Question

Describe what you consider to be normal fear you have and describe a fear of yours that you think is a phobia. Where and how did each develop ? How do each of these affect your life? What could you do to try to “extinguish “ the fear? The phobia?

Answer 1

I have a fear of cockroaches which I consider to be relatively normal, while a phobia of blood. I can trace the development of each fears to specific events in my life. When I was a child, one of my aunts underwent an ear operation because a cockroach was present in her ear for almost a month. After hearing that incident, whenever I see a cockroach I feel that it may somehow find its way in my ears as well. As for the fear of blood, I had once seen my younger sister hit her head on the corner of the bed after which she started bleeding profusely. We both were quite small and my parents were not at home as well. I somehow managed to take her to the hospital but everytime I see blood I tend to experience physical symptoms like feeling faintish and nauseous.

I think the only way to extinguish these fears is to confront them. Using principles from systematic desensitisation and exposure therapy, perhaps I can try attempting to create a relaxed mindset and approach the fear inducing stimuli.