Pookie has also finished her book.
I just had finished this book. It involves the most important kinds of phobias.
I choose this book because I had seen a TV crime mouvie where a woman was killed with a tarantula ! These spiders are not dangerous for humans they only look terrific and disgusting at least for most of us.
The killer had put a tarantuala in her office and had locked the door. Now he only had to wait until this charming beast showed up and did its effect. That's what happened. The woman pushed an awful screem and then dropped on the floor and was dead. She had been litterally scared to death and died of a haert attack. Almost the perfect crime, but little tarantula showed up and the investigators understood.
And then during the week, my friend had told me about her cousin who suffered from agoraphobics and that's why she could never go out. I had never heard this word.
All this made me curious and by reading this book I really was amazed how many phobias are existing ! It's just terrible. So I only mentioned a few which impressed me the most.
Arachnophobia is a desease where people suffer from panic attacks when they see a spider, even the tiniest one. They usually loose completely their mind and become hysterical.
Ophidiophobia refers to the fear of snakes. A typical ophidiophobic (what a word !) would not only fear them when in live contact but also dreads to think about them or even see them on TV or in pictures. Christians also view the serpent as an incarnation of evil and it is likely that such a viewpoint influences too.
Paedophobia is the fear of youth and children. For these people it is impossible to support even babies, they have almost the same reaction as the once who fear snakes. The problem is that these people have often to hide their aversion when they are in children's company. Nobody could understand them and I had never heard about this desease. Have I met such people without knowing it ??
More known is Claustrophobia, the fear of being locked in. They get panic attacks while they are in a confined space. The claustrophobe fears not being able to escape the situation. Those suffering from claustrophobia might find it difficult to breathe in closed auditoriums, theatres, and elevators and also in crowded trains or shops.
The opposite is Agoraphobia. The fear of going out on the street or even only to the mailbox.They may experience severe panic attacks in situations where they feel trapped, insecure, out of control, or too far from their personal comfort zone. In severe cases, an agoraphobic may be confined not only to their home, but to one or two rooms, and they may even become bed-bound, or a recluse.
Agoraphobics can already be disturbed by the fact that somebody rings the doorbell and it may trigger a full-blown panic attack, because he fears that somebody would open the door.
It must be terrible to suffer from these deseases and mostly there is nothing else to do but looking for help with a psychiatrist and taking anti depressive medications. In very strong cases they have to be hospitalized.
Like many other disorders, these phobias are mostly due to a traumatic incident in childhood.
Next time I see a TV movie showing somebody who hides under his bed because the doorbell is ringing, or stands in a corner because he doesn't want to see children, or gets hysterical about a spider or a snake, I can understand better.
And now try to undo the knot you have in your tongue with all these unpronounceable words !
