Phobias: Mind and Mental Health

Psychological disorders are abnormalities of the mind that lead to persistent behavior patterns which will have an effect on your day-to-day life. (healthgrades). A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder that will cause an individual to experience fear about specific object or situation. When a person has a phobia, they will try to avoid those things which they consider dangerous. If they cannot avoid those things then they may experience: panic and fear, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, trembling, and a strong desire to get away.

We can explain why phobia is considered abnormal by the five criteria of abnormality. According to abnormality as deviation from average, we simply observe the behaviors that are rare. For example; during phobic disorder, rare behaviors may be sweating, strong desire to get away from the feared object or situation. According to deviation from ideal; we observe the violation of cultural standards. In this case, we can observe the violation of cultural standards as aggression. According to abnormality of personal discomfort; one should feel emotional distress. In this case we feel many types emotional distress like anxiety, irritability, and fear. According to abnormality of inability to function effectively; we observe the behavior that is not adaptive for the person. For example; during agoraphobia a person has a fear of leaving home. So, if a person doesn't leave house then he/she may not participate in many life activities. According to legal approach, abnormality is defined by law. People may commit crime because of fear in phobic disorder which is considered abnormal by law.

Medical perspective assumes that physiological causes are the main causes of psychological disorder. Researchers have found that phobias are often connected to the amygdala, that lies behind the pituitary gland within the brain. The amygdala will trigger the discharge of ""fight-or-flight"" hormones. These place the body and mind in a very extremely alert and stressed state. (MedicalNewsToday). Psychoanalytic perspective assumes that abnormal behavior arises from childhood conflicts. So, according to this approach phobia can be seen in a person if he/she is involved in traumatic events involving object of fear in childhood. Phobia can be caused by a stressful experience, a frightening event, or a parent or household member with a phobia that a child can 'learn.'(MedicalNewsToday). From these two perspectives; I prefer Medical perspective because we know the physical part of the body which needs to be healed to be better from psychological disorder. For example, in this case we have to do treatment of amygdala to get better from phobia.

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