Owen Joachim
Josh Wede
Psychology 100
11/13/2023
For my second blog post, I chose to write about Phobias. Phobias are a type of anxiety disorder characterized by an intense and irrational fear of a specific object, situation, or activity. These fears can be so overwhelming that they lead to significant distress and impairment in a person’s daily life. Phobias often result in avoidance behavior, where individuals go to great lengths to avoid encountering the thing or situation that triggers their fear. There are over 500 named phobias, most are extremely rare. People can develop phobias from past incidents or trauma. Although almost all phobias can be cured. Treating simple phobias involves gradually becoming exposed to the animal, object, place, or situation that causes fear. Phobias can also be resolved as children grow older.
When I was little I suffered from Nyctophobia. Nyctophobia can be defined as an extreme fear of the dark. It is a specific phobia characterized by an intense and irrational fear or anxiety related to situations involving darkness, nighttime, or low-light conditions. Nyctophobia is very common in children. It was often very hard to fall asleep on my own at an early age. I remember in elementary school sleeping with my door wide open with the hallway light on. One experience I believed caused this fear was an early childhood traumatic experience. One night I had a horrible nightmare and woke up in the pitch black. I ran to my parent’s room with tears in my eyes and demanded to sleep in their bed. After that experience, every time I would wake up in the middle of the night I always went to my parents’ bed. Over time as I got older, I eventually stopped sleeping with a night light. Then by middle school, I was sleeping with my door closed.
Hi Owen! I enjoyed reading your response about phobias, as this is something I also experienced as a child and never fully understood what a phobia was before this unit. I was also extremely terrified of the dark as a child and refused to sleep in my room without a nightlight on at all times, as well as a nightlight in the hallway. The nightlight was a comfort for me and whenever we would travel my parents would bring a nightlight with us as they knew my fear. This phobia was thankfully cleared once I grew up a little bit and no longer relied on having a highlight.