Lions and Tigers and Bears....Oh My!

The other day on Twitter, a friend whom I’ve never met  (can we talk about how strange and yet rewarding it is to have social media friends?  A subject for another blog…..) expressed that she had a major attack of anxiety in her car when she spotted a spider in the passenger seat.  She had to pull over, get out and ask someone else to remove her “passenger”. It prompted a whole thread of people sharing what causes them to flip out when they encounter random things.  Now I am not talking about the big fears like losing a loved one or falling from extreme height;  we’re talking everyday things that have a freak out factor.  As usual it started my brain on a quest to understand what makes us react the way we do.  (I may have been that kid that always asked, “why?”)  In the online discussion, spiders were a common phobia though most of them are harmless. Snakes were also on the list. There were a variety of animals mentioned.  I even responded that two of my phobias are ticks (as in the crawly blood suckers that give you terrible diseases) and bats (which fly into your space bubble randomly at night - rodents should not be able to fly).  The latter could have something to do with the vampire movies I was exposed to in middle school.  I also admit to having a fear of hospitals.  Just walking in those places causes me to break out in a sweat and have a very strong flight response.  There are reasons for that which may be discussed in a future blog post. 

By definition, a phobia is an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something.  Some of you may remember a television show, "Fear Factor",  based on people's phobias. There a three major types of phobias:  social phobia (fear of public speaking, meeting new people, discomfort in social situations), agoraphobia (fear of being outside), and specific phobias (fear of items or situations).  The most common phobias are claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces), arachnophobia (fear of spiders), and acrophobia (fear of heights).  I personally like hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (fear of long words). 

In essence, a phobia is an anxiety disorder and we all have them.  They can produce responses from a simple sense of dread to a complete panic meltdown.  The key word is irrational.  The things we fear almost never actually harm us.  So why do we have phobias? According to the Mayo clinic, many phobias develop as a result of having a negative experience related to a specific object or situation.  Genetics and environment can both play a role, so they are an inherited or learned behavior.  Almost all phobias can be successfully treated and cured through gradual exposure to the object, animal, place or situation that causes fear and anxiety. 

Armed with this scientific information, cozy up to that little eight-legged creature as often as possible!  Personally, the idea of letting a tick crawl on me gives me irrational fear just thinking about it.  For reasons beyond my control, I keep being exposed to hospital settings for good or bad reasons, and it hasn’t really lessened my anxiety about walking into one.  But apparently exposure over the long term is the answer.  Great. 

The fact that these types of fears are irrational doesn’t negate the experience.  Some people are far more fearful than others.  But really, living in fear is detrimental to our overall well-being.  We need to find ways to overcome fear to have peace.  Some people practice breathing techniques, visualization, or talking through it with someone.  Prayer works pretty well for me.  However, I confess that sometimes my prayer sounds like, “Please, please don’t let a tick land on me” when I’m walking in the woods.   Whatever your fear factor, know that you’re not alone. I promise to never make fun of your spider phobia if you let me dive for cover when the bats come out at night.