PHOBIAS
PHOBIAS
CONTENTS
04 INTRO 06 RESEARCH 10 PHOBIAS
INTRO “Imagine, human figures living in an underground cave. They have been there since their birth and had their hands, legs and heads chained so they can not move and they can only see before them, being prevented by the chains to turn their heads around. The only thing that exists in front of them is the end of the cave. Above and behind them, a fire is blazing to distance. They only see their shadows, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave; for how could they see anything but their shadows, if they were never allowed to move their heads. Between the fire and the prisoners, there is a raised way and a low wall goes along the way like a screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets. Men are passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, statues and figures of animals made of wood, stone and various materials, which appear over the wall. Some of them are talking, others silent. The objects which are being carried in like manner, they would only see the shadows. If they were |able to converse with one another, they would supposedly name what was actually before them. Let’s suppose further that the prison had an echo which came from the other side, they would think that when one of the passers-by spoke, the voice which they heard came from the passing shadow. To them, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.” Because of this excerpt of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, the idea of portrating people’s phobias through shadows came to mind. The meaning
of the whole allegory is not that, and has to do with the acceptance of progression and mental enlightenment, as well as the responsibility of the enlightened to inform and educate the masses. Like these prisoners though, sufferers of phobias are chained down to a “thought” of an object or an idea, that doesn’t let them see the full actual picture. They are terrified by the “shadow” of the thing they are afraid of. Whatever the reason may be, a traumatic experience or a childhood trauma, a sense of survival embedded in our DNA or even a persistent unreasonable fear that was aggrandised into a phobia, the outcome remains the same. Many people are “imprisoned” by their own phobias, suffering from more than a mere anxiety disorder that makes their reality difficult, if not cruel in some situations. “Phobias involve the experience of persistent fear that is excessive and unreasonable,” says Reid Wilson, who is author of the book “Don’t Panic”. People that have phobias, may experience a deep sense of dread or panic when they encounter the source of their fear. The fear can be of a certain place, situation, or object. Unlike general anxiety disorders, a phobia is usually connected to something specific.The impact of a phobia can range from annoying to severely disabling. People with phobias often realize their fear is irrational, but they’re unable to do anything about it. Such fears can interfere with work, school, and personal relationships. “Phobias are cued when a person approaches a particular situation or object, or even anticipates the approach of it, and they understand the fear they will experience as a result of that situation will be unreasonable and excessive.”
This publication has as a goal, to inform and raise awareness of the problems that many people face everyday. All the phobias are real, and when a person manages to share about it, they should be dealt with respect and dignity. Even if it is something that sounds funny and ridiculous to you, always keep in mind,that it can be terrifying and a reason for that person to lose their “freedom� on a daily basis.
RESEARCH Most of the information was found online, but in order to assist the findings and back-up the research, a questionnaire was sent to different groups of people through Facebook and Reddit. I would really like to thank all the 153 people that took part in it, shared their phobias,feelings and experiences. The groups were: •
University for the Creative Arts -MA Visual Communication
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University of West Attica -Photography and Audiovisual Arts
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Greek Graphic Designers Association (Facebook)
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Greek Concept artists/Illustrators (Facebook)
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National University of Athens -School of Chemical Engineering -School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
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University of Ioannina -Department of Computer Science and Engineering -Department of Psychology -Department of Philology
•
/r/phobias
The participants had to answer four questions. 1.
Do you have a phobia?
2. What is your phobia? 3. What are you feeling when you come in contact with the object of your phobias 4. How intense are those feelings? (Scale from 1-10) According to those results, from the 153 participants, 78,4% responded that they have a phobia whilst 21.6% claimed they do not. Only 1 person have taken actions in order to “fight” their phobias and after 10 years of CBT they are in full control of their previous phobias. That was a big surprise and it is “translated” into, that even people that have phobias they either do not take them very seriously, or they are too afraid to deal with the source of the problem, that could be a traumatic experience or a result of an unreasonable persistent fear. On the last question, about the intensity of the feelings people get when they engage with their fears, 116 people chose over 5 on the scale 1-10, while 65 of them chose 8+ . By reading these results, in addition to their feelings and experiences in the questionnaire, it made it clear that awareness about that type of anxiety disorder should be risen.
PHOBIAS
Sea is the expanse of salt water that covers most of the earth’s surface and surrounds it’s land masses. Thalassophobia is the fear of being in deep bodies of water, fear of the vast emptiness of the sea, of sea waves, sea creatures, and fear of distance from land. Aquaphobia which is the fear of water, Galeophobia which is the fear of sharks and ichthyophobia, that is the phobia of fish in general, are some other phobias that are associated with Thalassophobia.
“I feel I feel I can’ I am u
“Anxiety,nervousness,stressed ou feeling nearly paralyzed at time “I feel like I can’t do anything.”
Thalassa & Phobia Thalassa & Phobia Thalassa Thalassa θa.la.sa θa.la.sa = sea θάλασσα Θάλασσα = sea
“I think I will drown.” “My body is so confused. My entire skin is crawling.”
l heaviness, there’s no oxygen. ’t breath, unable to move.”
ut, es”
(pe)
Arachnophobia is an intense and unreasonable fear of spiders and other arachnids such as scorpions. An evolutionary reason for the phobia remains unresolved.
“I think that they crawling on me. If i see one in home, I have to get out.�
“I feel uneasy, my heart rate increases.”
Arachnida is a class of joint-legged invertebrate animals, in the subphylum Chelicerata. Spiders are the largest order in the class, which also includes scorpions, ticks, mites, harvestmen, and solifuges. In 2019, a molecular phylogenetic study also placed horseshoe crabs in Arachnida. Almost all adult arachnids have eight legs, although the front pair of legs in some species has converted to a sensory function, while in other species, different appendages can grow large enough to take on the appearance of extra pairs of legs.
Arachni & Phobia Arachni a.ˈɾa.khni Αράχνι = spider
“My heart rate increases.”
“I cry and run away.”
Necros & phobia Nekros nɛ.ˈkɾɔs (m) / nɛ.ˈkɾi(f) νεκρός/ή = dead
A balloon is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and air. Balloonscan be also filled with smoke,water, granular media, or light sources. Modern day balloons are made from materials such as rubber, latex, polychloroprene, or a nylon fabric, and can come in many different colors.
Globophobia is referred to as a fear of balloons, usually as a result of the noise they make when they burst. Yet this phobia does often extend to anything else which makes the same noise. People are also terrified of loud, sharp noises.
/ˌnɛkrə(ʊ)ˈfəʊbɪə/
“I get goosebumps. Sometimes, I even find Death is the permanent cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Necrophobia is a specific phobia which is the irrational fear of dead things, as well as things associated with death, like coffins, tombstones, funerals, cemeteries. With all types of emotions, obsession with death becomes evident in both fascination and objectification. In a cultural sense, necrophobia may also be used to mean a fear of the dead by a cultural group, for example, a belief that the spirits of the dead will return to haunt the living. Kinemortophobia, the fear of zombies is also associated if not included in Necrophobia. A very similar phobia is Thanatophobia, which is one of the most common ones as well. It’s the fear of one’s own death, the death of their loved ones or the process of dying. It is commonly referred to as death anxiety.
Necros & phobia Nekros nɛ.ˈkɾɔs (m) / nɛ.ˈkɾi(f) νεκρός/ή = dead
it hard to breath.”
“Anxi
“Des urge
“Dep I don I don
iety, panic.”
speration, e to self harm.”
pressed. It feels like.. n’t belong here. n’t belong anywhere.”
Monos & phobia Monos mɔ.νɔs / mɔ.νi μόνος/η = alone
Monophobia, or the fear of being alone, is a catch-all term for several discrete fears. Some people are afraid of being apart from a particular person. Others have the fear of living alone, being home alone, or being in public by themselves. These fears may or may not share a common cause.
Another phobia that could be related to monophobia, is Athazagoraphobia. The fear of being forgotten, ignored, or abandoned. Alone may refer to: Solitude, a state of seclusion and isolation, or loneliness, negative emotions arising from seclusion.
“Anxiety and fear.”
“I instantly have a panic attack. I don’t feel safe. I lose function for the next few hours.”
Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions in the atmosphere or ground temporarily equalize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of as much as one gigajoule of energy. Thunder is the sound caused by lightning.
Also known as Astraphobia that comes from the greek word “astrapi” that means lightning. It is a treatable phobia that both humans and animals can develop. It is an abnormal fear of thunder and lightning or an unwarranted fear of scattered and/ or isolated thunderstorms.
.
Keraunos & Phobia Keraunos ke.raˈβnos κεραυνός = thunder
Trees play a significant role in reducing erosion and moderating the climate. They remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store large quantities of carbon in their tissues. Trees and forests provide a habitat for many species of animals and plants. Tropical rainforests a re among the most biodiverse habitats in the world. Trees provide shade and shelter, timber for construction, fuel for cooking and heating, and fruit for food as well as having many other uses. In parts of the world, forests are shrinking as trees are cleared to increase the amount of land available for agriculture. Because of their longevity and usefulness, trees have always been revered, with sacred groves in various cultures, and they play a role in many of the world’s mythologies.
The fear that a tree could fail and harm them, their loved ones, or their property. Also known as Hylophobia, xylophobia, or ylophobia, that are fears of wood or forests. The fear is also closely linked to the fear of the dark.
“They make me extremely uncomfortable and anxious...”
“They look evil, like they feed on the dead and welcome the gullible in They also look like diseases
Dendro & Phobia Dendro δé.dro δεντρο = tree
nnocents. under a microscope.”
Ommation & Phobia Ommation -> Mati (modern Greek) ma.ti ματι= eye
“I get cold sweat a even when i see s trying to get their
Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide animals with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and convert it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons.
and axiety, someone, hands near their eyes.”
Also known as ommatophobia is the fear of eyes. Sufferers, are extremely concerned or worried about their eyes. They may refuse to touch their eyes for plucking an eyelid or putting eye drops in them. The slightest vision-related issue can trigger full-blown panic in the phobic’s mind. Some of them can’t even make eye contact when someone else is touching their eyes. Rare occasions can’t make eye contact at all.
Mob is called the anorganized crowd, a mass of people. The term has an “insulting” sense. A phobia, or fear, of mob-like crowds, as opposed to simply open spaces like agoraphobia, which many people claim they have when in reality they suffer from ochlophobia, or large crowds as with enochlophobia.
Ochlos & phobia Ochlos ókhlos όχλος = mob
“I get anxiety, panic and I feel overwhelmed.”
“I get dizzy, general discomfort, everything goes black and I get panicked.”
“I get anxiety, and I pass out.”
Snakes are elongated, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes. Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads with their highly mobile jaws.
To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes’ paired organs appear one in front of the other instead of side by side. Living snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica, and on most smaller land masses; exceptions include some large islands, such as Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, the Hawaiian archipelago, and the islands of New Zealand, and many small islands
of the Atlantic and central Pacific oceans. Additionally, sea snakes are widespread throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans. More than 20 families are currently recognized and about 3,600 species. They range in size from the tiny, 10.4 cm-long Barbados thread snake to the reticulated python of 6.95 meters in length.
Ophidio & phobia Ophis - Fidi ˈfi.ði φίδι - snake
“I get chills down my spine, I freeze at spot and sweat. I feel like one is climbing on me.” “Anxiety, fear, shivers, crying.”
Ophidiophobia is a particular type of specific phobia, the abnormal fear of snakes. It is sometimes called by a more general term, herpetophobia, fear of reptiles. About a third of adult humans are ophidiophobic, making this the most common reported phobia. A 2001 study at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden suggested that mammals may have an innate negative reaction to snakes (and spiders), which was vital for their survival as it allowed such threats to be identified immediately. In 2009 a report of a 40-year research program demonstrated strong fear conditioning to snakes in humans and fast nonconscious processing of snake images; these are mediated by a fear network in the human brain involving the amygdala.
“The sho amo
Rhytida & Phobia Rhytida ρi’ti.ða ρυτίδα = wrinkle
e mere thought of getting wrinkles or owing any sort of age gives me extreme ount of anxiety.” A wrinkle, also known as a rhytide, is a fold, ridge or crease in otherwise smooth surface, such as on skin or fabric. Skin wrinkles typically appear as a result of aging processes such as glycation, loss of body mass, sun damage, or temporarily, as the result of prolonged immersion in water. Rhytiphobia is the irrational fear of wrinkles. Someone experiencing this mental illness may find that they have extreme amounts of anxiety at the mere thought of them having wrinkles or of showing any sort of age.
Mist is a phenomenon caused by small droplets of water suspended in air. I t can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influenced by nearby bodies of water, topography, and wind conditions. In the U.K., the definition of fog is visibility less than 100 m (330 ft), while for pilots the distance is 1 km. Otherwise, it is known as mist. Also known as nebulaphobia, rom Latin nebula, that means cloud. People tend to fear the fog because it is hard to drive in and can lead to an accident. Some others may fear supernatural entities like ghosts or magical creatures hiding behind the curtain of fog. Sufferers would not go out when it is foggy, and some would not driving at all even though it is clear because they think that fog may suddenly roll in.
“I get very high amount of anxiety fro let alone actually seeing it. I get full blown panic attack.“
Homi chlop hobia
om merely thinking of fog, Homichli & Phobia Homichli ɔ.ˈmi.xli ομίχλη = mist
“I blush a lot and because of th people stare too much and tha I want to run and leave that pla Even when they don’t, I think th I don’t want to leave the house I am taking pills and tablets to I am constantly anxious and I a
Red is the color at the end of the visible spectrum of light. Blushing is the reddening of a person’s face due to psychological reasons.
hat, at makes me uncofortable ace. hey do. e anymore. try and make it stop. am getting panic attacks.�
Erythrophobia is fear of the color red. This color phobia is common because red is the symbolic color of danger, bad, or embarrassment. It is also the fear of blushing, due to embarrassment.
“Whenever it gets dark outside, my imagination starts running wild, My head is filled with images of mons
Darkness is the absence of light. Human vision is unable to distinguish color in conditions of either h igh brightness or very low brightness. In conditions with insufficient light levels, color perception ranges from achromatic to ultimately black. It is also known as scotophobia, from the greek word “ skotos” that means darkness, or lygophobia, from the ancient greek word “lygi” that means twilight. Fear of the dark is a common fear or phobia among children and, to a varying degree, adults. A fear of t he dark does not always concern darkness itself, it c an also be a fear of possible or imagined dangers concealed by darkness. It is triggered by the brain’s d isfigured perception of what would, or could happen when in a dark environment. Normally, since humans are not nocturnal by nature, humans are usually a bit more cautious or alert at night than in the day, s ince the dark is a vastly different environment. Phobia of the dark sometimes reaches a degree that is severe enough to be considered pathological.
“I get panic attacks and the need to get out of there..”
sters and murderers..”
“I’ll get A hole is an opening, usually circular, in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of engineering. Depending on the material and the placement, a hole may be an indentation in a surface, or may pass completely through that surface.
Trypophobia is an aversion to the sight of irregular patterns or clusters of small holes or bumps. It is not officially recognized as a mental disorder, but may be diagnosed as a specific phobia if excessive fear and distress occur. People may express only disgust to trypophobic imagery.
Trypa & Phobia Trypa tɾi.pa τρύπα = hole
goose bumps on my arms and scalp.”
“I first feel disgusted & then I get goosebumps and feel sick.” “I my head every hole is magnified and i want to vomit.”