Good afternoon class, do you fear of something? I believe that everybody has to fear of something, right? If that fears are more than normal and cause problems into your life, we call that “Phobia”. What is phobia? According to Psychology book, phobia is an anxiety disorder in which the individual has an irrational, overwhelming, persistent fear of a particular object or situation. There are three major types of phobia which are specific phobia, social phobia and agoraphobia.
Now let’s go to the first type of phobia which is specific phobia or simple phobia. According to Essentials of Psychology book, specific phobia is the most specific and least disruptive of the phobias. As its name implies, specific phobia is defined as a fear of specific animals such as dogs, cats, spiders or snakes, or fear of specific people such as dentists or doctors, or fear of specific environment such as dark places, thunderstorms, or high places and fear of specific situations like flying in a plane, riding on a train. The list of specific phobia is practically endless. What are the symptoms of the specific phobia? According to Evolutionary Psychology book, when people with specific phobia have to face their fears, they can become freezing or have aggressive defense. These people will try to avoid or escape from their fears. For example, in extreme case, people who fear of water will try to avoid water include swimming, touching, bathing and drinking.
