Many students face irrational, unexplainable fears that may be confused with phobias

By Emma Neukam
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Most people develop phobias or intense fears of insects, heights or tight spaces. But for senior Deanna Daly, her fear started after watching “Date Movie.” After viewing some graphic scenes in the film, little did she know she would be scarred for life—not by blood or gore, but by a scene involving mayonnaise.

“It started when I watched the movie ‘Date Movie’, and there’s a part where they suck the mayonnaise out of one of the character’s stomach,” Daly said. Later, while she was making a spinach dip that called for mayonnaise, she became “completely grossed out and couldn’t work with it anymore.”

Daly experiences fears that may seem unusual to others, but might be more prevalent than expected. According to the Ohio State

University Medical Center, about 19 million Americans experience at least one mild or severe phobia. In general, these phobias are found in people between the ages of 15 and 20. Senior Anna Phipps is also a victim to irrational fears.

Phipps said ever since she was a little girl she couldn’t be around cotton balls or Q-tips . However, she said she is now a lot more comfortable around her fear than she was as a child.

“It used to be that I couldn’t even tolerate it. My mom made me be around (cotton balls) without freaking out,” Phipps said.

According to psychology teacher Robin Pletcher, fears such as the ones Daly and Phipps describe are most likely only irrational fears and not true phobias.

“A phobia is going to be a more extreme case. With a phobia, they’re going to go out of their way to avoid that thing,” Pletcher said.

Using the fear of spiders as an example, Pletcher said someone who suffers from a true phobia would change his life around it, avoiding at all costs any place where spiders could be found. Also, a picture would cause extreme, overwhelming anxiety.
According to Pletcher, such phobias can be caused by environmental or genetic factors.

“There are a number of explanations. There could be a past experience that you’ve had, like a traumatic past experience. There could be a biological or chemical reason or a person could have some irrational or illogical beliefs that they’ve formed, just to name a few,” she said.

Daly said she avoids mayonnaise, but her fear has not gone to such an extreme level as being classified as a phobia.

“I always double check when I’m at a restaurant that whatever I’m ordering doesn’t come with (mayonnaise). The bad experience with it has led to me not wanting to have anything to do with it anymore,” Daly said.

Both Daly and Phipps said they have been the victims of many pranks that play off of their fears that others deem silly or irrational.

“They just make jokes about it. My sisters threaten to use mayonnaise against me,” Daly said.

But Daly said she actually thinks phobias can be overcome if there is more exposure to the fear, itself.

“For some people, the cure for their phobia could be gradually coming back to it,” she said.

Pletcher said there are many different ways someone can get rid of a phobia, but “there’s not one specific therapy that works for everyone.” A few methods of treatment include medication, “unlearning” past experiences and challenging illogical thoughts about a particular fear all help desensitize someone to a fear.

Overall, Daly said she thinks phobias come down to what people aren’t comfortable around or familiar with. She said, “I think people are afraid of what they don’t know a lot about; what they don’t know is what they’re scared of.”