What Are You Afraid Of?
Fears, Phobias, and Nightmares
Branch | Phobias
What are you scared of? Everybody’s scared of something, even if they don’t know it yet. Maybe you get goosebumps when you watch a scary movie, and maybe you refuse to go on roller coasters. Either way, every person has something that makes them jump.
Now, although most people just have regular fears of different scenarios, some people have more intense anxieties called phobias. Phobias are extreme or irrational fears of something but are generally more pronounced than regular fears. They develop if a person has an unrealistic or exaggerated sense of danger about a situation. If a phobia becomes severe, then a person may subconsciously end up basing their life around avoiding that one thing. The main difference between a fear and a phobia is that a fear is a natural reaction to a perceived threat, while a phobia produces this reaction even outside of danger. Additionally, while commonly used interchangeably with the term ‘fears’, a phobia is actually listed as an anxiety disorder, meaning that people can be medically diagnosed as having a certain phobia. Although some specific phobias are medically applicable, others are ingrained in thousands of people (at least to some extent) around the world. The most common phobias are:
Arachnophobia - fear of spiders (around 40% of people)
Aerophobia - fear of flying in planes (around 40% of people)
Ophidiophobia - fear of snakes (around 33% of people)
Social Phobia - fear of social interactions such as public speaking (around 12% of people)
Cynophobia - fear of dogs (around 8% of people)
Acrophobia - fear of heights (5% of people)
Agoraphobia - fear of places that make escape difficult, such as confined spaces or large crowds (around 2% of people)
Buds | Nightmares
In some instances, especially when we’re kids, our fears wake us up in the middle of the night in the form of nightmares. Nightmares are vivid dreams that feel threatening and stressful that are often associated with fear or panic. Nightmares are usually easier to remember than regular dreams because of their heightened emotions and triggering of your internal ‘fight or flight’ response.
Nightmares arise from a variety of reasons, most often stress, and anxiety. If you are overly preoccupied or anxious about something in your life, there’s a higher chance you might have nightmares about it. Something that can skew the likelihood of having nightmares is your media consumption. For example, watching a horror movie right before bed may be entertaining, but you might wake up three hours later worrying about it.
The biggest cause of nightmares is PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. Like specific phobias, PTSD is a medically diagnosable disorder where someone who has suffered genuine and intense stress has recurring flashbacks to their most distressing events. A large factor in why these people have such aggressive nightmares is because their nightmares are often based on their real experiences.
Leaves | What Are You Afraid Of?
We’re all afraid of something, but sometimes not everyone knows what they’re afraid of, after all, people find out they're scared of new things every day. Some people may prefer not knowing all their fears, after all, ignorance is bliss, but others might want to know their fears so they can overcome them. Regardless of which of these categories you might fall under, we must all learn to face these fears at some point, so what’s the best way to do this?
The best way to conquer your fears is to simply face them instead of avoiding them. Yes, this can be extremely uncomfortable, but exposing yourself to discomfort can help get rid of your fears altogether. This idea comes from a psychological method used to treat patients with PTSD called Limited Exposure Therapy, where a person is slowly reintroduced to their greatest fear little by little until they become comfortable with that thing. In more immediate instances, such as getting to the top of a roller coaster before realizing that getting on this ride was a bad idea, it’s important to breathe. I know it’s the classic ‘go-to’ by parents, but it really is the best way to destress yourself. In addition to taking deep breaths, I recommend the ‘second-breath’ method. Basically, after you’ve taken a deep breath and filled your lungs with air, take a second (obviously smaller) breath. This completely rids your lungs of carbon dioxide and slows your blood flow immensely, allowing you to deal with your immediate panic.
It’s important to face your fears instead of avoiding them. Some people let fear rule their lives and make every decision based on whether or not it will keep them in a more familiar position; more often than not, these people lead restricted lifestyles. If you learn to dominate your fears, not only will you begin enforcing a sense of mental toughness, but you open up your experiences to so many new things. As an example, I used to be terrified of heights, but after years of facing my fear, there are so many things that I can now enjoy: roller coasters, skydiving, cliff-jumping, sightseeing, you get the gist. Don’t let your fears control you, conquer them and become a stronger person for it.
beautiful piece on fears.