This Is How Many People Die From the Flu Each Year
Reid Wilson
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The Fear Factor: Phobias
Phobias come in many different forms. Acrophobia is the fear of heights. Aviophobia is the fear of flying. Felinophobia is the fear of cats. Myxophobia is the fear of slime. Xyrophobia is the fear of razors. While some are well-recognized, others are unheard of, but whatever the phobia, the person suffering from it is living with fear and anxiety.
"Phobias are the most common mental disorder," says R. Reid Wilson, PhD, spokesman for the American Psychological Association. "Over their lifetimes, 11% of people will have a phobia."What are phobias, and how can someone get treatment for a fear that prevents them from shaving? WebMD looks at the different phobias that harrow the human mind, and experts explain what treatment options stand a chance against razors.
"Phobias involve the experience of persistent fear that is excessive and unreasonable," says Wilson, who is author of the book Don't Panic. "Phobias are cued when a person approaches a particular situation or object, or even anticipates the approach of it, and they understand the fear they will experience as a result of that situation will be unreasonable and excessive."
The key to distinguishing a fear from a phobia is that that while most people get the jitters if a spider crawls on their arm, people suffering from arachnophobia -- the fear of spiders -- are physically and/or psychologically impaired by it.
"To be defined as a phobia, the fear must cause some level of impairment," says Wilson. "I had a woman come in who was afraid of spiders, and it got to the point where she wouldn't go out at night because she couldn't see where they were."
How does someone get to the point where they are so afraid of spiders that they can't go outside?
"There are nature and nurture components to phobias," says Kathy Hoganbruen, PhD, National Mental Health Association spokesperson. "While we don't know exactly why or where phobias originate, they are a type of mental illness, with genetics playing a role, as well as environment, meaning maybe someone had a negative or traumatic experience related to the core of their phobia."
When Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," he was describing phobophobia -- the fear of being afraid.
Though FDR had a different message in mind, he unknowingly hit on something else: Phobias run the gamut of life and include everything from spiders to outer space.
"The most common phobias involve natural disasters or elements, like water and lightning; animals or insects, like spiders; and blood, injuries, or injections, such as people who faint at the sight of blood or a needle," says Hoganbruen.
Fear of flying is another a well-recognized phobia, and since 9/11, has only gotten worse.
"Fear of flying, in recent times, has become more common," says Hoganbruen. "Since 9/11, it has come up much more than it did in the past."
Then there are social phobias, which include the fear of public speaking, the fear of test taking, or the fear of people, in general.
According to Phobialist.Com, which catalogues hundreds of tormenting phobias, people suffer from the fear of the number 8, or octophobia, and the fear of 13, triskaidekaphobia; the fear of noise, or acousticophobia; the fear of ventriloquists dummies or wax statues, or automatonophobia; the fear of sitting down, or kathisophobia; and the fear of beautiful women, or venustraphobia.
How can a person possibly be treated for the fear of all that is the number 8 -- eight french fries on a plate, eight words in a sentence, eight on the jersey of a football player?
"People are generally not treated for phobias," says Wilson. "A very small percentage -- 6% of people with a phobia -- go in for treatment, in part because they are not totally disabled by it, so they find their way around."
Not before a person's phobia is extremely severe do they seek help, Wilson explains to WebMD.
"The treatment that was most common in the past was called systematic desensitization," says Wilson. "It was a pretty standard treatment -- people were taught to relax and in that relaxed state, in a hierarchical way, they would have increased degrees of exposure to their fear."
As the person became anxious, the stimulus would be removed, and they would be allowed to relax. Then they would start over again -- but up the ante and go one step further.
"Now, we are much more provocative in treating people with phobias," says Wilson. "Using cognitive-behavioral treatment, instead of allowing a person to relax after being exposed to the stimulus, we teach them how to manage their feelings."
The American Psychological Association defines cognitive-behavioral modification as "a therapeutic approach that combines the cognitive emphasis on the role of thoughts and attitudes influencing motivations and response with the behavioral emphasis on changing performance through modification of reinforcement contingencies."
Simply, if you change the way you think, it will change the way you act, and if you change the way you act, it will change the way you think.
"One of the shifts I've been making is to have people with phobias work on the attitudes they carry with them," says Wilson. "It's a game against the phobia: Invite the feelings that make you fearful and anxious and learn to tolerate them, setting aside relaxation as a core piece of treatment and using intensity instead -- that's the fastest way to get better."
It's also using more than one technique to solve the problem.
"Not all therapists stick to one treatment doctrine or another," says Hoganbruen. "Many combine several different techniques -- systemic desensitization, behavioral therapies, cognitive behavioral therapies -- into a treatment regimen."
The treatment of phobias is going high-tech as well, with virtual reality being used as a tool in helping people overcome their anxieties.
"Virtual reality is the other newer treatment being used for phobias," says Wilson. "It's three to four years away from being used on a broad basis because the equipment is so expensive to use, but there are four or five places in the U.S. That are using it today."
The University of Washington is one institution that uses virtual reality (VR), coupled with real life, in treating phobias. According to a news release, "Researchers at the University of Washington's Human Interface Technology Lab measured aversion and anxiety responses of students, some of whom had a clinical phobia of spiders, before and after undergoing VR therapy. During the therapy, some of the subjects touched a realistic model of a large spider while grasping a virtual one."
The combination of fact with fiction worked: Those students were able to come twice as close to a real spider after completing three therapy sessions, and reported a greater decrease in anxiety during treatment, than those who underwent VR therapy alone.
Whether its ablutophobia, the fear of washing or bathing, or zoophobia, the fear of animals, phobias can truly be harrowing. From phobialist.Com, here are some of the more peculiar:
Alektorophobia: Fear of chickensBogyphobia: Fear of bogeys or the bogeymanCoulrophobia: Fear of clownsDendrophobia: Fear of treesEuphobia: Fear of hearing good newsFrigophobia: Fear of cold or cold thingsGeniophobia: Fear of chinsHomichlophobia: Fear of fogIsopterophobia: Fear of termites, insects that eat woodJapanophobia: Fear of JapaneseKosmikophobia: Fear of cosmic phenomenonLutraphobia: Fear of ottersMnemophobia: Fear of memoriesNovercaphobia: Fear of your stepmotherOphthalmophobia: Fear of being stared atParaskavedekatriaphobia: Fear of Friday the 13thRanidaphobia: Fear of frogsSciophobia: Fear of shadowsTextophobia: Fear of certain fabricsUrophobia: Fear of urine or urinatingVerbophobia: Fear of wordsWiccaphobia: Fear of witches and witchcraftXanthophobia: Fear of the color yellow or the word yellowZemmiphobia: Fear of the great mole rat
And, finally, there is panophobia, or the fear of everything.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed Slammed For Mourning Loss Of City's Flagship Macy's 'where She Shopped With Her Family At Christmas' Without Mentioning Destruction Of The City
San Francisco Mayor London Breed is being slammed after a statement on the closing of the city's flagship Macy's at the Union Square location.
Breed, facing a re-election bid currently in trouble according to recent polling, made the comments as the location became one of 150 Macy's stores to announce plans to shutter.
The Democrat has overseen a continued downturn of San Francisco's economy and the prevalence of homelessness and overdoses on its streets.
The Union Square location will remain open until at least 2025, or when a buyer can be found, according to Breed's statement that seemingly glossed over the city's issues.
'As someone who grew up in San Francisco, Macy's has always meant a lot to the people of this city. It's where families came to shop for the holidays,' Breed said.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed is being slammed after a statement on the closing of the city's flagship Macy's in the city's Union Square, where around 100 establishments have closed
The Democrat has overseen a continued downturn of San Francisco's economy and the prevalence of homelessness and overdoses on its streets
'It's where many people from my community got their first jobs, or even held jobs for decades. It's hard to think of Macy's not being part of our city anymore.'
However, she promised that 'change is happening in San Francisco, and that change can be positive if we channel it to the benefit of San Franciscans.'
Her solutions were to change local and state laws, as well as passing tax reform to 'recruit and retain businesses' and 'bringing new universities' to the city.
'We will keep our focus on moving this City forward and creating opportunities for growth,' Breed concluded.
Reaction on social media was heavily negative and cited the many issues and prior escapes made by business from the city.
'They're leaving because no one lives here. The downtown is barren because of you,' wrote one X user.
'The seeds were sewn, reap the results,' added another.
Another referenced Breed's upcoming electoral prospects: 'I hope you have a corner picked out because that's the only job you'll be able to find come election time. You and your Dem friends did this.'
The Union Square location will remain open until at least 2025, or when a buyer can be found, per Breed's statement, which went for sentiment over a reckoning with the city's issues
The crime-ridden downtown area of San Francisco has seen the closure of many shops and restaurants since its drastic downfall, with its flagship Macy's store the latest victim
Reaction on social media was heavily negative and cited the many issues and prior escapes made by business from the city
The crime-ridden downtown area of San Francisco has seen the closure of many shops and restaurants since its drastic downfall, despite Breed attempting to hype statistics claiming offenses went down in 2023.
In October, it was reported that seven Starbucks stores were planning to close as the city continues to deal with crime, drug use, and a homelessness epidemic.
At the end of August video was released showing San Francisco's newly shut-down flagship Nordstrom store that was almost barren after nearly three decades in business.
A slew of the city's restaurateurs cited crime, drugs, and waning tourism as the main culprits killing their businesses, all set on Valencia Street.
The thoroughfare, about a mile from the city's embattled Downtown, is considered one of the most sought-after strips of restaurant real estate in The Bay Area.
But for residents of San Francisco's Mission District, the reality is far different. The area - much like the nearby 'Doom Loop' of Union Square, City Hall, and Tenderloin and Mid Market districts - has been a hive of unsavory, post-pandemic activity.
The city's Ikea was nearly empty earlier this month as customers say persistent construction, lack of parking and constant crime on the surrounding streets keep them from shopping at the store.
The incumbent mayor, 49, suffered poor results in a new poll from the San Francisco Chronicle that found she would lose her office to the man who briefly held it before her, Mark Farrell, 50.
London Breed, 49, is on course to lose the mayoralty of San Francisco in a new poll, which found a staggering 71 percent of voters disapprove of her job performance
Former acting mayor Mark Farrell came out narrowly on top in the new poll - as he runs on a no-nonsense campaign to clean up San Francisco's crumbling streets
Farrell said San Francisco has become the 'butt of jokes across the country' as rampant homelessness and drug taking takes over the city
San Francisco is reeling from soaring crime, an emptying downtown, and residents moving away to safer, cheaper areas
In a tight three-way race, Farrell registered 20 percent support, Breed registered 18 percent, and Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie registered 16 percent.
While the candidates were closely matched, San Francisco's use of ranked choice voting in its mayoral elections would see her struggle - with Breed receiving far fewer second-choice votes than either Farrell or Lurie.
The city by the bay made promises to increase police presence in the Union Square area during the past holiday season.
The call for escalated police presence is in tandem with the city's efforts to discourage retail crime, control theft and encourage visitors to return to downtown San Fran after the crime-ridden city gained a reputation for drugs, homelessness and lawlessness.
The new expanded patrol measures come just a few years after the liberal city - led by Breed - confidently called to defund the police during the Black Lives Matter movement.
In February 2021, Breed announced plans to redirect $120 million from the police department to a combination of new and existing programs.
The increased police presence in Union Square was part of San Fran's Safe Shopper Initiative - which was announced by Breed in 2021 after a wave of looting swept over the city, which primarily targeted luxury stores in Union Square.
Union Square's Louis Vuitton store was a victim of many smash-and-grab robberies which ultimately forced the shop to board up its windows.
Police Chief Bill Scott said the department quadrupled their officers patrolling the commercial corridor last year - and that the number this year will be even higher.
Mayor Breed announced a $17 million grant to help with their police-expansion efforts and movement to combat retail theft ahead of the holiday shopping season.
Breed said that the funding would go toward paying officers overtime for the chaotic time period as they ran targeted retail theft operations.
Money is also set to go towards the San Francisco District Attorney's Office to fund a prosecutor and investigator dedicated to retail theft cases.
San Francisco has become notorious for homelessness, crime, theft and drugs in a post-pandemic downfall
A slew of the city's restaurateurs cited crime, drugs, and waning tourism as the main culprits killing their businesses. Pictured: Homeless people live near San Francisco's Union Square
For Macy's it's part of a new strategy aimed at breathing life into the 166-year-old retailer.
The plan, dubbed a 'Bold New Chapter,' said around 50 stores would be closed by the end of the current fiscal year, without mentioning how many employees would be impacted.
The plan comes a week after Arkhouse Management unveiled a proxy challenge to replace nine members of the Macy's board.
The challenge follows a rejection by Macy's in January of an unsolicited takeover proposal from Arkhouse and Brigade Capital Management.
The company, which had also announced in January it would pare its workforce by 3.5 percent, said in a statement that the new strategy would prioritize investment in the remaining 350 Macy's locations.
It also plans to open 15 Bloomingdale's stores and at least 30 Bluemercury stores in new and existing markets over the next three years, along with 30 remodeled Bluemercury sites.
Department stores have seen their results suffer for years as consumers increasingly move online, and have been forced to reduce in size -- a dynamic exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
These trends have put pressure on shopping malls throughout the United States, particularly older retail sites that have fallen out of favor.
The 150 stores targeted for closure account for 25 percent of Macy's gross square footage, but less than 10 percent of sales, Chief Executive Tony Spring said on a conference call with analysts.
Macy's has undertaken prior rounds of store closures, but Spring -- who took over as CEO this month -- said the process was more 'stringent' this time, involving interviews with some 60,000 customers who described what they were looking for.
From that process, the company also determined that there was an opportunity to grow the Bloomingdale's brand, including through smaller stores and more locations away from the US coasts, Spring said.
Macy's will also expand a pilot program to try new ideas at some 50 stores.
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