The famous American actress Rihanna once told media that even though she was born in Barbadian, she had a phobia of sea creatures, even tiny fish.\u00a0 Phobia means extreme and irrational fear of something, and it is considered as mental disorder.\u00a0 Rihanna\u2019s symptom is called \u201cichthyophobia,\u201d the fear of fish.\u00a0 There is a very long list for different kinds of phobia, some are common, like acrophobia, the fear of height; but many of them sound unimaginable to us, such as tetraphobia, the fear of the number four.\u00a0 Nevertheless, phobia is one of the mental illnesses recognized by clinical psychology.\u00a0 However, the misunderstanding of phobia leads many people to believe they have an actual phobia of something while in fact they are just afraid of them.\u00a0 What\u2019s more, this very professional term, \u201cphobia\u201d, has become some people\u2019s scapegoat for their refusal of doing something, in other words, their \u201cjustifiable\u201d excuse to escape from confronting difficult situation.<\/p>\n
Take the example of \u201cstudy phobia\u201d.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not stupid or lazy; I\u2019m scared, so I failed the test.\u201d \u2013very few people will say such thing because it\u2019s the common sense that it will not be accepted as reasonable defense.\u00a0 However, in some students\u2019 mind, they believe that they are really suffering from \u201cstudy phobia\u201d; that\u2019s the reason behind their vehement rejection to study even though they fully recognize they have to.\u00a0 First of all, the fact that you don\u2019t want to study doesn\u2019t mean you have a phobia of study.\u00a0 Usually, phobia comes with sudden change of mental and physical conditions, such as extreme distress, anxiety and panic, heart beating faster, shaking, or short of breathe.\u00a0 Personally, I don\u2019t think any student will have such symptoms when reading books or listening to lectures.\u00a0 Maybe they will suffer from these mental and physical disorders when taking a test, but that is caused by stress, not phobia.<\/p>\n
So, does \u201cstudy phobia\u201d really exist?\u00a0 Although this term is not included in any official list of phobia, it\u2019s definitely possible.\u00a0 According to many psychiatrists, people can be taught to fear almost everything.\u00a0 For example, if a small child is told not to play with dolphins in aquarium because they will eat him, this child could very possibly develop a fear of dolphins.\u00a0 Even after he has grown up and learned that there is little chance that a dolphin will hurt him, he will still be afraid of this kind of ocean mammal (the fear of dolphin is called \u201cdelfiniphobia\u201d).\u00a0 Back to study phobia, if one student had an extremely painful experience on learning, such as continuous humiliation in tests, quizzes, and question-and-answer sessions, or repeated failure after tremendous hard work, day after day, year after year, eventually he could have a phobia of study.\u00a0 However, whether you really suffer from study phobia or not doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 The most important thing is how you deal with your fear or refusal of study.\u00a0 Instead of confronting \u201cstudy phobia\u201d or turn to a psychiatrist for help, some students just give up in school work.\u00a0 When the sense of guilt comes to them, they will comfort themselves with the conjecture that they have \u201cstudy phobia\u201d.<\/p>\n
In real world, people rarely describe themselves as having \u201cstudy phobia\u201d because so many might react with skepticism to that saying.\u00a0 But what for those more \u201cjustified\u201d phobia, like ergophobia, irrational and persistent fear of work or finding employment?\u00a0 Many people learn to handle the situation by \u2018leaving\u201d.\u00a0 While some \u201cleave\u201d by attempting to ignore their fear and continue their normal life, some \u201cleave\u201d by very irrational means, even turning to marijuana or other drugs.\u00a0 Those people \u201csurrender\u201d to their fears and don\u2019t want to consider some possible treatments because they are so \u201cafraid\u201d.\u00a0 There are, actually, several methods of overriding the fears that intervene our personal life.\u00a0 The most common one is called cognitive behavioral therapy, a therapy that may be performed in a group setting to help the patient understand the cycle of negative thought patterns, and ways to change these thought patterns.\u00a0 As long as the patient is willing to undergo some discomfort in the process and make a continuous effort to change, the treatment will alleviate patient\u2019s phobia in some level or even eliminate his fear of some particular situation.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s true that the world is a scary place.\u00a0 We are constantly surrounded by things that frighten us.\u00a0 If this kind of emotion has greatly affect our normal life, try to confront and overcome it.<\/p>\n
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The famous American actress Rihanna once told media that even though she was born in Barbadian, she had a phobia of sea creatures, even tiny fish.\u00a0 Phobia means extreme and irrational fear of something, and it is considered as mental … Continue reading