Phobias (Diseases and Disorders)

Phobias (Diseases and Disorders), 9781420501032 (1420501038), Lucent Books, 2009

Human beings have a love/hate relationship with fear. Medals are given to valiant warriors who charge fearlessly into combat, while those who sneak around whimpering in their battle helmets are labeled cowards and in some cultures are even put to death for what is considered a war-time crime. As a whole, people generally find fear to be disgraceful.

At the same time, people are fascinated by fear. In fact, they pay money to be scared out of their wits. They wait in long lines to see horror movies in theaters and to scream their lungs out on amusement park rides. Reality television shows such as Fear Factor recruit people to do unthinkably scary things. Fear has become an industry.

A lesser-known fact is that fear is a widespread health problem. Millions of people do not seem to have an “off” switch when it comes to being afraid. They do not need to watch a scary movie or bungee jump off of a bridge to panic—they do it at the sight or even the thought of a certain thing or situation that petrifies them. They cannot put their fear out of their mind. They have what doctors and scientists call a phobia.

Phobias are as ancient as fear itself. The Greeks believed that senseless fears were the mischievous work of Phobos, the god of fright. (Phobos is the root of the modern word phobia.) The Greeks also believed that the god of nature, Pan, loved to spread fear, and this is where the modern word panic comes from.

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