Section A · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, April 25, 2000
Continued from page 1A
"I'm really subtle about it, so hardly anyone realizes how much precaution I take," she said. "I'm a perfectly average, upbeat-type of person. Nobody would suspect a difference between me and a non-phobic."
College became an intense sort of therapy for Stacie. Living in a residence hall and being thrown into a germ-infested world of public facilities proved a serious obstacle, but also somewhat of a cure.
"That was a huge leap into the public bathroom world," Stacie said. "At first I was completely paranoid. I took a can of Lysol to the bathroom and sprayed everything when nobody was there to notice. But I know that I've become much more relaxed about things."
Types of phobias
Phobias can be uncommon such as arachibutyrophobia, the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth, or hippopomontrosequippedaliophobia, the fear of long words. During a lecture about phobias in one KU psychology class, students recently confessed to phobias of fish, vomiting and elevators.
"A person can be afraid of almost anything," Keeler said. "You really can't generalize the specific disorders."
But some phobias, such as arachnophobia, are so common that movies are made about them.
Corey Snyder, Topeak junior, suffers from arachnophobia — he is afraid of spiders.
in the past, when I saw a spider, I'd usually have to have someone kill it or shoo it away because I won't go near it," he said. "I would get totally freaked out and would get the creepy crawlers all over."
in order to diagnose the vast number of phobias, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, which lists medically recognized psychological disorders, breaks them into three categories:
- Agoraphobia: the fear of being in places from which escape might be difficult or embarrassing.
Social phobia: the fear of possibly embarrassing social situations.
Specific phobias: a general category that includes all other fears of objects or situations.
TYPES OF PHOBIAS:
Acrophobia: fear of heights
**Agariphobia:** fear of being in places from which escape might be difficult or embarrassing
**Claustrophobia:** fear of confined spaces
Social phobia: fear of being evaluated negatively in public
Androphobia: fear of men
Androphobia: fear of men
Gynephobia: fear of women
Hippopotamonstrosesquippedaliophobia:
fear of long words
fear of long words
Ichthyophobia: fear of fish
Arachidutryrophobia: fear of peanut butter
sticking to the roof of your mouth
Chrometophorbia: fear of money
Arachnophobia: fear of spiders
Ecophobia: fear of home
Genophobia: fear of sex
Methypophobia: fear of alcohol
Obesophobia: fear of gaining weight
Panophobia: fear of everything
Phobophobia: fear of phobias
Emetophobia: fear of vomiting
In morphophobia: fear of speaking in public or of
speaking in noon.
Brontophbia: fear of thunder and lightning
Coulthoibia: fear of clowns
Automatonophobia; fear of ventriloquist's dynamics
Committee
Mysophobia: fear of germs, contamination, or dirt
Species range of macrophobiles
- Source: The Phoba List www.sonic.net/~fredd/phobal.html
The American Psychiatric Association lists several symptoms related to the initial rush of anxiety that comes with phobias. Common symptoms include sweaty palms, rapid heart rate and an increased desire to flee or avoid the situation.
Symptoms of phobias
These symptoms cause Buck to avoid driving as much as possible — a common phobia-counteraction.
"My heart starts to pound and my hands get sweaty," Buck said. "Sometimes I even have to pull over just to relax."
Buck experiences all of these symptoms while merging into traffic.
Some symptoms are more paralyzing than
sweaty palms — symptoms Stacie knows too well.
"I used to stand in the bathroom hoping that someone would come in so that I could leave without touching the door," Stacie said. "I remember standing there for as long as 15 minutes."
Many phobias originate from experiences earlier in life.
Causes of phobias
"I am convinced that they are classically conditioned," Holmes said. "A person experienced something that scared them, or saw someone else's fear, and now they are afraid."
Classical conditioning is a process by which an object is paired or associated with the symptoms of phobias, Holmes said. Phobias can develop after experiencing or learning of a frightening event.
That was what happened to Kelvie Crabb. Crabb, Copeland senior, said for many years she had been afraid of house fires. Although she had never been in a fire, as a child she heard about a boy who died in his burning apartment. She held on to that fear for years after.
"I didn't even see the fire," said Crabb, who recovered from her phobia by writing about it in high school. "I just heard the story and I was so afraid that it would happen to me."
Some people have higher levels of activity in their brains, which makes them more able to be conditioned or susceptible to becoming frightened and aroused. Holmes said. These people are genetically prone to acquiring phobias.
Genetics lead to that high level of brain activity, which enhances the possibility of conditioning." Holmes said. "The genetics establish the predisposition and your culture provides you with the experiences that lead ultimately to the phobia."
Some new help is available, but the first step in leaving fear behind is a willingness to seek treatment — a willingness that neither Buck nor Stacie possess.
Treatment of phobias
"I've thought about therapy, but I am pretty embarrassed," said Buck, who has tried to work through her fear on her own.
SYMPTOMS OF PHOBIAS
Feelings of panic, dread, horror or terror
- Feelings of pain, horror, horror or fear
- Recognition that the fear goes beyond normal boundaries and the actual threat of danger
- Reactions that are automatic and uncontrolable, practically taking control of a person's thoughts
- Rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, trembling, and an overwhelming desire to flee the situation
- Extreme measures taken to avoid the teared object or situation
Source: The American Psychiatric Association www.psych.org/public_info/obabias.html
But there are other kinds of treatment, such as drug therapy, behavioral therapy, basic counseling and virtual therapy, that may be more confidential, Keeler said.
"We recognize the differences in patients," Keeler said. "We try to tailor the treatment to the individual."
Holmes recommended that people suffering from phobias engage in some form of extinction, a process of gradual exposure to the feared stimulus until it no longer caused the rush of anxiety. People who fear flying might visit an airport, then sit in a departure lounge and eventually board an airplane gradually conquering the fear at each step.
With the help of virtual reality, this process could be easier in the future.
Barbara Rothbaum, associate professor of psychiatry at Emory University in Atlanta, and Larry Hodges, associate professor at Georgia Tech's College of Computing, designed a program that teaches anxiety management and introduces patients to a computer-generated, three-dimensional image of the feared stimuli.
image of Ken Graap, director of business development for Virtually Better, Inc., the Atlanta based company that offers the virtual reality programs developed by Rothbaum and Hodges, said the programs worked by gradually presenting the feared stimul.
"We work in a hierarchy, and we start with something less fearful and work up until we reach the most feared environment," Graap said. "The real concept is emergence in a virtual environment that presents a fear. The more immersive the environment you set up, the better off you are."
Flying, public speaking, thunderstorms and heights are the only programs currently available through Virtually Better. Others, such as a virtual mall to help overcome agoraphobia, the fear of being in places from which escape might be difficult or embarrassing, are currently being researched, Graap said.
Virtual therapy is catching on and there are sites around the country where people can seek treatment. Graap said that nearly all of the several hundred people who sought treatment and stuck to the program of eight to 10, $150-sessions, showed no signs of relapse.
And, according to the American Psychiatric Association most people who seek treatment overcome their fears.
Extinction, which is the gradual removal of a fear, can be paired with drug therapy to speed up the extinction process.
"They can give you drugs, beta blockers for example, that will lower your level of arousal and make you less conditionable," Holmes said. "You have limits of how nervous and frightened you can get, but the problem is if you take the drug away — boom, they're back."
Although there are several types of treatment, Holmes said unless the patient was willing to either stay on the drugs or stick with the treatment, the phobia would return.
—edited by Clare McLellan
-designed by Matt Daugherty
MORE INFORMATION
For more information on phobias or to seek help:
Counseling and Psychological Services:
Virtually Better Inc.:
Virtually Better Inc.
- Anxiety Disorders Association of America
  www.anxietydisorders.org
National Institute of Mental Health
nimh nihy nib
American Psychiatric Association:
www.psych.org
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