An issue for many people and that we hear on a fairly regular basis are on the issue of PHOBIAS and a popular example of this is how x-person or y-person is terrified of spiders and creepy crawlies and this for me from an observational point of view has always seemed somewhat strange.

Why do you find it strange Dave?

Wow thanks for asking-well here we are in the Summertime and a particularly hot summertime too, the Sun is shining and millions of people are getting out into the gardens and going to the beaches and parks and rivers and Country walks and so on and so on.  And having participated or carried out some of these activities myself I can tell you that the gardens are alive with creepy crawlies, the beaches are alive with creepy crawlies, the parks are alive with creepy crawlies, the rivers and countryside are alive with  creepy crawlies.

Millions upon millions of the little blighters from spiders to flies and bees and butterflies and ants.  You would in fact think given the PHOBIAS that many people claim to have of these little beings that this Summer should be termed the Summer Of Scream.  Yet here I am listening out for screams from these millions of creepy-crawly phobia sufferers and I wait and wait and wait and NOPE NOT A DICKIE, NOT EVEN A WHISPER.

So what these folks need to be asking themselves is what is the mental trade-off that they are making, what are the rewards and punishments associated with creepy crawlies that you might get from a spider in a bathroom and a spider at the beach, is there a relevance to location, is there a relevance to Sunshine.  Are higher rewards the answer A real Suntan at the beach or a spray on tan on the bathroom.

Is it really the creepy crawly that is a problem or simply a repetition of a learned form of fear.  I am not saying that I do not have such fears, I have always had a strange disliking of ants for instance but overall I generally find that many folks who claim such phobias have a complete immunity to that phobia being tripped when placed in a different environment.  It might be an Indoor/Outdoor issue for some folks I really do not know, what I do know is I find it very difficult to believe some folks claims-it might simply be a lack of mental focus or confusion but it is one of those Great Observable Anomalies in peoples character and personalities.  Almost like A ooh I am expected to be afraid of this so I will be afraid of this.

This is something that is often observed by professional observers with children.  A child will very often react in any given scenario according to who is the more powerful influence.  So for instance your child could be quite happily gardening with you surrounded by all the bugs and so on.  another adult influence who holds greater reward/punishment capability could come out and say OMG Spiders Ahhh, the child will very often make the mental choice and decision to fall into the pattern expected by the Greater Influencer. 

This is another one of those issues where the patterns that get fallen into in childhood are not necessarily serving you well in adult hood.  The ability to Identify the reward/punishment models and alter them to a more sensible set of perspectives or patterns is surely a worthwhile pursuit.   Of course some people stay there whole lives living according to the model set in childhood, for some they may be beneficial perhaps yet for many I am quite sure that some tweaking here and there would likely improve lives immensely.

Yes I have used creepy crawlies as an example yet the observational model is actually one than can be applied to many scenario’s and schema’s, it might be simply a case of asking yourself when did I first start having this phobia, what was the reward/punishment model that I was attaching myself to, what would be the seeds or equivalent benefits of changing this model, and so on and so on. 

Anyway thank you for reading God Bless and Be Well 🙂