What Are You Afraid Of?

All of a sudden, your heart is racing, your stomach is churning, and each palm is salted with sweat. Narrow-minded, outrageous thoughts consume every moment. Sight becomes a lens, zoomed in on the object of your fear. Panic sets in, and relief seems a distant solution that will never come.
An isolated street, the sound of a gunshot, or an unfamiliar character can alarm any individual. Fear is a human coping mechanism, and it is healthy and often useful as a safeguard for life. To be afraid is one of the most natural human emotions. However, when does fear cross the line to phobia?
"A phobia is an excessive irrational continuing fear of something and it gets in the way of living," says Joseph Tecce, professor of psychology. "The difference between fear and phobia is that one is debilitating and the other is good."
Tecce provided insight on the two different forms of phobia. Though there are non-specific phobias, those that are most commonly heard of are the specific ones. Specific phobias deal with an object, a place, a thing, or a smell, such as acrophobia, which is a fear of heights, says Tecce.
Although women have a greater phobic tendency than men, all different types of people are affected by phobias. Brad Pitt is afraid of sharks, and Whoopi Goldberg struggles with aviophobia, the fear of flying. The Beckham household is extremely organized because of David Beckham's ataxophobia, or fear of disorder.
Phobias are as diverse as the people who possess them. Besides the common fear of "commitment," the BC community has voiced struggles with phobias such as "bridges," "germs," "heights," "spiders," and countless others.
"I have a fear of heights," says Elise Hearne, LSOE '13, "I get very nervous, my stomach hurts, I have to close my eyes, and my hearts beats faster."
Phobias impact the everyday rituals people practice. When asked how her phobia affected her life, Hearne responded, "I don't like sitting up high at sporting events. That's one issue."
"I wash my hands a lot. If I touched a computer, it grossed me out and I had to go wash my hands" says Liz Carulo, A&S '13, who has a fear of germs.
Phobias interfere with the practices of everyday life. It is an interesting concept to ponder all the possible fears that classmates, professors, and staff can face while completing their daily routines.
Like many aspects of development, a person's phobias  fall under the age old nature vs. nurture debate. "Because phobias are a type of anxiety disorder, and a type of mental illness, their creation probably stems from a combination of factors, including genetic predisposition and environmental triggers," says Elizabeth Kensigner, professor of psychology.
 Both Tecce and Kensigner support the view that phobias are a union between genetics and environment. As Tecce says, "It's not nature versus nurture. It's nature and nurture."
The environmental factors contributing to phobias that surface in people can result from direct experience or through what is called modeling.  Tecce has personal experience with a direct encounter that led to his aviophobia. As a young man in the service, during his first time flying, his helicopter almost crashed.
"My first time in the air and I almost died," says Tecce. 
Tecce explains how his is, like most phobias, a learned phobia. The phobia was result of an incident and he learned to fear flying because of the threat associated with his experience. In order to get rid of the phobia it must be unlearned.
"I forced myself to fly," he says.
In order to fly without encountering symptoms of his phobia, he had to associate pleasure with flying to counter-act his previous negative experience. This is called "counter conditioning." After enjoying a glass of wine and with the support of a stewardess, Tecce's first flight after his nightmare was tolerable. Ever since then, he has had positive flying experiences which have slowly diminished the phobia.
Learned phobias are also formed through modeling. When a person observes another individual with a specific phobia, then indirectly they, too, may develop that particular phobia.
"My dad is afraid of heights, and that may have rubbed off on me," says Hearne. Hearne's fear of heights is likely a result of her father's similar fear. As she grew up she observed that he was phobic of heights, and therefore mimicked his behavior.
"Phobias are a subcategory of anxiety disorders which are the most common psychiatric disorder," says Tecce. They vary from case to case and are the result of human experience. Phobias are a human shield against what is sensed as dangerous. Tecce describes them as "unreasonable, but a protection mechanism." People use phobias as defense against often illogical threats. These people are also allowing the phobias to control them. By avoiding whatever it is they fear, they are reinforcing their safe environment. Until they experience safety while in the presence of their fear, they will continue their phobic tendencies.
Phobias consume anxious minds of celebrities, leaders, and even BC students. The real solution to conquering phobias is to walk right into them, but instead of walking in with negative emotions, march in with positive ones.