PsychUp Avenue: Common specific phobias

                         Common specific phobias

Surely we have an idea what phobias are and there are a few specific phobias that are common and known to a lot of people. One needs to understand that the fear must be irritational, unreasonable and without a cause to that fear. Last week, we touched on PTSD, which result from a traumatic experience and it is understandable to develop an irrational fear of something after a traumatic experience. 

Aquaphobia is an irrational fear of water, even though there isn't any real danger that the water poses. Aquaphobia is also better known as hydrophobia, though hydrophobia may also refer to rabies in people, so for the sake of avoiding ambiguousness, we'll stick to aquaphobia. This irrational fear may include being seriously scared of swimming pools, the lake, the ocean or even a bathtub filled with water. This means that a person with aquaphobia will probably not get close to a swimming pool because they have some fear of drowning, even if the pool is shallow. Now imagine being scared of getting into a bathtub filled with water, thinking that you might drown? It's understandable for a person to be scared of pools if maybe they once almost drowned or something, but if a person has never had a traumatic experience of such, then it becomes a phobia.

We usually talk about people that are claustrophobic, but do we really understand what it is? Claustrophobia is an intense fear of confined or small spaces. being scared of small spaces does not mean that one is scared of being closed up in a very small room or in a box, it also refers to being in enclosed crowded places. for instance, a person with claustrophobia will have no problem being in an average room with five to ten people, but if there was a house party and everyone found themselves all crowded in the kitchen without enough room to move, this person would definitely get very scared. claustrophobic people also have a hard time driving in terrible highway traffic because they will feel trapped and stuck. If you experience claustrophobia, you may feel like you’re having a panic attack, although claustrophobia isn’t a panic condition.

Astraphobia May not be that common, but I can personally relate to this one. Astraphobia is an extreme fear of thunder and lighting without a specific reason for being scared of that lighting and thunder. A person with astraphobia may experience physical symptoms when thunder or lightning starts, such as being very cautious, sweaty palms and in some instances, a chest pain. You might wanna curl up and hide when there's lightning, even though the thunder and lightning does not possess ant threat to you. I, for one, cannot stand the trembling sound of thunder and lightning, even if I'm with people, I really cannot hide my fear of thunder.