Something wicked this way comes
In October, The ROCK delved into the world of superstition and fear.
[heading size=”18″]Traumatic experiences lead to lifelong phobias[/heading]
While Clark waited for her mom to come back home, something on television caught her attention; the experience scarred her young brain.
“My mom left me to go get something from the grocery store and the movie ‘It’ was on TV,” Clark said. “And there was this clown that was eating children. At first he was all happy, and then all of a sudden he got these huge teeth and grinned and just ate them. And I didn’t know how to shut the channel, so I was just on the bed with the pillow over my face, and I couldn’t stop watching it.”
Though this event occurred more than 10 years ago, the violent actions of the clown in the movie caused Clark to develop an extreme phobia of clowns. This fear, known as coulrophobia, still causes some difficulties for her.
“I know a lot of people are scared of clowns, but I’m violently scared of clowns. My friend … sent me a picture of a clown once. I was asleep, and I woke up and there was a clown on my phone, and I threw it across my room and broke my phone because I was so scared,” Clark said. She “can’t even think about them without getting [scared].”
Clark avoids clowns because of the fear she feels when she’s around one. Even though she does not see clowns on a daily basis, she still has anxiety because of how often clowns appear in shows and entertainment.
“I was in Utah at a Memorial Day parade, and there was this clown on a bicycle, and he would drive up really close to you and be like ‘Hi,’ and I ran away to my car and sat in my car the whole parade because I didn’t want to deal with the clown,” Clark said. “So anytime there’s a clown I’ll run away, and anytime there’s a clown movie or a clown on Reddit or iFunny I’ll just shut it off and freak out. It’s bad.”
Senior Jake Phillips, like Clark, also has a phobia, but his developed in a different fashion. When Phillips was only a toddler, still tripping on his own feet and learning how to walk properly, he visited his grandparents on their farm. That day, Phillips strayed away from adult supervision and got bitten by a snake, an unfortunate incident that left him terrified of the reptiles.
“My older cousin was supposed to be watching me, and she turned her back on me for one second … and I just started walking towards the tall grass because I was young and adventurous,” Phillips said. “And so my cousin turned around and looked back, and she … started screaming and everything. [But] by the time that she got to me I was already crying because the snake had come up to me and bitten half the skin on my shin off.”
A phobia of snakes is known as a ophidiophobia and affects 51 percent of American adults according to a 2001 Gallup poll. For Phillips, it wasn’t the disturbing appearance or danger of a snake that led to his phobia. Though the snake bite may have spurred Phillips’ ophidiophobia, he had no recollection of the incident because of how young he was at the time. Without hearing the stories of the incident from relatives, he wouldn’t have figured out why he had this fear.
“I would have never known why I was afraid of snakes if it wasn’t for my cousin telling me a couple of years ago because I’ve always been deathly afraid of snakes,” Phillips said. “When we went to a museum and we were just looking at the snake exhibits, I would just freak out and start having a panic attack and I would run away.”
Dr. Sarah Coller, a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Columbia, explains phobias are a form of anxiety disorders and can be attributed to either genetics or real-life experiences, or a combinations of both. She pointed out that, for example, it’s possible for a fear to stem from a relative’s phobia both because of genes and because of watching them suffer from the phobia over time.
“There is often a hereditary component to anxiety disorders, which means a biological [or] biochemical component,” Coller said in an e-mail interview. “Also, they can be learned, meaning a negative association may have been learned in the family … or there may have been a negative event associated with the development of a phobia. I believe that there are common phobias with things, animals or situations that are potentially harmful [such as] fear of heights, snakes [and] spiders.”
Phillips has attempted to overcome his fear in the past; however, his efforts have been fruitless. Despite trying to get close to snakes and make contact with them, he is still as afraid of them as he was before his ventures.
“I have tried [to get rid of my phobia],” Phillips said. “There are times when I go over to a friend’s house and a couple of my friends have pet snakes, and they’d always pull it out of the cage and play with it and everything, let it crawl around on them and everything, and I would try to touch it, but everytime … I would freak out and run away.”
Even though Phillips attempted to rid himself of his anxiety, Clark sees no point in trying to do so. She doesn’t believe it is worth it to make the effort to get rid of a fear that doesn’t cause her daily anxiety. Clark’s opinion isn’t uncommon though; according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, only about one-third of people affected by an anxiety disorder, such as a phobia, receive treatment.
“I think if I wanted to, I could befriend one of these clown guys and then be fine, but I have no desire whatsoever to do that, because clowns aren’t part of my daily life,” Clark said. “But if it were something I encountered everyday … then I would want to get over that.”
Even though Clark does not feel the need to seek help for her phobia, treatments do exist. Coller says there are many therapies and drugs that can lessen the effects of a phobia on everyday activities. For example, anti-anxiety drugs such as Xanax are prescribed to treat mild fears.
“There are ways to overcome phobias: Visual imagery coupled with relaxation exercises and gradually exposing the person to what they have a phobia over. Also, if there is some general anxiety, especially more than one phobia, medication can be helpful,” Coller said. “A combination of psychotherapy and medication can sometimes be the most helpful way to deal with phobias that are more extensive [and] interfere with quality of life.”
Clark also believes if she were not afraid of clowns anymore, there would be another fear around to take its place in her mind. She believes most, if not all people have a fear or phobia. In reality, anxiety disorders affect 40 million adults in the United States, according to the ADAA. Since they affect about 18 percent of the population, these anxiety disorders are known as the most common mental illness in the country.
“I think that everyone’s scared of something,” Clark said. “Before it was clowns, I was just scared of being scared. I didn’t watch scary movies, I didn’t go to fear fests, I hated Halloween. [It’s] because I was just scared of that feeling of being afraid.”
Phillips agrees with Clark and considers himself lucky because of the fact that he cannot remember the moment that sparked his fear of snakes. He believes if he remembered, it would only feed his fear and make it a bigger problem in his daily life, since he would be able to constantly access the memory.
“There’s different levels of phobias, and it all just depends on your encounter and how your phobia was created,” Phillips said. “Like for mine, [it] was at such a young age that I didn’t even know why I had this phobia; it was just there. And for other people, they get it later in life and they can remember the exact instant when they had this phobia and it has the potential to grow and become worse because they are constantly able to think about that one moment.”
By Afsah Khan
[heading size=”18″]Evolution influences fear of darkness: Childhood night-time jitters rooted in natural human instinct[/heading]
The dark always seems to cast a shadow of fear across the human consciousness, evoking fright in individuals of all ages and genders. Be it a paralyzing phobia or a simple uneasiness, many individuals fear the vast unknown before them when light is not present.
Math teacher Megan Gabel said she experienced this fear as a child, and even as an adult sometimes still feels uncomfortable in dark rooms.
“I was terrified of the dark when I was a kid. I’m still slightly scared every once in a while,” Gabel said. “Mainly [when I am] in my house alone and things like that, I just have this fear that someone’s in the room or someone’s behind a corner that I can’t see.”
In her youth, Gabel said her fear of the dark was so severe she would go to irrational lengths to calm her anxieties. Her fear manifested itself at night when she went to bed, and one day her anxiety-induced rituals ended up backfiring.
“The biggest thing was when I would try to get into bed at night, I was always afraid someone would grab my ankles, so I would basically take a running start from the hallway and long jump into my bed,” Gabel said. “One day I was especially scared and ended up over jumping and nailing my face on the headboard.”
Psychology teacher Tim Dickmeyer said Gabel’s childhood fear is not uncommon. Dickmeyer said fear of the dark is common among young kids, and it is not unusual for the phobia to carry into adulthood as well.
“According to some recent Gallup polls, between 5 to 8 percent of American adults report that they are afraid of the dark,” Dickmeyer said in an email interview. “This number is significantly higher in young children; although it is absent before age two and disappears in most people by late adolescence.”
Sophomore Lauren Brown is one such person who had a fear of the dark during her childhood years. She said she believes the phobia stems from an inherent fear of the unknown, as it is difficult to see well in the dark.
“It was my basement that I was mostly scared of because it was never finished and it was always dark and so I would have to go down there sometimes and get some stuff and I would walk down there and just feel like I saw things but I really didn’t,” Brown said. “I think it’s the fear of not knowing … because you can’t really see in the dark very well. It’s just not knowing where everything is and the light’s all you can see.”
Brown is not far off in her assumption about why humans frequently experience a fear of the dark. Dickmeyer said evolution may have ingrained this phobia in the human consciousness, due to the dangers posed to our ancestors during the night when not much light was present.
“From an evolutionary psychology standpoint, modern humans’ behavior can be explained in terms of behaviors that helped our ancestors (stretching back millions of years) survive,” Dickmeyer said. “We are diurnal (primarily awake during the day), as were our ancestors, and there are many factors that endanger our survival at night.”
Among these factors is the increased likelihood of being attacked by an unseen predator at night, Dickmeyer said. Before man-made forms of light were invented, humans had no way to see well in the dark, which lead us to fear the dark and the perilous risks associated with it.
“Nocturnal predators hunt at night. With poor night vision, fatal accidents are more common, especially in the times before artificial light,” Dickmeyer said. “With all these dangers at night, it might be inferred that a fear of the dark was actually a survival advantage for our ancestors.”
In 2011, University of Minnesota professor Craig Packer led a study collected data that supports the theory that humans’ fear of the dark has an evolutionary background. The study “measured the food intake of African lions across the lunar cycle and tested whether moonlight affects the timing of lion attacks on humans in southern Tanzania where over 1000 people were attacked between 1988 and 2009.”
The research concluded that African lions had an increased food intake on nights with less moonlight, confirming the idea that predators were more likely to hunt or attack our ancestors in darker conditions. This may provide an explanation for why we feel unsafe in the dark, and why this fear gives us an evolutionary advantage.
Regardless of the reasoning behind why humans fear the dark, Dickmeyer said it is important to seek professional help for any severe phobia. If a fear of the dark interferes with one’s daily life, it is especially pertinent to ask a therapist for help.
“Any severe psychological issue should be treated by a professional,” Dickmeyer said. “If a person suffers severe debilitating anxiety due to night phobia (Nyctophobia) that prevents necessary routines, they should seek help from a professional therapist.”
If the phobia is not severe, however, Dickmeyer said an individual can overcome their fear by simply associating the dark with an activity which brings them joy. He recommends listening to relaxing music or enjoying a favorite snack while in a safe dark area such as a backyard.
“For simple mild fear, a self-administered course of counter-conditioning could lead to positive outcomes,” Dickmeyer said. “A lot of mild fears are simply learned responses. We can overcome those fears by attaching the event that causes our fear to a pleasurable event. After repeated pairings, the person might begin to associate the dark with these pleasure-causing things.”
Once an individual learns to overcome their fear of the dark, life will become much more enjoyable, Dickmeyer said. He relates his advice to his own personal experience with Nyctophobia, and said once he overcame his own fear, the dark became a peaceful environment rather than a threatening one.
“On a personal note, I cannot recommend overcoming fear of the dark enough,” Dickmeyer said. “As a child I was afraid of the dark, but if I hadn’t overcome it, I would not be able to enjoy laying outside on a clear night and enjoying the wonder of the heavens.”
By Anna Wright
[heading size=”18″]Superstitious beliefs based in reason[/heading]
From the small act of throwing salt over your left shoulder to risking seven years of bad luck by breaking a mirror, all superstitions have a history. Even the common courtesy of saying “bless you” after someone sneezes possibly dates back to Pope Gregory the Great, when the Black Death grew rampant, according to the Library of Congress. To this day, this tradition rests within the culture of our societies and many practice this “courtesy,” offering a short phrase as a bit of luck. At RBHS, Senior Bri Thompson tries to say “bless you” every time she hears someone sneeze.
“I think you should always say bless you,” Thompson said, “because you don’t want someone to get sick or anything like that.”
Another reason the tradition of blessing someone took hold in the past is because when one sneezes, their spirit may leave their body, according to Jim Meyer, Introduction to Mythology teacher, which gave an opportunity for the potential of a ghost entering your body.
Not only do people take small gestures, like saying “bless you,” seriously; people allow ideas, such as Budweiser’s new slogan,“it’s only weird if it doesn’t work,” to make them more superstitious about their daily lives. People believe specific clothing, such as lucky jerseys, underwear or even scarves can enhance their luck or even their team’s luck. For Thompson, these would be her shoes she has performed every choir concert in.
“They’re good luck so that I can go on and have confidence,” Thompson said. “It just makes me feel more sure of myself, but I don’t see them as super lucky, just more of a confidence boost.”
These actions work as a placebo effect, according to neurology.org; this means that, for example, if one is given a sugar pill and told it will give them less pain, they feel less pain. Though these may seem harmless and even positive, not all superstitions are. For example, Thompson believes a “creepy old lady” at a store downtown put a curse on her when she passed by the lady.
“I felt really weird after [she gave me an eerie stare], and I thought ‘Oh, my gosh, what if she put a curse on me?’” Thompson said. “Ever since then, after nine o’clock I have seen a cat wherever I am.”
Cats, especially black ones, are a cause of concern for many. According to a survey done by University of California-Berkeley, 182 experienced cat owners said that cats with tortoiseshell or black fur are typically referred to as “intolerable,” meaning they are not as friendly and are less playful than other cats. This stems from the belief that when a black cat crosses one’s path, it delivers bad luck; however, according to petcare.net, this fear comes from the fact that black cats are hard to see. If a cat crosses someone’s path, they could easily trip over the small animal. In fact, Meyer said most superstitions and even myths have practical reasoning and are a type of coping mechanism.
“I think a lot of it has to do with a lack of comfort with the randomness of life,” Myers said. “Because so much of life cannot be controlled, superstition allows us to feel like we’re asserting some kind of goal. This makes us feel like we have some kind of control.”
These superstitions may have practical value to the believer, Meyer said, but that does not mean that the believers need to know their original ideas to help with that. One of Meyer’s favorite myths is an old Middle-Eastern Mediterranean belief in “The Evil Eye,” which refers to the eyes of those who covet or want what others have.
“To this day you see people wearing pendants to ward off this Evil Eye,” Meyer said. “One of the things that was the most envied was male children. These more patrilineal, patriarchal families are passing down power through sons. As a result, young boys were dressed as girls, the reason being that if it’s not obvious to the world that your child is male he wouldn’t be envied.”
In ancient times, children were more likely to get sick since they had weaker immune systems, Meyer said, and Middle-Eastern families thought they could protect their precious sons by avoiding the Evil Eye by dressing their young male sons as girls until they came of age, which was after puberty.
This, along with other beliefs – such as a fear of black cats, broken mirrors and avoiding cracks on street to ensure your mother’s well-being – began with serious meanings and lessons. Now, out of context, people take these superstitions less seriously and make them into more of a joke.
“There’s a certain point at which these superstitions or beliefs or even religions can be taken without any doubt or curiosity about them,” Meyer said. “A blind faith in these keeps them from having the true value that they did originally. Whatever it was that we were trying to avoid by doing and believing them is now lost.”
By Justin Sutherland
[heading size=”18″]Scary movies invoke reactions of fear, discomfort[/heading]
Horror films, such as Dracula and Frankenstein, have been a significant part of the American film industry ever since Universal Pictures began producing such films in the early 1930s.
The suspense and psychological tension that scary movies exude cause people to land on both ends of the spectrum of love and hate of these films. Junior Asha Davis has been a fan of horror films for as long as she can remember.
“I’ve been watching horror films forever,” Davis said. “The one I can remember the most as ingrained in my memory would be the films of the Halloween series.”
About a quarter of college students polled still experienced effects from horror films they viewed during their childhood, according to a study the University of Michigan conducted. Nearly 60 percent of these effects included trauma from well-known films such as Jaws and Halloween, which explains the reasoning behind the strong memories of Halloween as the acclaimed horror films should have the strongest effect on the people who watched such movies.
Sophomore Alice Yu has a strong dislike for horror films and the effects that she receives from movies that would not even be characterized as horror films.
“I remember when I watched Harry Potter, and the figure of Voldemort gave me nightmares,” Yu said. “Also other characters from movies that are kind of disfigured make me uncomfortable.”
Yu said there are aspects of horror films in many movies, such as popular Disney films, so that people are introduced to these aspects at a very young age.
“I remember when I was really young and I saw Sleeping Beauty for the first time,” Yu said. “And the wicked fairy Maleficent frightened me very much.”
Davis does not experience the effects of fright as strongly as Yu, and she believes she enjoys the parts of the movies that fearful viewers such as Yu would not.
“My favorite parts in a horror film are the suspense leading up to the violence,” Davis said. “But I have seen people who are the exact opposite and hate the suspense or the violence or both. I also think that some people hate horror films because they take the situations in the movie past the movie into real-life, whereas people like myself are able to reassure ourselves that there is no real violence; there is no real villain.”
Although not present in the movies that she watches, Davis also believes fear is important to humans.
“I think that everyone should fear something,” Davis said. “Fear is part of being a human, and everyone finds it somewhere, whether it’s in horror films or not.”
Randolph Blake, Ph.D., from the Vanderbilt University’s psychology department, agrees, and explains that fear is essential to human processes.
“Fear keeps us out of harm’s way,” Blake said. “It’s a kind of emotional SOS message that signals an immediate need to react to threat. We need fear.”
While Davis said the suspense of the movie repels some viewers, Yu has completely different reasons for disliking scary movies.
“It frightens me the most when faces are contorted,” Yu said. “Of course it isn’t always, such as in cartoons, but if there is blood dripping out of their mouth and their eye sockets are really huge, in Voldemort and characters like him, then it’s very frightening for me.”
By Luke Chval
