The Fear of Irrational Fears
People experience fear every day. Sometimes people understand that their fears are irrational but are unable to conquer them. Many people wonder why they can't get over their fears, despite the fact that they are irrational. Observations and Research support several reasons why irrational fears exist. The observations had been conducted around three participants. The first participant with the fear of elevators, the next with the fear of bridges, and the final participant has a fear of clowns. After several encounters with each fear, and each participant many things became clear. The observations showed a clear hypothesis, irrational fears cannot be conquered so easily because there is a much deeper cause that one must learn in order to overcome the fear. Once the hypothesis was decided it was on to the research. Gathering research from “Deep “Irrational” Fears” by the Calm Clinic, and from Laura King, Experiencing Psychology, allowed us to get all the answer that were needed.
Observation
Observing each subject gave many different perspectives with each irrational fear. Subject A has the fear of elevators. She has not once been inside an elevator, and she has never rode on an elevator. While just talking about riding in an elevator you could notice her tense manner. Once the idea of actually going to ride an elevator was presented, she began to break out in a sweat, shake, and you could see the fear in her eyes. The question arose of why she was afraid of riding and being in elevators. She began to say that ever since she could remember she didn’t like the idea of being in a closed area with people she didn’t know, and that the main reason she would not ride in an elevator is because she is afraid that if she steps on the elevator and the doors close the wires will break and she will fall to her death. Another question was asked, if she understood how unlikely it is that elevator wires are going to break and you will die. However, she understood how irrational it was, and that she shouldn’t be afraid of something so ridiculous. As the conversation went on no other fears were discovered and subject A really wanted to learn why she could not get over her fear of elevators, as she was tired of walking up nine flights of stairs in order to get to her dorm room. The next subject, subject B, has the fear of bridges. While talking about bridges she remained calm, no sweating, or shaking. Seeming so calm about this irrational fear another route had to be taken to actually observe this participants reaction to bridges. The only way to do that was to go on a drive and see what actually causes her to be afraid of a bridge. First we drove under them, to get the full effect subject B was the one driving. Going underneath the first bridge, her hands grasped the wheel very tightly, and even closed her eyes for a second. While going underneath a wider bridge, the subject began to physically shake, and her fingers were turning white because she was grasping the wheel so tightly. Although she did not close her eyes this time it was evident that the longer she drove under the bridge the more scared she became. The next step was to have the subject B drive on a bridge; the idea of this seemed to irritate the participant a little bit. While approaching the upcoming bridge subject B took a deep breath, grasped the steering wheel, she began to pick up speed, and obviously did not like driving over the bridge. One of the times the subject drove over a bridge they were stopped at a stoplight. Subject B was shaking and almost hyperventilating while on the bridge. On the way back, the subject calmed down and acted like she did before the first bridge. On the way back, subject B explained that the only reason she is afraid of bridges is because she feels as if every time she gets on one she can feel it shake and believes it will fall and kill not only her but everyone under her, and she doesn’t want the bridge to