Psychology: Human Phobias - Essay Example

? Psychology Psychology Question one Phobias A phobia is an irrational fear of something where a person goes to extreme lengths to avoid it. Psychologists refer to it as an irrational fear since the harm in which persons attribute to that thing is actually not present. Psychologists have argued that every human being has some sort of phobia though a majority of people do not know their phobias since they dismiss it as normal fear. Phobias are generally classified into five subgroups. These subgroups are; natural environments, where people have phobias concerning environmental factors such as storms and height; animal phobias where people fear animals such as insects; situational phobias where people are extremely afraid of being in situations such as elevators or tunnels; medical phobias where people are afraid of medical issues such as injections and blood; and finally other phobias such as vomiting. There are different causes of phobias. Most phobias usually result from ones childhood experiences. A good example is the fear of old people, which is known as Gerontophobia. During childhood, old people are normally associated with fear where children dared each other to enter compounds belonging to old people. Such childhood experiences manifest into adulthood where people associate old people with harm or evil. Another example of how ones childhood can manifest various phobias is Arachnophobia. This is the fear of spiders. In fact, in the United States of America, it is considered as the most widespread phobia. Most children normally pull pranks on each other using spiders which manifests into a phobia in adulthood. Another factor that contributes to phobia is experiencing a traumatic event. This is where a person undergoes a traumatic event, whether physically or emotionally resulting in a phobia. For example, there are people who are afraid of flying. Either some of them are usually people who have lost someone through an air accident or they have ever experienced an air accident. There are psychological approaches that have been designed to treat phobias. However, phobia treatment cannot be approached generally since different phobias should be approached differently. At the same time, phobias result in different reactions. For example, some are simple while some have adverse effects such as death. One approach undertaken in the treatment of phobias is controlled exposure of the patient to stimuli. This is where a person is exposed in a controlled manner to the thing they have a phobia. In such therapies, clients are also encouraged to put themselves in situations where they face their phobias in order to have a full recovery. Other treatment options include hypnotherapy where clients are exposed to stimuli though not physically It is import for people to understand the difference between fear and phobia. It is significant to note that it is common to fear though it should not be irrational. There have been cases where phobias have resulted in death especially where the phobia is the line differentiating life and death. For example, when a boat capsizes some people end up drowning since the fear of water prevented them from learning how to swim. Question two It is most likely that Joanne might be diagnosed with fear of intimacy. Fear of intimacy is a condition in psychology referred to as the inability or fear of someone to be intimate relationship with another person. It considered a psychological condition since it is a social phobia. This is not an uncommon phobia especially among people who were sexually abused when they were children The reason why Joanne might be diagnosed with this social phobia is because she displays symptoms associated with the phobia. One major symptom that accompanies the fear of intimacy is the fact that people with the phobia are unable to have sexual intercourse with people whom they have emotions towards them. This is especially the case with people who experience sexual abuse when they were children at the hand of a close adult or relative. This is what happened to Joanne since she was sexually abused by her uncle. What normally happens is that the mind of such people usually associates sexual intercourse with a person whom they love yet they were hurting them. As a result, such people cannot have sexual relations with people they are emotionally connected. However, they are able to have intercourse with other people whom they have no emotional connection. This is the major reason why Joanne is able to have intercourse with other men, but she is unable to have sex with someone whom she loves. Question three Hanna could be diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This is as a result of the serious road accident that she was involved in more than twenty years ago. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a psychological condition, which is developed after someone, experiences a traumatic event. Traumatic events are either physical or mental. For instance, Hanna might be suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder in two ways. Firstly, the accident might have injured her severely. The other way the disorder might have affected her is through seeing what had happened during the accident where she had a near death experience. Irrespective of what happened during the accident, it is clear that Hanna is suffering from the condition since she displays some of its symptoms. One symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder is avoiding situations that bring back the memory of what happened. Hanna clearly displays this since she cannot drive in major roads and highways since the accident happened in one of them. Anxiety is also another symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder that Hanna displays. This comes out especially when a person faces similar situations to where the traumatic event took place. This is the case in Hanna since she normally experiences anxiety when driving. According to the American Psychological Association, as at 2003, road accidents were the leading cause of posttraumatic stress disorder among Americans (American Psychological Association 2003). If this is not addressed, then Hanna might continue suffering from the conditions which might result in adverse effects such as causing a road accident. References American Psychological Association (2013). Motor Vehicle Accidents Are Leading Cause of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, According to New Book Retrieved From: http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2003/12/accidents-ptsd.aspx Read More