قاسم حسين صالح
(Qassim Hussein Salih)
الحوار المتمدن-العدد: 6524 - 2020 / 3 / 27 - 11:40
المحور:
الصحة والسلامة الجسدية والنفسية
Coronavirus Phobia (1/2)
Pro. Dr. Qassim Hussain Salih
Founder and President of Iraqi Psychology Association
Notice (1)
The new Coronavirus (Covid-19) spread a phobia that infected thousands of people around the world, and this phobia has increased rapidly with the spreading speed of the virus after Italy outpaced China in the number of infections and the death of more than 800 people in one day! And France ranked the fourth position in the total number of infections and declared that the situation is (extremely worrying), while the virus is keeping invading fifty states in the United States of America, and scientists are urging the British government that Corona would kill a quarter of a million British citizens if it did not change their health controls and measures.
The statement of European countries that the medical supplies are near depletion, and the number of confirmed infectious cases reached more than (400,000) people, with a total death of more than (19,000) until (March 21st, 2020), accompanied by an obsession of social media and TV channels on an unprecedented professional horror industry worldwide.
Advancing from our responsibility to our community and our role in spreading the psychological and social culture of facing the Corona pandemic, we continue in these two episodes our series of articles to educate people about the importance of the individual s mental health in pandemic crises.
The first episode includes a summary of the phobia theory that provides cultural knowledge about it, while the second episode consists of a specific application of methods of dealing with a cunning and malicious virus.
Definition of “Phobia”
Phobias is a sudden excessive and irrational fear of a certain issue, situation, place, object, living creature. The irony is that the person with phobia knows that his fear is not appropriate compared to the source of fear, yet he loses control of the excessive and irrational sense of this fear which is associated with multiple and diverse stimuli that cause it, such as high places, closed areas, loneliness, water, people, storms, seeing blood, germs and viral disease, fires, and living creatures.
Phobias has several definitions, including:
1- It is a type of anxiety disorder characterized by excessive´-or-irrational fear.
2- Severe and persistent fear of a subject´-or-situation that is not, in fact, a clear´-or-prominent source of harm.
3- Fear of a unique kind that does not match the reality of the situation, and there is no clear explanation´-or-reason for it, which is far from the person s ability to control´-or-avoid it.
4- It is an exaggerated and unrealistic fear and does not have any justification.
Accordingly, we suggest the following definition of phobia:
"Excessive´-or-extreme fear of a subject´-or-situation, which is considered normal by others, which the person with a phobia cannot control although he knows that his fear is inappropriate."
Classification:
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), phobia is categorized as anxiety disorders, which are listed as follows:
1- Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
2- Phobic Disorder.
3- Panic Disorder.
4- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
5- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
This means that what combines these five disorders is “excessive anxiety:, and this is why these anxiety disorders are defined as:
"A class of distress characterized by excessive feelings of anxiety and anticipation of harm´-or-evil."
Types of phobia:
There are three main types of phobias:-
1- Simple Phobias: it includes intense and irrational fear of a specific thing´-or-a specific situation, such as: mouse, spider, water, filth, darkness, loneliness.
2- Social Phobias: It is determined by a permanent and apparent fear of one´-or-more social situations´-or-social act. In other words, it is the individual s fear of situations in which there are other people. This does not mean a fear of being harmed, but he is afraid that others will look at him, then he would feel embarrassed´-or-ashamed. Therefore, the spoon may fall from his hand if he notices that other people are watching him eating. This excessive anxiety puts him in front of two options, either to stop eating and drinking´-or-to leave the place.
3- Agoraphobias
This name came from the Latin, which means "Fear of the Market Place" and was used in the year (1871) to describe the case of four men who felt fear of the Plaza city. It can be defined as phobias linked to fear of public places the person worries that he would be extremely embarrassed if he went out to public places and experience a panic attack. A panic attack means an extreme fear of death´-or-make a person loses his mental sense, the symptoms of which are determined by an increase in heart rate, sweating, tremors, shortness of breath, and in extreme cases, the individual s fear of separation from his body.
Causes of Phobias:
Theories that attempt to explain phobias are many. Psycho-Dynamic Theories (and Psychoanalysis) analyze all types of phobias as defenses against anxiety caused by the suppression of unacceptable motives. The mechanism by which it operates is by -convert-ing a scary topic´-or-a frightening situation to another topic´-or-situation. And by shifting this anxiety, the individual can control´-or-maintain the real unconscious source. While the Behavioral Theory states that phobia (of all kinds) is a learned response from life situations and that it develops either by classical conditioning (Pavlov), than by procedural,´-or-by observing others afflicted with it. While those supporting a “Cognitive Perspective Theory” believe that individuals with phobia possess cognitive biases regarding the amplification of threatening stimuli, external´-or-internal,´-or-because they believe their interpretations of what s going on in their bodies are unrealistic. For example, an increase in heartbeat means to them that there is something wrong with their heart that would increase their anxiety and put them in a closed circle that starts with fear and ends with the expectation of death. While "Biological and Genetic Theory" thinks that some people with phobia have genetic factors and carry biological´-or-genetic predisposition.
Did these theories provide us with an answer about Corona- phobia? The answer is, no. But it provides us with a piece of cultural knowledge and scientific information about phobias that corrected much of the misinformation provided by some of social media and satellite channels.
The second episode will be devoted to the Coronavirus phobia, starting from frequent hand-washing, food hoarding, to the Thanatophobia,´-or-fear of death!
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