By Julie Gomez and Karla Rodriguez
Some people fear spiders, others—darkness. And some fears become so unbearable that they turn into phobias.
Everybody has fears, but phobias are different, said Kelly Cukrowicz, a clinical psychology associate professor at Texas Tech. Not only are phobias intense and irrational, but they also potentially interfere with one’s day-to-day activities and ability to function.
“Phobias tend to cause distress for people and are more unusual things,” Cukrowicz said. “So if you have a fear, you don’t necessarily have to do anything about it.”
Lifetime prevalence of specific phobias among U.S. adults. Source: National Institute of Mental Health.
Phobias affect over 19 million American adults and are twice more common among women than men, according to MedLinePlus, the magazine of the National Institutes of Health.
Of the 25 people who voted in this week’s poll by The Hub@TTU, more than three quarters indicated being afraid of mundane, everyday things—such as heights, the dark, strangers, failure, death, illness and spiders/scorpions. The rest had more boutique fears—of ghosts, gremlins, demons and clowns.
Fears come from traumatic experiences, said Maureen Sharp, a sophomore psychology major from Edmond, Okla.
“I think fear is a strong and negative emotion that causes your heart to race,” Sharp said. “But if people have strong phobias, it could be because it goes back to their early childhood.”
Courtney White, a junior journalism major from Forth Worth, Texas, remembers her first traumatic experience involving a Great Dane that entered her apartment when she was 8.
“I was never bitten, but the dog was barking and playing around,” White said. “My mom was freaking out.”
White said her heart begins to race, and she feels her palms get sweaty at the sight of a dog. However, she believes this is a fear and not a phobia.
“It’s something that I can live with,” White said. “I can tolerate being around dogs depending on how hyper they are, but the size doesn’t matter. It could be a chihuahua and I would still want someone to put it up.”
You can develop a fear without always knowing why, said Elissa Dougherty, a psychology graduate student at Tech.
“Fear is developed as a negative association you have with a particular person or situation, and you hold to that association,” Dougherty said.
Travis Brace, a psychology graduate student at Tech, said there are different ways to challenge your fears and adapt to them, but that it’s not something everyone is able to do.
“I think it takes a lot of being exposed to that fear, to the phobia—and learning ways, whether it’s through your own education or the help of someone else, to develop behaviors that will help you in that certain circumstance that usually causes the fear for you,” Grace said.
Cukrowicz said she usually recommends people get psychological help with fears they believe to be phobias.
“There’s a variety of places on campus where people can get treatment if they have phobias,” Cukrowicz said. “The student counseling center is one option and then downstairs in our building, there is a psychology clinic where they can get treatment as well.”
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