By NADYA SULAIMAN
When you hear the word ‘phobia’, what do you think? Fear, terror or distress? Ridiculous, irrational or silly? Living with several phobias is not easy. Phobias may seem outrageous to you, but it feels a lot more real and terrifying to those living with a phobia. It is more than just simple fear but classified as a common anxiety disorder that plagues just about anyone. Fear escalates to a whole new level. You cannot bear to think about it, much less to even talk about it. Sooner or later, you come to think about how you would become a burden to everyone around you. Maybe even face ridicule for something you have almost no control over. And that is part and parcel to what simple phobia can do. |
According to the American Psychological Association, phobias are usually derived from negative life experiences. Usually developed in childhood, it is difficult to pinpoint when a phobia began.
What defines the difference between phobia and simple fear is that a person with a phobia, when confronted with it, will cease to function normally and fall into total panic.
You may think I am exaggerating, but I have both Trypophobia and Bdellophobia, the fear of holes and leeches. How could we avoid looking at something as common as holes?
From patterns on a blouse to just empty lotus pods, I grow more terrified with every sight.
Trypophobia was theorised to have been derived from the natural reaction where the brain associates holes with diseases or danger such as holes made by insects and diseased wounds.
Retail Executive, Chin Yuen Yue, 19, faces the same fear. “My skin crawls, I feel nauseated, it feels disgusting and I would do almost anything to avoid looking at clusters of holes. To me, it feels like there’s something living inside them,” she described.
Trekking through a damp jungle, the one thing that actually frightens me half to death is a leech and I can seriously say, I would cut off my limb if one so much as touches me.
At first, people laugh, but eventually the fear persists and they start looking at you with concern. Humans are naturally afraid of the unknown or things they do not understand. Naturally, you find yourself segregated from society and so you hide your fears in false bravado.
Here is the icing on the cake: There had been actual cases of people dying in fear.
In 2010, Danielle Goldberg, 26, who had claustrophobia, was trapped in an elevator during a two-hour blackout. Giving in to her fears, she suffered a heart attack and died shortly after being rescued.
Being in fear for a prolonged amount of time could trigger panic attacks that push the sympathetic nervous system into full overdrive with the heart beating so wildly that it cannot handle the exertion and eventually leading to immediate cardiac arrest.
So when you see someone terrified of flowers, butterflies or rainbows, remember that they are in terror. There is a legitimate reason for their ‘silliness’.
What defines the difference between phobia and simple fear is that a person with a phobia, when confronted with it, will cease to function normally and fall into total panic.
You may think I am exaggerating, but I have both Trypophobia and Bdellophobia, the fear of holes and leeches. How could we avoid looking at something as common as holes?
From patterns on a blouse to just empty lotus pods, I grow more terrified with every sight.
Trypophobia was theorised to have been derived from the natural reaction where the brain associates holes with diseases or danger such as holes made by insects and diseased wounds.
Retail Executive, Chin Yuen Yue, 19, faces the same fear. “My skin crawls, I feel nauseated, it feels disgusting and I would do almost anything to avoid looking at clusters of holes. To me, it feels like there’s something living inside them,” she described.
Trekking through a damp jungle, the one thing that actually frightens me half to death is a leech and I can seriously say, I would cut off my limb if one so much as touches me.
At first, people laugh, but eventually the fear persists and they start looking at you with concern. Humans are naturally afraid of the unknown or things they do not understand. Naturally, you find yourself segregated from society and so you hide your fears in false bravado.
Here is the icing on the cake: There had been actual cases of people dying in fear.
In 2010, Danielle Goldberg, 26, who had claustrophobia, was trapped in an elevator during a two-hour blackout. Giving in to her fears, she suffered a heart attack and died shortly after being rescued.
Being in fear for a prolonged amount of time could trigger panic attacks that push the sympathetic nervous system into full overdrive with the heart beating so wildly that it cannot handle the exertion and eventually leading to immediate cardiac arrest.
So when you see someone terrified of flowers, butterflies or rainbows, remember that they are in terror. There is a legitimate reason for their ‘silliness’.