Overcoming Phobias

In NYC Central Park a mother with her baby in a stroller sees a man in a clown costume and runs away in a hysterical panic leaving her baby behind. What is it that would cause a mother to completely forget her maternal instincts? This was one of the stories my guest shared with me and obviously, there is a deep seeded negative experience that has carried over into her adulthood, and psychologists will tell you that all of us have gone through some trauma reflecting itself in later years.

In one of this week's episodes, an expert in the field of phobias explained the reason and also gave some tips on how to overcome such fear by means of neuroplasticity, a changing of thinking patterns.

In fact, the fear could be an experience with spiders, snakes, riding an elevator, an airplane flight or anything that we personally may see as harmless, but to that person, the phobia is much too real and impossible to deal with emotionally. I am reminded while growing up, I would sometimes come home with a snake in my jacket, needless to say, my mother never tolerated it whatsoever. However, I wonder because of the exposure to creatures and other things like that prevented me from being fearful as an adult.

​Another incident that I am thinking of, was when I caught a small field mouse and went up to one of my dad's big robust workers, and once he saw it in my hand, he literally ran away in a panic-stricken manner, and as a boy frightened me just as much.

I have come to appreciate that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is not limited to the emotional and physical scars from battlefield trauma because we are grappling with the complexities of the human nervous system.

Neuroscience has hypothesized that fear memories are formed by reinforcing the connections between the hippocampus, a section of the brain located inside the temporal lobe, consisting mainly of grey matter, and the amygdala, located as a pair in the medial temporal lobe, believed to play a key role in processing emotions, such as fear and pleasure, in both animals and humans.

Neurological Experiments according to (Nature Communications), unequivocally, and for the first time, extrapolated that the formation of fear memories is linked with the strengthening of the brain connections between the hippocampus and amygdala.

So, the rhetorical question is, by weakening these connections, could we erase these entrenched fear memories? According to neuro research, the answer is a resounding yes!

Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, affects about 28 million people in this country, and how these people see their phobia is literally the elephant in the room. This elephant is the experience or what they witnessed   as a traumatic event, such as in the military, a physical assault, or a natural disaster, PTSD can be problematic in our daily activity for many years, limiting our enjoyment in life.

our brain has the ability to configure a fear memory related with predicting a precarious situation enabling us to protect ourselves from that initial traumatic event from reoccurring. However, those brain connections become overgeneralized and over emphasized causing symptoms of overwhelming fear reactions that include nightmares or undesirable memories of the trauma, situations that trigger memories of reliving the trauma thus creating anxiety, and despondency.

Of course, these brain mechanisms have a place in our daily life to avoid danger, and imagine how necessary an animal needs the innate ability to predict harm based from bad experiences,  however, these feelings from a human standpoint, become too exaggerated and can hamper real joy in life.

We have a friend who experienced an auto accident a while back, and ever since then, she refuses to have anything to do with her vehicle, having something to do with the noise of the crash, the smells and related sudden emotions.  Also, I occasionally visit with a Vietnam veteran who served as a medic, just recently informed me that as he grows older, he tends to relive all those bad memories more often affecting his sleep.

In my research on this topic, here are some tips we can employ short of getting professional help.

Increased amounts of spare time can often  make unpleasant memories worse and more frequent. Creating a routine and maintaining it will give structure to our daily lives, therefore, our mind will be preoccupied in wholesome activity.  We can spend more time on our desired hobby or involve ourselves in other enjoyable activities that we had not made time for earlier in life. For example, we can learn to cook, which many will attest to its therapeutic benefits. Also, you can start to enjoy the outdoors more often, such as fishing, hiking, or take up photography, or better yet, avail yourself as a spiritual mentor.

Unfortunately, many times our past employment was a large part of what identified us, so what do you do now that you are retired?

It is never too late to learn a new skill like wood work, painting using acrylics or oils to paint natural scenes, share what you do with others, and in turn, you will develop a wider base network of appreciative true friends.

Maintaining relationships with people you care about  is integrative to our emotional health, and as humans, we are always looking for those with common interests, this is therapeutic medicine we should never ignore.

If there is anything I have learned over the years, I am willing to improvise when things are not so straightforward. It is a matter of changing the problem if you cannot resolve it head on.

For example, if poor vision makes reading impossible, a problem you cannot resolve head on, why not try audiobooks or educational podcasts instead thus improvising. Then, there are those who are homebound because of limited mobility, there is technology  which is an option to receive personal help  like telehealth and other types of beneficial counseling.

In conclusion, the appeal is being made to those that know of someone that is in desperate need of our attention, your encouragement may be what is needed to impel that person to get professional help.