BEST - Bmag

healthy
What are you afraid of?
Serious fears can turn into long-term mental health
problems if left untreated. Katrina Scott reports
Spiders, darkness, thunderstorms, even
costume characters can make the world a
scary place for a child. While it’s normal
for children to experience certain fears, when
those fears develop into phobias the effects can
be long-lasting.
Dr Allison Waters, associate professor at
the School of Applied Psychology, Griffith
University, is half way through a study looking
into the deepest fears of children. She says fears
are common in children and they come and go
with time, but there are cases when they just
don’t grow out of them. “Approximately 80 per
cent of adult phobias develop in childhood and
about 12 per cent of all children develop some
kind of phobia,” she says.
According to Dr Waters, fears and phobias
are one of the most common mental health
problems affecting children and can increase
the risk of other mental health problems
later in development, such as other anxiety
problems and depression, if left untreated.
30 bmag.com.au I Read Brisbane’s Best
Bob*, now in his 60s, developed Social
Anxiety Disorder as a 12-year-old. At times he
believed people were going to eat him and in
2005 he had a nervous breakdown, reigniting
his condition. “I couldn’t do anything, I
couldn’t leave the house, I couldn’t drive a car,
I was very sick. The sickness wouldn’t go away.”
The not-for-profit organisation beyondblue
explains that people with social phobias try to
avoid situations in which they fear they may act
in a way that is humiliating or embarrassing.
Through the help of the Southside Anxiety
Disorder Group and his family, Bob has got
back behind the wheel and, a year after his
breakdown, he was able to fly to Sydney for
the NRL grand final. Bob admits he will never
be fully cured but he has learnt to manage his
condition and now he helps others through the
support group.
Dr Waters and her team began the Griffith
University Childhood Fears and Phobias study
earlier this year with the aim to help children
overcome their phobias. “Our major goal is
to test the effectiveness of short, intensive
treatments. We are also examining whether
two novel additions to this single session of
exposure therapy can help improve outcomes
even further,” she says.
Common phobias for children include
darkness, animals, heights, thunderstorms
and fear of costume characters or balloons. Dr
Waters says fears of certain situations such as
darkness can be quite debilitating for children,
often in their own home. “Going to bed can
be a very difficult time for families. This also
results in problems with other things including
sleepovers and school camps,” she says.
Griffith University is recruiting children for its Childhood
Fears and Phobias study, which runs until December,
at both the Brisbane and Gold Coast campuses.
Interested families can phone 3735 3349 or email
cadrp@griffith.edu.au for more information. If you or
someone you know is experiencing serious fears or
phobias contact the beyondblue info line on 1300 224
636 or see www.beyondblue.org.au.
AUSTRALIA’S 10 moST
common phobIAS
1. Arachnophobia: fear of spiders; tends to
affect women more than men.
2. Ophidiophobia: fear of snakes; often
attributed to evolutionary causes, personal
experiences, or cultural influences.
3. Acrophobia: fear of heights; can lead to
anxiety attacks and avoidance of high places.
4. Agoraphobia: fear of situations in which
escape is difficult. This may include crowded
areas, open spaces, or situations that are likely
to trigger a panic attack.
5. Cynophobia: fear of dogs; often associated
with specific personal experiences.
6. Astraphobia: fear of thunder and lightning,
also known as Brontophobia, Tonitrophobia, or
Ceraunophobia.
7. Trypanophobia: fear of injections.
8. Social phobias: fear of social situations; can
become so severe that people avoid events,
places and people that are likely to trigger an
anxiety attack.
9. Pteromerhanophobia: fear of flying; often
treated using exposure therapy in which the
client is gradually and progressively introduced
to flying.
10. Mysophobia: fear of germs or dirt; may be
related to obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Source: Anxiety Disorders Association of Victoria
(ADAVIC)
*Name changed for privacy