In the 1991 comedy “What About Bob?” we get a great insight into the very real world of phobias. Bill Murray plays Bob Wiley, a man who suffers from a wide variety of phobias. The movie chronicles his relationship with his psychiatrist, Dr. Leo Marvin, (played by Richard Dreyfuss) and Dr. Marvin’s family.
Bob’s phobias constitute the lion’s share of laughs in this comedy. Although very funny to watch, phobias can be a very difficult thing to live with and is one of the most common mental health issues that people cope with everyday.
Phobias come from a Greek word meaning fear. In psychological terms, phobias are intense, irrational fears of almost anything imaginable: spiders, flying, open water, foreigners, sleep. Many people can live with and manage these, and many other, phobias. If a phobia is not manageable or begins to affect ones life, the phobia should be treated as an anxiety disorder.
Phobias are usually a learned or conditioned response from a past event. Events such as near death or traumatic experiences can often lead someone to have a fear of things associated with these stressful events. A good example would be someone who is afraid of swimming because of a near death experience they had in a pool while they were a child.
Other phobias are learned or created by someone because they have conditioned their brain to respond in a certain way. A good example would be someone who is afraid of flying even though they have never been in an accident or know someone who has been in one. Perhaps phobias such as these are learned due to outside forces such as media and friends. News stories about plane crashes can certainly propagate the fear of flying.
It is important to remember that a large percentage of adults have at least one phobia. One should not be concerned about simple phobias like fear of speaking or fear of spiders. Concern should only arise if a phobia begins to control your life. If that is the case you might want to visit a therapist.
