Phobias

            Phobias are the fears that humankind and animal-kind have, but how do they arise? Do they arise from past instances, and/or are they learned from other people? How does the body react to these phobias? These instances must be traumatic or else why would they cause any distortions? When the fear is learned from one being to the other, does this mean it is contagious, or it can be spread to all of the population? {1}.
             Phobias are a branch of sudden panic disorders. A sudden panic disorder is a disorder characterized by a fairly constant state of moderate anxiety and occasional attacks of sudden increased heart rate, chest pains, difficulty breathing (hyperventilation), sweating, faintness, and trembling. Phobia comes from the Greek word phobos, meaning fearing. A Phobia is a severe avoidance of other people and an especially strong fear of doing anything in public. Well-established phobias can last a lifetime, which is why it is so hard to overcome a phobia. It is so deeply rooted in the person, some have to go through a lifetime of therapy. {2}.
             Phobias can be learned from other beings, or they can arise because of traumatic instances in life. It has been shown through experiments that monkeys have taught other monkeys to fear from animals. If a lab-raised monkey is shown a wild monkey being afraid of a snake by climbing the walls, then in turn the lab-raised monkey will learn to fear the snake. If the lab-raised monkey is shown the snake without previous experiences with it, then it will have no reaction. Likewise, if a lab-raised monkey is shown a wild monkey being afraid of nothing (nothing being a snake that is covered by a screen) then the lab-raised monkey will have any reaction. Therefore, phobias can learned from one another, this might be said to be "contagious" or can be spread throughout a group. Another example would be a toddler that is shown some small animals. At this point, the toddler has little or no fear towards them.