A body of personality theory holds that our own personality is primarily caused by our responses to outside stimuli, much like Pavlov's dog experiment pairing an unconditioned stimuli (food) with the conditioned stimuli (bell), causing salivation even when the food is not present, but the bell has rung. Phobias are though to have their onset with unpleasant events, resulting in anxious, panic-like responses when elements of the unpleasant event are present later.
Review the video on the basics of agoraphobia, a fairly common phobia.
1/Do you know someone who has a phobia? What type of phobia is it?
2/ What do you think might help the person manage or "cure" the phobia?
Post your comment below the assignment , following the instructions. Due Thursday. You may need to create a Gmail account, or an AOL AIM account. Your comment is public, so all can see. I recommend writing the comment in Word (or equivalent), and then pasting it in the box, so you don't lose it in case you have to reenter.
Andrew, Kiara, Derrick, and KaLonna: Please, on Thursday, each give a 3-4 minute overview of your posting for this assignment in class orally, and each come up with one (1) question for us all to consider and possibly discuss!
Fears And Phobias:
Agoraphobia
Good luck with your postings!
ReplyDeleteBF
Kyle Steiner
ReplyDelete1. I actually know someone who has agoraphobia which is the fear of being in an open space or in a crowd of people. She lives across the street from me and has lived there since I was born. She is married and has two sons who live with her. When I was younger she would only go out onto her porch but only for a little and would go right back into her house. Her phobia has got to the point where she never goes outside and only stays in her house. I see her once in awhile standing right by the door talking to her husband outside or looking out of her window. He husband still talks to my parents and says that she is doing good but she will not leave her house and go anywhere.
2. I think that if her family took her to get treatment and talk to a professional therapist, she could maybe get better. I think her family should have done this a long time ago when she first started to be afraid of going out in public, and began showing the symptoms of having agoraphobia. She is getting old now and she has had agoraphobia for a long time. I do not think she will ever leave her house now because this has been going on for so long. If she was able to get treatment and medical help she might be able to recover from agoraphobia. She could begin by taking small steps and begin to go outside and in her yard.
Activity # 2
ReplyDeleteJen Seidel
10-26-10
I know a few people that have phobias, but the one I’m going to be focusing on is my brother Stevie. He is three years older than me. Growing up, we were kind of close but wasn’t. We fought like a normal brother and sister would and have disagreements. His phobia was Acrophobia. That phobia is known as fear of heights. Ever since I could remember he was afraid of heights. Every year as a family, in the summer we would take a trip to either Geauga Lake or Cedar Point. My dad, three sisters and I would ride the roller coasters, while my brother and mom would sit and watch us. He was never into roller coasters that went really high or went high and upside down. If we were to ever to go into a high building, he wouldn’t look out the windows because he had that fear. Since I was younger then him, at that time I didn’t understand why and what made him be afraid of heights. I use to make fun of him all the time saying “I ride all these rides and you won’t ride one, you sacredly cat!” Finally I grew up and understood that this was legit and that I shouldn’t tease him because it did hurt him when I said stuff. It wasn’t his fault that he was scared, but till this day I don’t know why because no one else in my family is afraid of heights. Recently, he has moved to New York City, which didn’t make sense because those buildings are high there. Slowly, I think he his getting better about his phobia.
Honestly, I think the person with a phobia should get over it so they can conquer it. Like with my brother, one day I know I’m going to get him to ride the highest roller coaster and show him there’s nothing to be scared of. Then he will realize what he had miss out on. Or maybe even one day I will go visit New York and take him to the highest buildings or even the Statue of Liberty and tell him to look out the window to show him nothings wrong. All they need is a little confidence and reassurance. Don’t push them to the extreme where they’re going to hate you. They have to be comfortable and do it on their own, or I bet they won’t do it at all.
10-27-2010
ReplyDeleteAssignment #2 Phobias and Other Anxiety Disorders
Rosanne Pierce
#1 - I have a friend who is quite disabled from claustrophobia, the fear of closed spaces. She is very uncomfortable in any closed space,especially ones that a door can lock behind her, such as a car, an elevator, a small bathroom, or even a doctor’s office. Health care is difficult because most labs, x-ray rooms, or dental rooms are small and confined. She will usually take a ‘buddy‘,someone she trusts will not discount her feelings or ask too many questions about her phobia, when she needs health care. She has difficulty explaining why she feels so uncomfortable in these places and situations but the best description is she feels like there is not enough air, or oxygen, and that she feels she is suffocating. She also expresses feelings of being, “Held hostage” or trapped.
#2 - I think that people who are deeply affected by phobias would benefit the most from professional counseling. It also benefits them to have a support group of friends and family who understand that they probably don’t want to have fears, they just don’t have control of them. When I drive my friend someplace I always have the car window on her side open half way, even in the winter. Turning the heat up a notch is a small price to not have her feel embarrassed to ask that the window be opened. I have tried to help her desensitize her fear by testing door locks and showing her that they will open when she wants out of a room. I also have stood outside of a locked door and verbally supported her by telling her I was proud of how brave she was to go into a locked room. I also remind her that oxygen and air are free flowing under the door and she will not suffocate. I don’t think the she can be ‘cured’ but these small efforts do help her to manage her fears. I have always felt that her fear is a manifestation of a traumatic life experience she has had and a professional counselor might be able to help her get to the ‘root’ of the problem
I remember one of my high school English teachers had a phobia. I think his was kind of ironic because he had a fear of germs. Seeing that you work in a high school of over 1700 students and staff it’s really hard to stay away from germs. it was times me and my classmates used to mess with him about how he felt around students because he was just always so jumpy if we sneezed coughed or blew our noses(even if we were faking). Turns out the reason why he was a germophobe was because his wife died from being around germs and she became very ill and then she past. So really seeing that germs caused a painful memory i really don’t think it’s possible to cure and if it can be cured it’s going to take him a while to let that hurt go.
ReplyDeleteDennis Gearhart
ReplyDeleteHuman Relations
Assignment #2
October 27, 2010
I have known several people with different phobias but the first one that comes to mind is my youngest son. He has acrophobia or the fear of heights. I have this myself to some extent but I can generally overcome it when absolutely necessary. My son cannot. His fear is so strong that it has prevented him from applying for some jobs. I can remember when we worked together that he could not do any work off a ladder. If he talked himself up the ladder then he would need help getting down. I know the fear is embarrassing to him I have come to realize the fear is real and respect that.
My son has always been a very cautious individual and would never put himself at risk. I believe this is somehow related to the acrophobia.
Acrophobia has not taken over his life, so he has not done anything to try and alleviate his fear. He would just rather accept it and move on. If treatment would be necessary I believe professional help would be the only answer. Those who don’t understand would try and force him up the ladder or some other situation. I’m sure that would do nothing but cause more harm
Ryan Seagren
ReplyDeleteOctober 27, 2010
My middle brother who is 22 years old has arachnophobia. He has had It ever since he was little. This has got to be one of the most common phobias due to the fact that it is brought up many times within discussions of phobias. I myself experience arachnophobia but at a much smaller degree than my brother. I only become afraid of spiders if I find one but it disappears before I can do anything with it like kill it or trap it. This is more common when It is a very small spider becuase It is much harder to find if it escapes.
What I think would greatly cure a phobia is a series of classes with specific personal instructors who would help out individual persons with their own phobia. This would not only put those people in a safe environment, but it would allow one on one contact with an individual which would create a friendship between the two. This would make the recovery process much smoother with someone who the patient can trust.
Ashley Lonczak
ReplyDeleteHuman Relations
October 27, 2010
Nobody comes to mind who I know that really has a phobia that would stop them from doing anything. They mostly just deal with the phobia and don’t let it affect their everyday life. The one person that does come to mind who slightly has a phobia is my mother who is afraid of heights. When building our new house our upstairs walk-way, from one room to another, was open and didn’t have rails yet. My mother refused to walk on it. Also, whenever we go even a little bit high up on stairs or in bleachers she gets all shaky and quickly finds something to hold on to. Although, like I said before, this doesn’t stop her from living life. She was always terrified of going on roller coasters because of the height factor, but she got the courage to go on one and found out she really enjoys them – except that she keeps her eyes closed the whole way! At least she goes on them though and conquers her fear.
I believe, just like my mother did, was to find a way to conquer those fears. Whether that is to get help from a professional therapist or to personally go out and muster up the courage to get over that particular fear. Slowly working up to conquering the fear would be a much better approach then to jump right into it. As for my mother, with the walk-way she would crawl a little bit out onto it, not the whole way, but a little. She at least was able to take steps in conquering her inability to fully walk across the walk-way. And then later on she was able to finally get onto a roller coaster. Even though she closed her eyes the entire time, she in return was able to do something in order to reassure her that maybe the fear she has of heights doesn’t need to be so dominate in her life anymore.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Baxter
ReplyDeleteOctober 27
1) The only person I know with a fear that could be classified as a phobia would be my Mom. She has a massive fear of heights called acrophobia. This is probably due to me when I was young being a little to 'active' on escalators in the mall when she took me in for new shoes. She will only take enclosed elevators up and down because she cant see how high she is. On the escalators she can see herself getting higher and she will panic. When we go to the amusement parks, she cannot watch us go on the coasters because she instead sees how high we are and then will panic, and the same when I go rock climbing, rappelling, or climbing ladders.
2) When I was in fire school, we had many people afraid of heights trying to become a fireman. As you can imagine, that poses a problem for crawling through a third story window from a ladder. At the end of the training, we had everyone climbing up an extension ladder into and out of the third story like they were walking through a front door. We did this by telling them to go one rung at a time and trying to go one rung higher on the ladder every time. I believe if my mom would do something similar to this, she could get rid of this fear or at least feel better about the heights
Assignment #2
ReplyDeleteChristina Robison
10-27-2010
My grandma is afraid of closed-in spaces. Like when we go to a restaurant she likes to sit so she can either see out over the restaurant or out a window, but never facing a wall. That is the biggest thing about her claustrophobia. Also I have heard my friends talk about their being afraid of clowns. I think that the most popular phobias are claustrophobia, clowns, and spiders.
The best way, I think, to get some one with a phobia some help is with some type of therapy. Then maybe after a few sessions of the therapy they want to confront their phobia I would be more than happy to help the best way that I can. If nothing works after that and they just want to talk I will listen. Or if there is some thing else that they want to do I will help to the best that I can.
1. I have a very good friend with a phobia of drowning. She isnt afraid of water in general, just afraid of being under water for too long. She swims and goes in the ocean, but if someone maybe dunked her in a swimming pool or if she is too deep to touch, mostly in a larger body of water, she will panic and immediatly have to get out. She swims fine and can very well swim in deep water, but her fear of drowning causes her to not do so.
ReplyDelete2. I think that the only way to maybe help her is to have her swim under water for awhile showing her that she is fine. Although drowning is possible for anyone, if you can swim and as long as people arent acting stupid, it should be okay.
Stacy Heatherington
Jeff Hathaway
ReplyDeleteMy mother has the phobia known as a fear of heights (acrophobia). It has created a problem sometimes because it has limited her from doing things. For example, we go to Cedar Point every year and it is almost like she buys a ticket for nothing. She goes there and rides absolutely nothing. I can tell she has 0 amount of fun even though she tries to cover it up and say she’s enjoying it. Also, when we go over bridges and drive through the mountains on vacation she feels like she is going to have a panic attack over the fear.
I don’t think there is much I or anyone else can do to get her over the phobia. The only thing that is going to cure it is for her to face it without anyone elses help. The person with the phobia has to want to fix it. This, in my opinion, is really the only way to cure a phobia.
Joe Kieffer
ReplyDeleteAssignment #2
10/28/10
My father has acrophobia which is the fear of heights. Every time we would go to an amusement park he would never ride any of the tall ones with me. I would get very upset as a child and thought that he just didn’t want to ride with me. Little did I know he was scared to go that high.
When I was older and understood what was wrong with my father I was a little upset that I thought he didn’t want to ride with me, when it was only a big fear of his. You should never force people with phobias to do something they are scared to. I however made fun of my father and joked around with him until finally he went on the millennium force riding front seat with me. Yes it was very funny but he got over his fear and now we go all the time during the summer.
Deanna Lees
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to fears, I can think of a few people around me that have them. The one i found to be strange was my mother. She has a fear of spiders (arachnophobia). The fear itself, i know is quite common, but when i asked her why she found them to be frightening she could not come up with an answer. I think the best solution for someone like this is to first find the source of the fear, and work from there. Many specialists say that a phobia can be triggered by a specific event, so I feel that this is the best place to start. After finding the source of the fear (if any) gradually reintroducing the person to the things they fear may be helpful in finding a cure for them.
Cordell Midgett-Crosby
ReplyDeleteEverybody has a fear someone I know who has a fear is my older brother my brother fear was of spiders this phobia is called arachniphobia. This fear is of spiders is very common among phobias. What can be done for him to manage or cure this phobia is to either avoid contact of all spiders or face his fear and try to understand why and what he could do to over his fear of spiders
I know someone who has a phobia of clowns called coulrophobia. That person is me. I have a very real terrifying fear of clowns. I have had this fear since I was four years old and do not think I will ever get rid of it. When I was a little girl my older cousins use to chase me around the house with a little clown doll, they use to hid behind doors and under furniture and jump out and scare me with it. Ever since then I have been completely terrified of them. I cannot look at one or be in the same room with them. Rationally I know that the clown cannot hurt me or anything of that nature but for some reason I am just deathly afraid of them.
ReplyDeleteTo cure this fear I have tried espouser therapy which is when you gradually show someone the thing they are afraid of. Over time the hope is that the client will become use to the fear and the effects of that fear will become less and less. Unfortunately for me this therapy did not work and the phobia that I have still exists. I have learned how to channel my fear into something else if I come in contact with a clown but I will always be afraid.
Evan Frankovits
ReplyDelete1.) My Grandma is claustrophobic which means that she is scared of being in an enclosed space. I never really understood it growing up because she would never ride elevators when we went on family vacations and didn't like being in large groups of people. Her phobia kicks in when she can't see any kind of exit. When she got married to my grandfather and moved into their first house, she was cleaning the shower and the door jammed and she couldn't get out. She had an adrenaline rush and pushed the door right out of the track (for a mere 100 lb. woman, this is a pretty amazing feat). Apparently, her sister used to be an elevator mechanic and would open the doors between the floors so all my grandma would see was brick. This was probably the cause for her phobia.
2.) I truly don't know if there would be a good way for her to overcome this fear. If you put her in a situation where she couldn't get out, she would panic and may pass-out, or start throwing elbows! One possibility would be to put her in a low stress claustrophobic situation and have her breath deeply and try to overcome the stress. I wouldn't want to overdue the anxiety since she is so old, but I think if she were conditioned incrementally, she could get over a large part of the fear.
No one that I've known has any type psychological disorder, to my knowledge. I have a couple of suspicions on a couple of people whom I've encountered but it remains only suspicions.
ReplyDeleteTreatment for psychological disorders varies, I don't know of any 100% cure for the diseases but productive human will and persistence goes a long way for positive recovery and consciousness.
1. I dont know anyone who has a legitimate phobia of anything. But i do know someone with extremely high anxiety. She worries about pretty much everything all the time. Whenever she is in a car she feels like shes going to get into an accident, or is worried about poisonous spiders being in her room, and it isn't as serious as a phobia because she still sleeps in her room and still gets into cars, but the anxiety is there.
ReplyDelete2. When it comes to phobias i couldn't think of a cure. Facing their fear will do nothing for them but make them more upset. I'm sure there is therapy offered for people with extreme anxiety of phobias, and I'm sure there are plenty of medications for these.
1. I know someone who has a phobia of light bulbs. People say that you cannot have a phobia of the bulb itself but of the light it lets out. The girl I know isn't afraid of light at all but the actual bulb. Whenever someone around her has to change it she will leave the room. She starts getting shaky and nervous. I do not believe there is an actual name for this phobia or at least I have not been able to find one.
ReplyDelete2. I think that ways of helping her get over this phobia would be to slowly start touching the bulb a few times for a couple weeks and then maybe start holding one until she is comfortable enough to start changing them on her own.
Shovonna Hills
ReplyDeleteAssigment #2
My mother has a phobia, she is terrified of heights. When we go to an amusement park, she will not get any high rides espeically roller- coasters. She just sit and wait for everyone else from enjoying their selves. My mom will only go to the game booths and get on rides that are low to the ground. Her type of phobia would be called Hypsiphobia. A cue to preventing this situation would be for her to actually try to get on ride that might have her to overcome her fear.