An Analysis of The Origin of Phobias

Why do people have phobias?

People tend to have phobias as they stem from bad experiences in their lives. One bad encounter might leave people scarred for life. Phobias are an intense feeling of dread that are physiological feelings that many hold. Although people might not originally have the fear, after certain situations, they might develop a fright for certain things. People can also develop fears from environmental and genetic factors. In different environments, people might be more prone to being scared. Furthermore, genetic health conditions might also play a role in development of one’s fear.

Fear is hardwired into people and develop at a young age. Due to certain situations, such as encountering something scary, phobias of certain objects or concepts might develop. One example of this would be if a snake bit someone when they were young, they might develop an intense fear of snakes as they have been hurt by the animal before. Since there was a tragic outcome to being bit by a snake, that person would associate negative connotations when thinking about snakes, hence leading to a fear. Different circumstances might lead to various different types of fears as these positions will change the mindset of various people.

Adding onto bad experiences, the environment will also affect the fears and phobias of a person. If one is in an area that holds fear of a certain situation or object, one might gradually develop the same phobia that the many others in that region have. An example of this would be if many people in one neighborhood are afraid of the “yeti”, one might unconsciously develop the same fear in spite of the others around them. The different pressures of the area around someone can place a fear in them.

Genetic factors and heredity also play a huge role behind people’s phobias. If one’s family has a history of anxiety around certain subjects, one might develop the same discomfort and dread for certain things. Fear and phobias can mainly be a result of bad encounters and different environmental and genetic factos.

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