Fear: Phobias: Causes And Types Of Fear

Group Paper - Fear

Aaron, Jordan, Victoria, Chandni, Francis

Nov. 17, 2017

Fear is a feeling induced by perceived danger or threat that occurs in certain types of organisms, which causes a change in metabolic and organ functions and ultimately a change in behavior, such as fleeing, hiding, or freezing from perceived traumatic events. The definition of fear is “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.” People fear things because it’s programmed into the nervous system and works like an instinct. From the time we are infants, we are equipped with the survival instincts necessary to respond with fear when we sense danger or feel unsafe, so basically fear protect us by

Like most things, people have a misconstrued understanding of what exactly these types of fears are. A phobias is an intensify fear of something, that in reality carries little to no danger. The most common phobias are closed spaces, birds, needles and practically anything you can virtually think of. These irrational fears start at a young age for many and develop all the way to adulthood. Though many people who experience these phobias know that they are irrational, just the thought of the phobia will get them anxious. A good everyday example of this is if someone who has a fear of heights and feels nervous while driving on the bridge to go to work, they might go the extra ten or so miles it takes to go around to avoid that uncomfortable

According to Doctor Oz, when a person feels that fear is taking over them mentally it isn’t defined as fear anymore but rather a phobia. When a person experiences phobia they would allow the emotion they feel take over their mindset and it would be so strong that it interferes with their life and their ability to function. However, for fear a person would feel symptoms similar to phobia but it wouldn’t affect their life or their ability to function and its easier for one to overcome it. For example, a person who is afraid to get a shot would feel queasy when getting their flu shot or blood drawn but the fact that they know they must get this done is a way for them to overcome their fear or when a person is afraid of heights but decide to go skydiving to overcome it. Fear gives a person a challenge to push themselves beyond their limit to where they believe to their own acknowledgement that they wouldn’t be able to do. It allows a person to grow stronger as a person and their mind to be able to adapt better with their