Herrera 1

Marjorie Herrera
Daniel Powell
ENC 3241
March 14, 2015
Technical Report
Fear is a feeling the human mind cannot not prevent. We are all created with some kind of
fear in us. For some people that fear it multiplied to a point where it prevents them from living
their everyday lives in the same way other people can. Phobias can be in regards to many
different things. There are three main divisions in which phobias are categorized. Agoraphobia,
social phobias, and specific phobias. Some are much deep than just a category, some have
categories within a category.
Fear is a feeling that everyone experiences at least one point in time. Fear can be felt by
all ages in any stage of life. Although fear is common to everyone, some unfortunately suffer a
fear that is unlike normal ones. These fears are irrational, excessive and in some cases
uncontrollable. Phobias are immense and intense fears that at times have little or no reasoning to
them. There are many different phobias each with its own proper name. Phobias can make a
person feel anxious and overwhelmed with just the thought of feared object, place, or thing. Even
though a person can realize that the fear is unreasonable they cannot find a way to control their
feelings. For some people phobias can change their daily way of life. People with certain phobias
find themselves having to avoid certain everyday places or things.
Symptoms

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Marjorie Herrera
Daniel Powell
ENC 3241
March 14, 2015
There are various symptoms that can be used to detect and determine phobias. Phobias
can give some people the feeling of panic or distress, also it gives people the overwhelming
desire to flee a situation or place. For some people their reaction to a phobia takes over their
complete mind and body. A person that has a phobia can recognize that the fear felt for a phobia
is well beyond the boundaries of fear compared to other fear, the person can also take extreme
measures to avoid a place or situation.
Three Types of Phobia
There are three different categories of phobia which are: agoraphobia, social phobia and
specific phobia. An agoraphobia is describe as being extremely afraid of being in places were
escaping would be difficult. It is also being afraid of being in a place where rescuing a person in
a panicking situation would be difficult. Social phobias are also referred to as social anxiety
disorder. A social phobia is having fear to be in social gatherings. Gatherings with many people
most often create unbearable anxiety. Specific phobias are all other phobias that are not
agoraphobias or social phobias. There are four categories different categories which then
amounts to over 350 different phobias.
A person with agoraphobia can find themselves avoiding places like bridges, subways,
shopping malls, and many others. For some people it can cause distress that leads to not being
able to leave their home making the feel as if the only safe place is home. Being in crowed places

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Marjorie Herrera
Daniel Powell
ENC 3241
March 14, 2015
or places that are hard to escape can cause a person to have a panic attack which are
unpredictable. Having unpredictable panic attacks makes the person more nervous in anticipation
of another panic attack in a similar situation therefore making them much more nervous and can
actually cause a panic attack. The fear of being a tight space, the fear of not being to escape in a
situation, or the distress felt in the anticipation of not being able to guess the next panic attack
makes it difficult to live daily lives for agoraphobics. It makes them feel like their only safe place
home.
A person with a social phobia makes gatherings and being in the spotlight more difficult.
Going to large social gatherings for example weddings and exhibitions can at times be
unbearable. They fear being embarrassed or humiliated in front of a crowd and being judge by
people. They fear having every single detail be scrutinized and fear being pointed to and being
the center of attention. Others have a social phobia due to their weight. They fear being the
center of attention or being laughed at because of their weight.
Specific phobias are all the other phobias that are not the fear of being singled out in a
crowd or being in small or tight places. They are also referred to as simple phobias and are a
greater fear to certain situations or things. There are four different types of specific phobias:
situational phobia, fear of natural environment, animal phobia and blood injection injury phobia.
Situational phobias are extreme fears that are activated by certain situation for example being
extremely afraid of the dentist, dentophobia or extreme fear of flying, aviophobia. Natural

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Marjorie Herrera
Daniel Powell
ENC 3241
March 14, 2015
environment fear is being extremely afraid of natural causes for example being great fear of
heights and great fear of storms. Animal phobias are being extremely afraid animals for example
being extremely afraid of dogs is cynophobia, or being afraid of birds is ornithophobia. Finally
blood-injection-injury phobia is the great fear to blood, needles, and injury. Blood-injectioninjury phobia can even lead to the fear of certain medical procedures. For some just the sight of a
needle, blood or injury can cause them to faint and lose consciousness.
Phobias can make life much more difficult and complicated for some people. For some
people that suffer of a phobia living everyday life is much harder and at times can feel
impossible. There are various different types of phobias, many of which some people did not
know they existed let alone believer they are real

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Marjorie Herrera
Daniel Powell
ENC 3241
March 14, 2015
References
"Phobias." American Psychiatric Association. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.psychiatry.org/phobias>.
Smith, M.A, Melinda, Robert Segal, M.A., and Jeanne Segal, M.A. "Phobias and Fear."
Helpguide.org. 1 Feb. 2015. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/phobias-and-fears.htm>.
Nordqvist, Christian. "What Is a Phobia? What Causes a Phobia?" Medical News Today.
11 Sept. 2014. Web. 14 Mar. 2015. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/249347.php
Heffner, Christian. "Phobias: Causes and Treatments." Medical News Today. 17 Sept.
2001. Web. 14 Mar. 2015. <http://allpsych.com/journal/phobias/#.VQZ_M47F-So>.