Whats the difference between a phobia and a fear?
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at
7:52 am
Aisling asked:
Is it that one is rational and the other isn’t?
Or something to that effect?
Thanx in advance!
Diderot just wondering so..
If a person says they are scared of spiders, do they have arachnaphobia?
Is it that one is rational and the other isn’t?
Or something to that effect?
Thanx in advance!
Diderot just wondering so..
If a person says they are scared of spiders, do they have arachnaphobia?
Tagged with: Fear • Spiders • Thanx
Filed under: Phobias
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a phobia is something that you are so afraid that you can’t get over it …and if you have a fear you can get over it even if the fear remains
Phobia is an intense fear of something. Phobia is like an illness. Fears can be concurred.
Phobia is an IRRATIONAL fear.
Fear is a healthy survival mechanism. It is BASED on a REAL situation. When the situation goes fear goes.
Phobia is an irrational fear NOT BASED on a real situation and can be debilitating and intense beyond any warranted levels. It is not a correct reaction to reality.
Example fear of falling is healthy and makes you avoid situations where you can fall off and kill yourself.
Phobia of heights causes a person to have a fear even though there is no possibility of falling. It is an irrational disabling mental state that makes the person not able to even go up in an elevator.
Edit:
——
Exactly…arachnophobia is an IRRATIONAL fear…
Fearing a spider is healthy since spiders can be poisonous sometimes. However, a spider is a small creature that you can easily squash. So if you see one just get rid of it.
BUT….arachnophobia can cause the person to be so irrationally frightened that she/he cannot act sensibly.
Phobia never goes,it will come back when u will see tat specific thing again.But the fear is temporary.
This is how I define it. Nothing “official” or anything, just my feelings…
I think- a fear is something that you’re scared of when it’s there, but you don’t think about it until you’re faced with it. Whereas a phobia is never far from your mind, and you often worry about it even when you’re not faced with it.
For example- I have what I’d call a fear of spiders. If there’s one in my house then i **** it and get twitchy, but worst comes to worst I can put a cup over it and then leave it for someone else to deal with.
But I’d say I have a phobia of getting ill. I’m always thinking about it, and imagining symptoms, I’m thinking about it a lot of the time even when I’m not faced immediately with a “risk”.