” This I find is a really unusual as this isn’t a common phobia, and I believe that it is a phobia that is the most bizarre. Abbie also explains “It’s nothing to do with my anxiety or mental health, it’s just a fear that I have.” Phobia is a form of mental health yes, but it’s mainly to do with fear, as phobias are a fear.

Arachnophobia: fear of spiders

The final response that I received was from the username, vikimew, real name being Viki, her fear is quite common amongst a lot of people. Her phobia is Arachnophobia, now this phobia is based named one of the top 10 common phobias in the U.K. she begins, “I’ve had this phobia since as long as I can remember, so pretty much all my life.” Similar to the first response that I received, it started around childhood when the phobia began, she gives me more information as to what happens with this phobia, “Whenever I see a spider of any kind it makes me flinch. If I am near one and it moves, I start having small ‘spasms’ where my body moves on its own.” This is where the phobia definition comes in, where a person can have an unrealistic sense of danger and in this case with Viki, her body starts to spasm near a spider as that is her brain telling her that she is in danger, although she isn’t, she continues to explain, “It’s worse the bigger the spider is and if one touches me I have a full blown panic attack with exaggerated spasms.” Again here with the unrealistic sense of danger, but it gets to the point where she starts to get full blown panic attacks, because as stated previously, that a phobia can start to appear as a fear, and gradually becomes worse, but it actually is a form of mental health, that the brain is sending signals to the body as if it sense danger. It is the area of the brain that deals with dear and stress, but due to the phobia it can release the ‘fight or flight’ hormone when dealing with phobias. “I’ll feel like there are spiders all around me and I’ll keep trying to brush off something that’s not there. It’s affected my life in a way I don’t feel save in my own house. I’ve had horrible experiences with house spider in the past crawling on my bed so I find it really hard to sleep at night especially in the dark from the fear that one might join me on my bed.” This here shows how a phobia can affect a person daily live to a point where now they don’t even feel safe in their own home.

Phobias are fear but most importantly, it’s a mental health, one where the brain sends out signals that trigger the fight or flight hormone, which results in a person thinking of being in danger but in reality, they are not. There are resources as stated previously that can help treat and support those who suffer with a phobia, some include, hypnotherapy, group discussions, exposure therapy and these are just a few there are many more resources out there to help.

I would also like to thank those who contributed with speaking out about their phobias as I know that it can be difficult to speak about, I mean I’m still baffled that there is a phobia about growing old! But it is there, and it is a phobia, it also amazes me how bad a phobia can be and result to a panic attack and also be afraid in their own home! But that’s how the brain works.