Acrophobia-The fear of heights

One of the most common fears that we have yet to discuss is the fear of heights also known as Acrophobia.

Acrophobia belongs to a specific group of phobias called space and motion discomfort that share both similar etiology and options for treatment. Like many of the other fears we have discussed, some of the symptoms include, sweating, increased heart rate, nervousness and irrational behavior.At times this fear is mistreated, often being mistaken for vertigo.

According to essortment.com the first step in overcoming a fear of heights is learning to control the physical symptoms. When faced with a threatening situation, taking slow, deep breaths can help slow the heart rate and increase the oxygen flow to muscles to keep from tensing up.

At a recent visit to Six Flags Magic Mountain, Philip Rivas, a college student, was confused as to why he was even visiting the park. ” I don’t know why I even let my friends drag me along, I’m terrified of these roller coasters, I guess its because im also afriad of heights.”

Fear of feet-Podophobia

Everyone has them, in fact they are essential to performing everyday functions that most people take for granted, like walking. Podophobia, or the fear of feet.

According to Jan Heering a phobia expert,the reasoning is explained by a psychological imbalance that makes the victim, not be able to look at feet, not be able to see feet and in most cases not be able to talk about feet.

FOr some people this fear can seriously cause disturbances. This about going to the beach, a usually fun time can be turned upside down into a time of fear and disgust. Or school, how many people like to wear sandals everyday, not even acknowledging that podophobia could be a real thing.

There are a few ways in dealing with phobias. Neuro Linguistic Program works effectively in treating the fear of the feet. This is the fastest and the most successful means of overcoming any phobia or similar condition.

I myself have suffered from this for many years, while I don’t have a morbid fear of feet, I definitely try to stay away, I think something in my past brought this on but I don’t remember exactly what. It gets to the point where I would even make my ex girlfriend wear socks in bed. While I choose not to try treatment for it, I have just come to the conclusion that there are some things I just don’t like, and feet are one of them.

My twitter experience

A little over a year ago I opened a twitter page. Although I had vowed to never get a twitter page. However, I was convonced that the profession I was about to strive for, almost required it. Thus I opened my account.

Needless to say I used it sparingly and that was only because my phone sends updates to Facebook, Myspace and Twitter. So this past week I have made an effort to not only tweet bit to fully learn how the site works. One thing that was made clear quite quickly was tweeting can be utilized for journalistic endeavors.

Twitter is perhaps on of the quickest growing forms of communication in the world having over 160 million users and adding more than 300,000 every day.

During the past week I have been twittering three times a day, which by comparison is nothing to some celebrities I follow. My biggest reservation is, I am at school over eight hours a day, I really don’t have much to tweet about, other than. “yay, I;m in Poli Sci class.” It honestly fails in comparison to Shaq who changes his location on an almost daily basis, tweeting from different parts of the country.

“I think twitter is overrated, why do you want everyone to know your buisness anyway,” said Cerritos College student Toshina Crockett.

Fear of clowns-Coulrophobia

With movies like IT and Shakes the Clown many people have come to associated bad thoughts with the comical charicatures that emcompass birthday parties,fast food empires, rodeos and many circuses across the world.

The fear of clowns, or Coulrophobia like other fears are usually derived from some sort of childhood traumatic experience. The author of waytohope.org describes his first traumatic clown experience when his mother came out of the restroom with a facial cleaning mask and scared him. While this situation is almost comical, it seem fit seeing how clown were meant to be funny.

A BBC News Online article from January 2008, titled “Hospital Clown Images too Scary” reported the findings of a University of Sheffield study. In this survey of over 250 children between the ages of four and sixteen, most found images of clowns scary.

Treatment options include medications, hypnotherapy, and various therapies designed to have people suffering from this fear to face down coulrophobia until they manage to handle the situation better.

While mnay continue to suffer from this, many are on the other side of the spectrum, not only enjoying clown but taking the time and effort to attend clown college. Ringling Brother started the Clown College in 1968 and gets thousands of applicants per year, only graduating 1,300 clown it makes the college one of the most exclusinve private institutions in the nation. Graduates have originated from nine different countries and 44 U.S states.

The fear of flying-Aerophobia

A United States National Safety Council study showed flying to be 22 times safer than travelling by car, more than 3 million people fly everyday, more people die of car related fatalities in six months than in 40 years of flying and a Boeing aircraft lands some where every 2 seconds. So why, according to Boeing, 75 percent of people afraid of flying, or as it is also called, Aerophobia.

Fearful flyers usually report that the fear started after a previous flight, a reaction to negative stories about flying, after developing related problems like panic attacks, or as a result of a general increase in stress.

According to to Dr. R. Reid Wilson, Ph.D., a psychologist in Chapel Hill, North Carolina,fearful flyers generally fall into two groups. One group doesn’t believe that air travel is safe. The second group has strong emotions and feelings when they fly and they primarily fear their own behavior on the plane. They fear they’ll vomit, feel trapped, “freak out,” have a panic attack or otherwise embarrass themselves.

With many students traveling to Universities for the first time this fall, many will embark on their first flight ever, with statistics that show flying is safer than almost all forms of travel, it is safe to say most will only be worried about school work. However, the numbers show out of state students are decreasing, perhaps a fear of flying, or perhaps a fear of having to pay back those costly student loans.

Fear of drowning/water- Aquaphobia

While summer is in full swing, more students go to the beach during the summer than any other time of year. Other than the obvious reasons some say that some of the contributing factors include it being relatively cheap to enjoy a day at the beach.


Over 200,000 students flock to Daytona Beach every year during spring break.

For Cerritos College professor of Political Science, Sunday Obazuaye the decision not to go is simple, “I can not swim.” While many look at the beach as relaxing and a little get away, some are afraid a fun day at the beach can turn into a day of everlasting peace by drowning.

The fear of drowning/water, also known as Aquaphobia is said to be a product of a bad experience while swimming. “Growing up while in Nigeria, I never went swimming,” said Obazuaye.

While it is commonly believed that aquaphobia is developed by ones own personal experience. Studies have shown that many develop the fear from seeing others drown, hearing stories of people drowning and in some cases even watching movies where someone drowns.

While there are many symptoms of Aquaphobia, including, high anxiety,dizziness,nausea and trembling, perhaps the most obvious is ones unwillingness to enter the water.

While there are several ways to treat this fear, including hypnotherapy, medication is not considered to be a viable option because it sometimes inables the reflexes used for swimming.

Fear of the dark-Nyctophobia

The fear of the dark, Nyctophobia, is as old as any scary story or fairy tale told to anyone when they were kids.

The constant look over your shoulder on your way to your car, the gutwrenching screams of kids at 2 a.m., who are convinced there is a monster is under their bed, and the reason American’s spend on average of$7 a year to supply electricity to the night-lights of their spooked children. Who or what can we thank for that? Yes, the dark.

While many connect the fear of the dark with adolescence, however, this is a fear that many still have as adults. A 1998 Gallup poll indicated eight percent of people admitted to being afraid of the dark.

One of the reason so many are afraid of the dark is for the simple fact that they can’t see what is, or is not lurking in the dark. Due to structural issues and the human eye seeing by grasping onto light sources, it is difficult for many to see in the dark, this usually grows more difficult with age.

“This is something I have battled since I was young, but since then I have traded in my night light for my T.V.,” said Cerritos College student, Arriana Hohner, “I’m not too afraid anymore, but every once in a while (fear) happens.”

Fear of chicken-Alektorophobia

Thus far we have discussed the fear of sharks and the fear of everything creepy and crawly. We now turn our attention to a fear that gives some people,dare I say even, goosebumps? Alektorophobia, the fear of chickens, Alektoroan Greek for rooster and phobia Greek for fear.

When a person suffers from this phobia some of the symptoms include rapid breathing, stress, sweating, nausea, excessive heartbeat, dry mouth and sometimes an inept ability to run faster than the speed of sound.

According to www.commonphobias.com the fear of chickens is usually derived from a traumatic experience while growing up, unlike social phobias which are much more complex and are yet to be completely understood.

For those who suffer here are groups that dedicate themselves to the support of individuals who have a fear of those tasty little guys. www.Changethatrightnow.com offers services to help turn chicken haters to chicken lovers, all for the low cost of $2,400, boasting clients in more than 72 countries.

While some people are afraid, people like Cerritos College student Elieth Koulzons loves it, “I love fried chicken, its delicious.”