YT2095 Posted December 2, 2003 Author Share Posted December 2, 2003 "Again though, phobias are different and require a special effort. " can you explain/expand on that little please? also, is it limited to fears alone? can it be employed for positive effects? and are there any scenarios in daily life this may be applicable? Cheerz and Beers (yours is a Guiness, I know) ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skye Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 I was skipping bits of coral across the sea the other day and a little shark (probably 4 feet) swam with it's fin and tail out of the water where I was throwing them then came straight towards me. I was on the edge of the water, and it came pretty close, about 5 or 6 feet away. Enough to develop a phobia there :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iglak Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 basically a fear is like, "EEK! A SPIDER! eww... get it away!" whereas a phobia is like, "O MY GOD!!!! IT"S A SPIDER!!!! WERE ALL GONNA DIE!!!! RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" think the difference between a startle and utter panick. of course, there's probably some simple dictionary definition on the internet somewhere... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sayonara Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 Oh that helped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YT2095 Posted December 4, 2003 Author Share Posted December 4, 2003 LOL @ sayo I do know the difference between them, be sure. I was interested Gliders meaning of " a SPECIAL effort". not the symptomatics and/or responses. thnx anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booper54 Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 I'm itching now, after having read this thread. haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gene Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 Glider said in post #25 :Again though, phobias are different and require a special effort. Well, my guess of Glider's "Special effort" in curbing phobias is basically changing metality and controling your emotions. Because the fear receptor/ emtion receptor transmits a signal to the pre-frontal cortex of your brain whereby the analysis of things occur. Therefore if you can control you mind by telling it, there is nothing to be scare about and sort of "hallucinate" on the good side of the conseqence. Like for example, instead of having the mentality that the spider might bite. Think more positively instead to: the spider will be afraid and run away from me. That's sort of thing. I have actually read and watch programmes and stories about how people curb their phobias. One is through consuelling. Another is through practice like placing a spider infront of you. And another very unique one is changing you mentality about your phobia by imagining of a "positive outcome". It would be helpful if a psycho-therapist guide you through this process. Or gather in a group of people who are like you afraid of spider and start talking about you phobia and brainstorming ideas to curb them. Well, doing all these simply need sheer determinatin and confidence and being optimistic. Good LUck then. (well, i do not prefer to overcome my fears. Sometimes being vulnerable is a good thing.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blike Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 Skye poses a good question. Why are there certain common phobias. I have a fear of snakes, but I'm not sure if its a phobia. They scare me to death, even the harmless ones. I dont' mind seeing them, and I've even held one before, but I sincerely hate them. Even when I see them an irrational sense of fear comes over me. Is that a phobia? Sometimes my worst nightmares are about snakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YT2095 Posted December 4, 2003 Author Share Posted December 4, 2003 it is a good question! I only know of 3 common ones off the top of my head, spiders, heights and Snakes as Blike mentioned. heights I can partly understand, as it un-natural for us to either fly or be in an area (high rise tower block) where we can look directly down at the ground, as opposed to a mountain where it`s a "slope effect". so that one has a little understandability to it. there are poisonous snakes and spiders there`s little else on earth with such venom enough to kill us outright. except for maybe the Oceans/Seas, and there`s a good many that fear that also! or just WATER in general. perhaps it`s an inate fear that when compounded with a reaction of a CARER triggers it into being a "Mortal Fear". I dunno, it`s just a Guess/Idea, but it seems to fit a little Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glider Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 When in the process of developing a phobia, and in the absence of any obvious cause of their distress or trauma, people will often (on a non-conscious level) 'search' for something to associate with their extreme negative state. If they already have have something in their memory to which they are 'sensitive' and which evokes fear in them (albeit not to phobic levels), they will 'attach' their state to it. In other words, in the absence of an obvious thing to blame for their trauma, they will attach the blame to something that already makes them uncomfortable. These are more likely to be things that evoke a similar response in most people (e.g. spiders, snakes, needles etc.) and so are the more common phobias. However, people often form such associations with whatever is prominent in the environment at the time of their distress. I know someone who has a phobia of moths. In this case, there just happened to be a moth present during an extremely distressing experience. The association was formed, and the subsequent exposure to moths re-evoked the emotions associated with the experience. However, because the details of the experience had been forgotten (this happened in childhood), the person could provide themselves with a rational explanation for their response to the moth. Because of this, the fear became irrational and grew (unchecked by a rational explanation) into a full blown phobia. The person has been phobic towards moths for over 18 years now, and is only just beginning to deal with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YT2095 Posted December 4, 2003 Author Share Posted December 4, 2003 fascinating! in a way it kinda part sounded to me like the "keyword(s)" used in Hypnosis, it acts a trigger for a certain mental state (trance like or open to suggestion in the case of hypnosis). is this form of "programing" for wants of a better word, a form of self hypnosis? whereas the imperitive is brought about by the distress and the trigger is just an incidental that happens to be there at the time? (sorry to all still thinking about Spiders, it IS off topic a little, I know) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glider Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 My 'special effort' was referring to the formation of phobias, not the 'curbing' of phobias. As mentioned above, fear of (e.g.) snakes and spiders can be passed between individuals, phobias can't. It requires a 'special effort' to form a phobia. Phobias are generally a result of the formation of an association between a severely traumatic/aversive event or state and an innocuous (often non-related) stimulus. Phobias can be defined as an extreme and irrational fear response to an innocuous stimulus. You aren't born with them, nor can you learn them from other peoples' reaction to stimuli. They are very subjective and personal percepts. PS. There is no such thing as a 'fear receptor'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YT2095 Posted December 4, 2003 Author Share Posted December 4, 2003 Cheers Glider, yer a star! I have a phobia (wish I didn`t) and would you beleive that I`m even to scared to do something about it!? I can hardly even bring myself to telling anyone either! crazy huh! anyway, that`s a different thread. back to SPIDERS... personaly I think the little fella looks kinda cute Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skye Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 Why are common phobias common? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muffin Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 Well, I am very afraid of spiders, and centipedes, and insects in general, but I don't think it's a phobia. Like, if I see one on the wall across the room, my pulse might rise a bit, but then I'll settle down really quickly, but then if it moves, my pulse will go back up again. Their quickness does have alot to do with it. Also, here's an example of something I did. I walked into my room one day and saw a centipede crawl under my bed. I spent the next 1/2 hour perched on a chair trying to see where it was, and if I could sneak out of my room to get someone to kill it. Would that be a phobia? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gene Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 Oops. I am sorry for whatever i've said. I thought that i understand the meaning of phobia and fear. Well, i obviously did not know the difference. Glider sorry if i was a nuisance in the post. I thought i knew the whole thing. Well, it seems much more than that. P.S. there is a certain area of the brain that accounts for fear. (I guess) But i don't really know the specific name or location. I ought to put "fear receptor". Sorry for the blunder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glider Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 You have nothing to apologise for. You haven't said anything bad. I only presented some information on phobias for clarity, so people could tell the difference between 'normal' fear and a phobic response. You are right, there is a certain area of the brain that accounts for fear. It is a large area though, and no one 'part' is responsible for fear. Fear is an extreme emotion, and emotion is a product of circuitry rather than the function of any single part. In other words, there is no 'fear centre' as such, but the combined activity of many 'parts' of the brain (e.g. amygdalae, anterior cingulate gyrus, hypothalamus, reticular system etc.) can result in fear. The general area is known as the limbic system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YT2095 Posted December 5, 2003 Author Share Posted December 5, 2003 Mufin, I`m not sure if it`s a clinical phobia, but your reaction does sound a little extreme, kinda sounds a bit like these old women standing on a chair in the kitchen with a rolling pin screaming "MOUSE MOUSE!!" like ya see in the cartoons sorry, I shouldn`t laff really, I just can`t help the mental pictures I get why don`t you get a can of bug spray, and maybe leave it by your bedroom door or something, that way you may feel a little more at ease, knowing you can "Fight Back" if you had to? just don`t say anything like "hands up, your busted" it could take time with a centipede Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muffin Posted December 6, 2003 Share Posted December 6, 2003 lol, I can't even step on the things. Not even with shoes on. I don't know what it is. My mom even bought me this little bug vacuum, that sucks them up, but I'm afraid t use it, in case they miss the hole and fly up at me. eek! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YT2095 Posted December 6, 2003 Author Share Posted December 6, 2003 I can`t be 100% sure, but it sure sounds like a Phobia to me Glider will know more for sure though. the odd part about some of what you said actualy seemed to make some sense to me tho (as if I could actualy see it happening) and yet I have no fear of these things, only respect. this concerns me a little, and makes me wonder if or not it IS part genetic!? either that or I`m an Empath Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skye Posted December 7, 2003 Share Posted December 7, 2003 I had a friend who was afraid of moths too. So I used to put one in my mouth and then walk up to him and open my mouth so it would fly out. Ah, memories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gene Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 Didn't the moth fly into your throat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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