Thomas Bestul Kevin Murphy PHOBIAS Thomas Bestul Kevin Murphy

List of PHOBIAS Agoraphobia- fear of open spaces Acrophobia- fear of heights Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia- Fear of long words (Ironic, eh?) Hemophobia- fear of blood Genuphobia- fear of knees Mysophobia- fear of germs Phobophobia- fear of phobias Xenophobia- fear of strangers Zoophobia- fear of animals Pteriphobia- fear of ferns (Cherry, 2010) (Liebgold, 1995)

Prognosis Phobias are the most easily treatable mental health problem However, an untreated phobia will usually never go away, and some, like agoraphobia, only get worse over time Attempts to avoid these phobias usually result in self-destructive behavior, such as smoking, alcoholism, and low self-esteem

Symptoms of a Phobia Feelings of panic, dread, or terror Recognition that the fear is abnormal Rapid heartbeat, trembling, overwhelming desire to get away Taking extreme measures to avoid the fear Impaired ability to function at normal tasks due to the fear

DIAGNOSIS Only trained mental health professional can diagnose phobias Phobias can appear with other mental disorders Can be diagnosed under one of the 3 types of phobias ( social phobia, specific phobia, and agoraphobia) Exact diagnosis varies depending on the phobia (Fritscher, 2009)

Treatment for Phobias The most common treatment for phobias is exposure therapy This allows the patient to face his phobia in a safe environment After they face their phobia in the controlled environment and believe they are ready, they will face their fear in real life Each phobia has a specialized treatment depending on the particular phobia (Melinda, 2001)

Statistics Phobias are very hard to track statistically, since a phobia usually cannot be medically diagnosed until age 18 Out of all American adults between ages 18-54, 5.3 million suffer from social phobia, 3.2 million from agoraphobia, and 6.3 million from specific phobia The three most popular fears are animals, heights, and blood

Comorbidity with other Disorders Social phobia is comorbid with many other disorders Some of the disorders are low self-esteem, bipolar disorder, clinical depression, drug addictions, panic disorder, alcoholism, and social anxiety disorder (“Social phobia: comorbidity”, 2007)

Etiology of Phobia There are many theories to the origin, or etiology, of the specific phobias a person holds One theory says that phobias have an organic base. For example, firstborn children have an 80% greater chance of developing phobias than younger siblings Another theory states that phobias are developed by watching other people during childhood, mainly parents, and observing how they react to their own phobias. Most experts would agree that traumatic childhood events are also a cause of phobias

Celebrity Phobias Nicole Kidman- Lepidopterophobia (fear of butterflies) Carmen Electra- Hydrophobia (fear of water) Orlando Bloom- Swinophobia (fear of pigs) Pamela Anderson- Eisoptrophobia (fear of mirrors) Christina Ricci- Pteriphobia (fear of ferns) Billy Bob Thornton- Altussessiophobia (fear of antique furniture) Lyle Lovett- Bovine phobia (fear of cows) Uma Thurman- Claustrophobia (fear of small spaces) ( “Fears and phobias”, 2010)

Strange Phobias Aerophobia- fear of swallowing air Aulophobia- fear of flutes Basophobia- fear of walking Chaetophobia- Fear of hair Chromatophobia- Fear of colors Geumaphobia- Fear of taste Kathisophobia- Fear of sitting down Nomatophobia- Fear of names Pogonophobia- Fear of beards (Ke$ha does not have this disorder) Xanthophobia- Fear of the color yellow (Silva, 2010)

Works Cited Silva, S. (2010). Weird phobias, strange phobias, funny phobias, unusual phobias. Retrieved from http://www.saviodsilva.net/ph/11.htm Liebgold, H. (1995, July 17). The phobia list. Retrieved from http://phobialist.com/ Cherry, K. (2010). Phobia list- an a to z list of phobias. Ask.com part of The New York Times, Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/phobias/a/phobialist.htm Social phobia: comorbidity. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.psychotherapy.ro/resources/mental-disorders/social-phobia-comorbidity/ Smith, M. (2001). Phobias and fears. HELPGUIDE, Retrieved from http://helpguide.org/mental/phobia_symptoms_types_treatment Fears and phobias of 25 big time celebrities. (2010). Netscape Celebrity, Retrieved from http://webcenters.netscape.compuserve.com/celebrity/package.jsp?name=fte/celebrityfears/celebrityfears Fritscher, L. (2009, February 07). Diagnosing a phobia. Ask.com part of The New York Times, Retrieved from http://phobias.about.com/od/symptomsanddiagnosis/tp/diagnosingphobias.htm