Spiders, snakes and heights - oh my!
While most people are OK or slightly nervous about certain objects or situations, some have an intense fear that can take control of them.
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a phobia as an exaggerated, usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects or situation.
"Most people have a phobic reaction to something at some point in their life," said psychology lecturer Dory Schachner.
People develop phobias for several reasons, she said.
People often develop fears through classical conditioning, a learned reaction toward an object or situation, Schachner said.
"If a dog bites you, you may learn to become afraid of all dogs," she said.
Sometimes people with phobias develop them on purpose, Schachner said.
"Through the evolving process, we learned to become afraid of things that could be potentially harmful, such as snakes or heights," Schachner said. "We became afraid for safety reasons."
Phobias can be wide-ranging and not always what one would expect.
"I have a phobia of vomit," Schachner said. "If I feel I am about to vomit I get really nervous, and if I see someone else vomiting my heart starts palpitating, and I come close to having a panic attack."
Sophomore V'Sean Arrington is afraid of the dark, a fear also known as nyctophobia, he said.
Arrington has been afraid for as long as he can remember and thinks the reason for it might be that his foster parents molested him when he was 8 or 9 years old, he said.
"I can only be in the dark if I am about to lie down and go to sleep," he said. "The closet doors have to be shut, and I can't look under the bed."
Arrington also has ophidiophobia, a fear of snakes, he said.
The phobia only developed a couple of years ago, but when he was 12 a snake tried to bite him while he was riding his bike on a trail, Arrington said.
"I can't watch movies with snakes in it," he said. "Sometimes when I go to the bathroom, I feel like a snake is going to come out of the toilet and get me."
Some phobias are not as common as the dark or snakes.
Junior Michelle Huot has jangelaphobia, a fear of Jell-O.
"I have hated Jell-O my entire life," she said. "I have no other way to explain my fear other than it's just wrong, and I can't understand why people would even want to eat the stuff."
Huot reacts negatively when she sees gelatin on TV, she said.
"When Jell-O commercials come on TV I get the chills and have to turn away," she said.
People have several physiological responses when thinking about or confronting a phobia, said Cindy Selby, a psychology professor.
The most affected area is the sympathetic nervous system, she said
"You can get light-headed, anxiety, sweating and dry mouth," she said.
Arrington's reaction to dark sometimes really affects him, he said.
"One time I got so freaked out I started praying," he said.
In 2006 at the Sigma Nu fraternity haunted house, someone jumped out at him, Arrington said. It scared him so badly he began to beat up the man.
Another common response is to want to retreat or flee from the situation, Selby said.
"When I see snakes, I feel like I have to run," Arrington said
People with phobias can try a few treatment methods, Selby said.
"The preferred method is systematic desensitization," she said. "With that, a therapist will work with the patient to develop a hierarchy of fears."
The therapist will take the lowest item on the fear hierarchy and talk the patient through it until he or she is relaxed, Selby said. The therapist moves up the list until the phobia is gone, she said.
For a more abrupt, let's-get-this-thing-over-with method, people can turn to flooding as an option, Selby said.
"With flooding, people are immersed completely into a situation with their phobia where there is no escape," she said. "They have to learn quickly to get over the fear."
If professional help is not an option, personal will to overcome a phobia is an alternative.
If students are motivated, they can cure themselves of the phobia, Schachner said.
"Force yourself to be exposed to what you fear on a daily basis," she said. "If you do that often enough you will extinguish the fear response."
While these treatment options are available, some choose to live with phobias.
"There is no need to be OK with Jell-O," Huot said. "It doesn't affect my life in any way, shape or form."
And although Arrington avoids the dark and snakes, he doesn't see the need to get professional help and is willing to live with the fear, he said.
"Being afraid of the dark sometimes interferes with my life, but I still don't think it's that serious," he said. "I don't think I will ever get over it."
Jeanetta Bradley can be reached at jbradley@theorion.com
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