Author: mlh6047

A phobia is defined as an extreme irrational fear of something. Phobias are created when the mind associates events or object with something that priorly caused it fear. Once this scary event occurs, the mind then can be triggered by similar stimulus to create a similar response of flight. These fears are created through classical conditioning, observational learning, and acquisition of information. In classical condition the mind fears things based on an initial event and anything associated with that event. In observational learning someone may develop a phobia based on others reactions to the stimulus. Acquisition of information creates the fear based on what the individual has learned.

I have a deadly fear of all things blood, bones, and medical in general. Therefore I have never gotten my blood drawn, and will die before I have surgery. When I was a child I was pushed down the stairs by my sister and therefore I had to get an X-ray because I broke my collarbone. I don’t remember this but my mom says I screamed bloody murder the whole time, so therefore I hate hospitals. And blood, and bones, and doctors, and even a little bit the dentist. This now leads to why I don’t trust my parents.

About two years ago I was on the way to gym with my mom. When we started driving my mom got on the highway. Odd. The gym wasn’t that far that we needed the highway. Then my mom gives me a look that I assume is similar to what people give to their dogs on the way to the vet. 45 minutes later I was sitting in a chair about to be knocked out so some random guy with a degree could remove my wisdom teeth. When I woke up I felt four teeth lighter and very uncomfortable. Then I looked down and low and behold, there in my arm was an IV. As I faced my fear I am proud to say I instantly passed out and ended up having to have more fluid dripped into me through this god forsaken device. The reason my parents didn’t tell me about this procedure, and I fainted from a simple needle was because my fear is so intense that my brain literally could no longer process it.

My eyes have never been the greatest. As I have looked at my phone and computer more my vision has gotten worse and worse to the point where my glasses are crucial for me to even scroll through Instagram. These past weeks we have learned about eyes, and how they form the perceptions of the world around you. Over my senior year I would work from 9 am to 11 pm and as most of the world does, I would drive myself home when I was done. Honestly I shouldn’t be allowed to drive in general. I am a menace on the road. So imagine me at night, after working 14 hours, and absolutely drained. Not great.

In class we learned about the brain’s processing of space and time. From this there are various things that can impair one’s vision, besides me already being blind, there was a turn into my neighborhood that was a disaster. I would always misjudge my distance and either wait way longer than I really needed to or almost cause an accident. Until this class I thought it was simply me being a bad driver. Then we discussed the different types of monocular perception. Monocular perception describes how the brain perceives things when only one eye is used.

Monocular perception is what caused the cars to seem closer or further away from me. The headlights at night created an interposition which blocked me from being able to perceive how far the car was away from me. By focusing on the lights to determine the distance I was seeing only their brightness, not their actual distance. I walk everywhere now, which i’m equally as dangerous at however now for the future I can try to focus on whats behind the lights for my gauge of distance, instead of the light.

The brain is a miraculous muscles that is beautifully interconnected and woven together in order to make the greatest piece of machinery ever, function. The brain is split into many different parts each with their own specific purposes, as well as the largest amount of additional unassociated areas of any mammal to walk the earth. An area of the brain I personally find incredible is the brains sensory neurons. These neurons fire the moment something needs to be processed from the body. From this an even cooler effect is the idea of Sensory Adaptation. This phenomena refers to the idea that when the body is continually stimulated it will eventually diminish the sensitivity, until it is unable to be felt. Like when walking in the cold, or a band-aid on the skin, when the body is stimulated by the same factor for a prolonged period of time, the neurons simply allow it to turn to the wayside of your attention.

I have terrible spending habits. The part of my brain that is in charge of self control and good decision making died a long time ago. This means nothing scientifically, however in the physical realm it means I bought 5 pairs of shoes this week. Now when you buy a new shoe there is initially a very upsetting consequence. Blisters. Now when you buy 5 new pairs of shoes, the blisters are prolonged much longer in order to break them all in. So now a couple days after having these shoes you can imagine I am in a great deal of pain. In response to this pain I have been going through an absurd amount of band-aids. Now allow me to assure you that Sensory Adaption is not a miracle worker so I still feel the blisters in full force, however I never feel my band-aids.

This is incredible to me because I never really thought about the inability to feel the band-aids until Tuesday. It was also incredible because while I thought it was acting as a buffer between my shoes and my foot, it was doing nothing but protecting the skin. So I still 100% felt all the pain associated with the blister, but I felt no band-aid. The constant stick to my skin was low level enough that my sensory neurons decreased my sensitivity to just the band-aid. This very minor change therefore required a reaction, that then my brain deemed unworthy to continue feeling. This is also mind-blowing because it was selective only to the band-aid. When I am walking, I can still feel the pain of my blister but no band-aid. The sensory neurons can be so selective that they can feel one thing but millimeters away they stop the processing of my band-aid. I find that simply incredible.