“A strong dislike of flying is a fear, whereas a pathological fear (an intense, uncontrollable, unendurable, physical fear) is considered to be a phobia” (Rob Kelly). Not many people know the difference between fears and phobias neither did I until I began researching for my project. Many people have fears such as a fear of mice or a fear of the dentist. For some people there fears are very minor but what happens when a fear takes over a person’s entire life and disrupts their daily activities to the point they can no longer continue on with their day, it than turns into a phobia.
“The number of people who suffer from phobias is estimated at more than 6 million people in the United States” (Melissa Stoppler). In today’s society many people don’t thoroughly understand what a phobia really is and how much of an issue a phobia can really be because of this people who do suffer from phobias and aren’t aware may think that what they’re going through is normal and is just a fear. The problem with people having this disorder is that not treating a phobia can change a person’s life drastically simply because they individual is giving the phobia more time to grow and dominate their life. It can become so drastic to the point they can push away any tasks that they are meant to complete on a daily basis and decide not to do anything that may lead to their phobia actually taking place. An example of this could be a man with a phobia of dogs; yes many people are afraid of dogs but what if the man decided to never leave his house due to the fact that there might be a slight chance of him having an encounter with a dog. Society isn’t aware of the actual impact that this disorder can cause.
Fears and Phobias is a mental illness but many people aren’t aware of that. Because of the many stigmas attached to mental illness when people here about Fears and Phobias and someone being treated for this illness they are labeled as someone who is distressed