... is fear itself.
While websurfing I came across this page on NBC, What Freaks Stars Out? A slideshow presents celebrities and their phobias. We learn, for instance, that Drew Barrymore has a fear of enclosed spaces (claustrophobia), Kim Basinger, a fear of open spaces (agoraphobia), David Boreanaz, a triple threat of closed spaces, heights and waterfalls, Colin Farrell and Aretha Franklin, a fear of flying, Sarah Michelle Geller, a fear of graveyards, Nicole Kidman, a fear of acting (no, that's not a joke--I think!), Madonna fears thunder, while Matthew McConaughey fears revolving doors and tunnels. The list goes on.
Unfortunately, the piece does not mention what these celebrities do to overcome their fears (if their fears are overcome). Do they take medication? Are they going through therapy? A combination of both, perhaps?
As someone who has suffered various phobias in his life and still is tagged with a few, I find the question of fear fascinating and critical as a link to our core beliefs and sense of the world. Illuminating is the fact that many people live in fear, whether a subtle fear that is bearable and kept simmering in a thankful distant background or a stronger fear that intrudes itself upon a person during the day and can make life difficult. Unless we truly believe in a hereafter, the canopy of our adult lives is the presence of vulnerability and death, and that naturally makes us live with some type of fear. So, welcome to the club. You are not alone--and neither am I.
Phobias and panic are considered psychiatric disorders. The government's National Institute of Mental Health classifies them under the umbrella "Anxiety Disorders," and Anxiety Disorders are classified, along with "Mood Disorders," "Eating Disorders," etc. under the larger umbrella of "Mental Disorders." At this point I do not want to make a case for phobias, panic and anxiety being appropriate responses to life, but I will state that no one who is suffering from these conditions wants to suffer from them. (Unless they've developed an identity with their fear or use it as a means of generating sympathy and control--but these are issues to be addressed at some future point and not now.)
At times, I wonder how many people suffer from "Mental Disorders" in our society. The NIMH states that: "An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year." Yes, one in four, making up about 57.7 million people in the United States. For panic disorder, the statistics are the following:
- Approximately 6 million American adults ages 18 and older, or about 2.7 percent of people in this age group in a given year, have panic disorder.
- Panic disorder typically develops in early adulthood (median age of onset is 24), but the age of onset extends throughout adulthood.
- About one in three people with panic disorder develops agoraphobia, a condition in which the individual becomes afraid of being in any place or situation where escape might be difficult or help unavailable in the event of a panic attack.
Sometimes, when I walk the streets, I would like to see on people's foreheads the names of the medications they are taking--for all sorts of problems, both psychological and physical. My betting is that at least half of the people we see are taking something for some ailment. And yet, foolish mortals that we are, we look upon people as being free of the same troubles, doubts, fears, moods that we succumb to, even if just once in a while. We cannot read people's thoughts; their outward forms generally do not reveal their inner struggles. We are all good actors; acting is imperative for survival and good communication.
So whenever you are in a shitty mood or filled with doubt and anxiety, do not pass people by, thinking how lucky they are. For chances are good, that they are members of the same club you belong to.
You are not alone, and neither am I.
