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Old 15-02-2009, 23:12   #33
Cats_In_The_Hat Cats_In_The_Hat is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pigeon309 View Post
And if I remember correctly, phobias are irrational fears.
Not necessarily:
"It is generally accepted that phobias arise from a combination of external events and internal predispositions. In a famous experiment, Martin Seligman used classical conditioning to establish phobias of snakes and flowers. The results of the experiment showed that it took far fewer shocks to create an adverse response to a picture of a snake than to a picture of a flower, leading to the conclusion that certain objects may have a genetic predisposition to being associated with fear. Many specific phobias can be traced back to a specific triggering event, usually a traumatic experience at an early age. Social phobias and agoraphobia have more complex causes that are not entirely known at this time. It is believed that heredity, genetics, and brain chemistry combine with life-experiences to play a major role in the development of anxiety disorders, phobias and panic attacks." (from Wikipedia)

While a phobia is defined as an irrational fear, events can incur someone into fearing a certain object which, in my opinion, is perfectly rational. Someone I know from middle school, for example, became trapped in an elevator for 3 hours when he was 9 years old and has feared elevators ever since. That, while rational, is still a phobia because it interferes with his daly life. My phobia of moss on my feet, for example, is completely irrational. I have not had any averse situations with moss that have caused me to dislike it, yet I go into a state of shock when I feel moss on my feet. So that is also a phobia, only it is irrational.

I'm very fascinated with phobias and other anxiety disorders. In fact, I am (or should be rather) working on a project for my Anatomy & Physiology class. The topic was 'Brain Disorders,' so I am doing phobias. Also, last year, for my concentration in my AP Art class, I did phobias. It was quite exciting.
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