Steve Tanzer, age 13, of St. Paul, Minn., for his question:
WHAT CAUSES A PHOBIA?
Psychiatrists say more than 250 different fears have been reported. Many of the more common ones have fancy Greek names attached to them. Ophthalmophobia, for example, is the fear of being stared at, and lots of people suffer from this. People who are afraid of strangers are said to have xenophobia, while those with ailurophobia have a fear of cats.
Phobia means fear. A neurotic phobia is an irrational fear of something which is a substitute for a true but hidden fear. One suffering from a phobia has a particular anxiety, but instead of facing the real anxiety producing situation, he unconsciously displaces the emotion onto some other situation.
Sigmund Freud, the doctor who was the founder of psychoanalysis, said the cause of a phobia was when the thing feared served as a symbol for some other fear.
Freud said the phobia stemmed from an event that had happened in early childhood and had been forgotten or repressed. The person himself often does not consciously know what the original fear is.
Perhaps in his childhood a person was once frightened when he was enclosed in a small room, and then he wished at all costs to forget this experience. He might develop claustrophobia the fear of small enclosures. While he would not remember the experience in the small room from his childhood, he would be afraid to ride in an elevator, go into a closet or even ride in a tiny car. He would not know why he was terrified of these situations, and at the same time he might even be embarrassed and bewildered about why he should fear them.
Sometimes a phobia is associated with a compulsion to perform a repetitious act. Mysophobia, a fear of dirt, can result in the compulsion to want constantly to wash the hands. The hand washer is usually convinced that any object he touches will contaminate him.
Compulsions brought on by phobias are caused by the individual's feelings that it is necessary for him to execute some strange act which will give him mental relief.
Some phobias are minor, and it is easy to live with them. With some people, however, psychotherapy is advised since phobic symptoms can disrupt normal living and cause great unhappiness.
Behavior therapy has recently been recommended by many doctors for some people with phobic reactions. In this treatment the psychiatrist, without necessarily searching for the source of the fear, urges the patient to imagine being in the situation that causes the fear. When he does this a number of times and is able to think about it without feeling any anxiety and panic, he may then be able to face the actual situation without experiencing his former problem.