There is the fight or flight that every living being uses, animal and human. Humans often have other bodily reactions to fear, such as fast heart rate, sweaty palms and many others. Often times, the same person can have different reactions to different situations. For example, when I take a big test or write an essay, my hands begin to sweat. Not only does this help me calm down, I am able to focus on the task at hand. I have had a lasting fear of “The back room” in my house, it is a room that is unfinished and is used for storage purposes. I fear the room because it has a decent amount of old stuff, the room is dusty, and it is a dwelling for many arthropods and arachnids. I do not hate the room itself, because it holds the water heater and all the tools to make my house work smoothly, but I fear what lies behind the boxes, the old board games, and the unknown inside it all. Every time I have to go back in the room, I shiver and shudder and pray that there is not any sudden movement that passes my feet. While I shiver at the thought of bugs and the unknown I also have a terrible fear of heights. My fear is so bad I can barely go on the final step of a six foot ladder. I refuse to go into the attic and I scoff at the idea of helping my sister put Christmas lights on the roof. When I do come to a situation when I am on a rooftop or on a mountain overlooking a valley, not only am I…
When I went in for my appointment with a mental health counselor, all I was given was a name, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). I was not given any specific way to get better, and I slowly realized that if I was going to get better, it would be up to me. I need to be more honest with myself and who I am. After today, this diagnosis became a part of who I was. From here on, I need to focus on becoming the best version of myself. Sometimes it is too much for me to deal with on my own, so I put my worries onto other people. I can’t do that anymore because I lost so many friends from this. Today was a start. Even though this is just a step, I am still moving…
For anyone who has experienced a panic attack, it is something they do not ever want to repeat. Fortunately, for most, an occasional panic attack is all they will ever experience. Although not pleasant, it is manageable because as quickly as it occurs, it will also pass. However, for some who are less fortunate, panic attacks occur more frequently and may eventually develop into an anxiety disorder. Although not fatal, anxiety disorders can significantly affect a person’s quality of life. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, anxiety disorders affect approximately 18% of the population of the United States and are considered to be the most common mental illness in the U.S. When we consider that one in four adults will be diagnosed with a mental illness sometime in their life, one has to consider anxiety disorders as a problematic illness.…
Have you ever been on top of a large building and were too afraid to look over the side? Have you ever climbed a really tall tree and were too afraid to climb down? I have, when I was younger I climbed a really tall tree and when I got to the top I looked down, I was too afraid to climb back down. What I was experiencing was a fear of heights know as acrophobia. Acrophobia (n.d.) according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is an abnormal dread of being in a high place: fear of heights. I believe that most people become a little scared when it comes to heights. There is nothing wrong with having acrophobia to an extent. It is a defense mechanism our bodies use to stop us from walking off cliffs. The problem is when a natural instinct becomes paranoia. For example, someone who has acrophobia would be scared, nervous, and or panic inside a safe environment like a skyscraper.…
George Weinberg first coined the term “homophobia” in 1967 (Britton 1) as “a fear of homosexuals which seemed to be associated with a fear of contagion, a fear of reducing the things one fought for—home and family” (Herek 7). Regardless of particular standpoints that individuals may hold, society as a whole shares the understanding that homosexual desires are taboo and subordinate to heterosexuality. Generally speaking, women tend to be less homophobic than men and I hypothesize believe that it is simply because women are considered the inferior sex and are therefore hold less power in society. Since females have little…
When I was in sixth grade, a guest came to speak to the entire class about middle school sports. During a question and answer session I asked if it was possible to run cross country and play basketball, a kid yelled across the gym “Why ask you’re too fat to play sports” and the whole gym burst into laughter, I was humiliated. Embarrassed beyond belief, tormented by others, and battling my own demons from generalized anxiety disorder, my problems were epitomized.…
Anxiety is the most common mental illness in the United States, and like many mental illnesses, anxiety is hereditary. This mental illness arises in response to apparently innocuous situations and is the product of subjective, internal, and emotional conflicts the causes of which may not be apparent to the person himself. Anxiety affects people differently, some people's anxiety arises in the course of daily life and is considered normal. (Anxiety) Anxiety can be known as a phobia (when unreasonable evoked by a specific object of event), but in regular terms a free-floating-persistent associated with no particular cause or mental concern. This illness is an adaptive mechanism that signals a potentially harmful internal or external change and…
Anxiety disorder is a common disorder that affects any race, culture, gender, and age that has increase in the modern world. However, they are probably as old as mankind, since a panic attack is the way for the body to detect and prepare to "fight or flight” imminent danger (McNally, 1990). This disorder is very common in life, childhood, or adolescence throughout the experience of changes in the process of physiological, social, and emotional development. Interactions with people, situations, and lifespan in different ways can create or contribute to the development of anxiety disorders. There are different types of anxiety disorders that include panic, social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, post-traumatic, specific phobias, and generalized anxiety disorders (McNally, 1990). These different disorders may be different but they share many of the same emotional and physical symptoms. The series of physical and cognitive symptoms that arise during a panic attack, involve symptoms of intense fear and anxiety. Generally these attacks occur suddenly and confusion almost instantaneous with any expectation of the person (McNally, 1990). For example phobia attacks are spontaneous, specific, and predisposed by situations. These symptoms appear spontaneous, without warning at any time or place. The symptoms of a panic attack is the most frightening thing that can happen without warning, and those who suffer cannot even try to rationalize or relate to a specific fear (McNally, 1990). The random nature of these attacks causes are often mistaken for heart attacks.…
Homophobia is a real issue today, people. In the event that ""God"" is an altruistic, irrepressible power for good, why would it be a good idea for him to consume individuals for being gay? God did not consume Sodom for being gay - he consumed it since they had a go at RAPING a holy messenger. No say that it was on the grounds that they were gay - they had a go at implementing themselves into an unwilling individual.…
One night I was showering and I got another attack. I just sat there in panic. I tried desperately time after time to convince myself that it would pass. The thoughts invading my mind were not me but the devil on my shoulder who now stood a full 6 feet tall directly in front of me. The battle between me and my temporary demons lasted close to an hour. It got progressively worse. At the time I still hadn’t told many people about my attacks, but as they started getting longer and more common I told my friends. The fact that I was going through this so often started affecting my mood and behavior. I started eating different, distancing my self, and I became so afraid of having another attack I would start causing them. Even in my sleep my nightmares became an out of body experience of me looking down on myself. I started to shut people off and lost a couple friends in the process. Luckily my best friend to this day stuck by my side. She has had a very stressful life so as a result she also has anxiety attacks. She taught me the warning signs and walked me through what to do. The waning signs are small but with experience they become alarming. Usually your chest begins to tighten and m leg starts to lose feeling. This is where it is crucial I focus on my breathing and keep my mind at a blank canvas. Any thought could be turned into a persistent negative message. Typically, I would get the usual sayings you tell someone when they freak out but my best friend would just bear hug me which seemed to calm me down. With further research I found out that when in a panic attack pressure against the spine helps calm the…
Society began to rethink homosexuality in the 1960's when heterosexual psychologist George Weinberg coined the term "homophobia." Weinberg used the term to label heterosexuals' fear of being in contact of homosexuals as well as the self-loathing of homosexuals, meaning that homosexuals hated themselves for being gay. As of the new millennium, there has been a new special term that has been born to define the fear, hate and disgust that people show towards anyone's sexual orientation called "sexual prejudice." Like other types of prejudice, there are three main principals that surround sexual prejudice: it is an attitude, it is directed at social groups and its members, and it is negative as involving hostility or dislike. As time goes by there has been differing perspectives on sexual prejudice (homophobia).…
[Thesis Statement] Today I would like to inform you about the nature of panic attacks, the people affected most often by them, and the options for treatment.…
Homophobia has been around for a long time and in most cases is not a valid argument for the hate and fear people have towards homosexuals. This is a very important and relevant topic in today’s time. Many people claim that homophobia is a valid reason to hate gay people. In all reality, many times people who are homophobic just don’t understand gay people. If you look up homophobia in the dictionary, it would say something like fear of lesbians and gay men. This is somewhat true but very misleading. I believe it should say unreasonable or irrational fear, and while some include these thoughts, most do not. This is a reflection of the overuse of the word, and the fact that most people feel their claims are valid. The reasons for homophobia are not usually valid and their effects can be everlasting and very hurtful, both emotionally and physically.…
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, homophobia is defined as an “irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals.” Sadly, it is something that has plagued our nation for hundreds of years. A lot of the time, the homophobic people feel as though being gay is not normal, and that the lifestyle “choice” they made is incorrect. To them, a man and a woman being together is the only natural way. “Do you think I just woke up one day and decided I wanted to be society’s definition of a deviant?” is the question that Daniel Phelan has always wanted to ask (Streisand).…
Homophobia is very prevalent amongst officers who encounter homosexuals who they feel are violating the law. Many LGBTQIA people have been sexually violated in South America due to police hating allies. Raping someone is that act of choosing to violate someone's personal space after being told no. CNN, Senior Latin American Affairs Editor, Marilia Brocchetto uttered, “At 26 years old, the Peruvian gay man was arrested by police officers while heading home shortly after midnight. Throughout the six hours he was in police custody, he says, he was stripped, raped with a baton and verbally abused by police officers before being let go. All of this, he says, because of his sexuality.{sic}” The hypermasculine behavior that police project towards…