JosephineInquiry

=Phobias=

My Question:
In what part of the brain do phobias occur?

My Smaller Questions:
1. Why do people have phobias?

2. How does it affect the brain?

3. What are the strangest phobias? (not that related, but funny *hee hee hee*)

My Note-Taking:
Transcribe your research notes here. This is a great place to start organizing your ideas - feel free to move things around. Don't forget that each note will need something telling you which website or source it came from - it's up to you how you do this! You could use a symbol or a short form of the website title or address here (as long as you have the full title and address recorded below!).

Notes: - Phobias are an extreme form of fear "when it is not justified by the presence of any real danger or threat, or by any rational cause, and when it is accompanied by a systematic avoidance of the situations that lead to it."* - Phobias caused by self esteem issues?^ -Men are less likely to get phobias than women.* -Some phobias come when people have a bad experience with it, and thus learn to fear it.* -"Previously, it was thought that the part of the brain that controlled phobic reactions was the Amygdala.(?) This part of the brain, right and left hemispheres, is responsible for storing memories of emotional reactions."^ -Still thought that phobias come from the Amygdala. -The most common phobia is Arachnophobia (about.com) -There are530 phobias in the world. (funtrivia.com) -pain attacks from phobias usually involve shaking, sweating, dizzyness, chest pain, a strong wish to leave, and some people will feel they can't breath. (other one I forgot) -There is evidence that amygdala and hypothalamic damage may be the cause of phobias. For example, phobic children are born with a decrease in the activation of the neurons in their amygdala and hypothalamus. Abnormalities in the hippocampus and the medial prefrontal cortexes may also be the cause of phobias. Damage to the hippocampus has a strong effect on memory, and thus could cause an individual to incorrectly remember a fearful event. The medial frontal cortex is associated with the phenomenon of extinction, the weakening of a fear response to a conditioned stimulus over time. Thus, damage to this region could allow for the persistence of a fear response for years after an initial encounter with the stimulus (even when the individual is repeatedly shown that the stimulus is in fact harmless).^ -"Simple phobias", (Phobias that are very specific in things that they are afraid of, such as the fear of snakes), will usually disappear as children grow up, but in some cases they will not go away even when they reach adulthood. (phobia introduction) -The Amygdala controls Arousal, Controls Autonomic Responses Associated with Fear, Emotional Responses, and Hormonal Secretions. -"The brain structure which appears to be at the very center of most of the brain events associated with fear is the "amygdala" (Greek for "almond", its shape)." -One in ten people will be affected by anxiety disorders.

^=anxiety disorders
 * =phobia and the brain

My Research Journal:
Every time you work on your project, you should include a short journal entry recording what worked, what didn't, how you are feeling about the project, do you need to go back and change anything, etc.

Thurs, April 1st - I think I might have chosen a topic that was too easy. However, it is the best I could come up with, and it does interest me, but not to the point where I would look it up a lot. Oh well. You can't have everything.

Sat, April 3rd- OK, I decided to do this one instead, because phobias are interesting. I think part of my interest is because Johanna has Arachnophobia (Fear of spiders), and it's actually really funny...

Tues, April 6th- You know, it doesn't seem like that much of an interesting topic, but it actually is.

Thurs, April 8th- Well, nothing much happened. Basically, I think I have everything I need, but I think I should get more info on the Amygdala. And that's pretty much it.

Fri, April 9th- I think I should start the rough draft, but at the same time I think I should still do a bit more research.

Sun, April 11th- Right now I'm doing the rough draft. So far, it's looking pretty short. Oh well.

My Sources:
Author. "Title of Article." //Title of Website//. Date written. Date accessed. .

Culbertson, Fredd. "The Phobia List." //The Phobia List//. Monday, July 17, 1995. April 3, 2010. <[|**http://phobialist.com/#A-**]>.

White, Miranda. "Phobias and the Brain". //Phobias and the Brain.// Wednesday, May 22, 2002. April 3, 2010. <[|****http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web3/mwhite.html****]>

Dr. Schwartz. "Anxiety disorders". //Social Phobia and Self Concept and the Brain.// Oct 20th 2008. April 3, 2010. []

"Phobias". //Phobias-Introduction.// March 3rd 2010. April 6, 2010. []


 * Final Written Report and Glog:**

** Phobias and How and Where they Affect the Brain ** By Josephine Lee Ms. Shea, Language Arts April 13, 2010 Phobias ** Have you ever met anyone with a phobia? Considering that 1 in 10 people are affected by anxiety disorders, most people might have seen someone, or at least heard of one. But first of all, what are phobias anyway? Some people may not know what phobias are, so I’ll give you a brief explanation.

Phobias are an extreme form of fear. For some people, they will get panic attacks, which generally involve shaking, sweating, dizziness, chest pain, a strong wish to escape, and some people will feel they can't breathe. Almost anything can become a phobia: colors, animals, teenagers, (don’t ask me how that works) ice, and even things to the right or left side of the body. It is suspected that phobias come when someone has a bad experience with it. For example, someone who has Acrophobia (Fear of heights) might have fallen from a very high place and almost died. So from then on, that poor person could never stand heights. However, some phobias are genetic, which means that if your mom or dad has Acrophobia, there is a chance that you might get it too. However, even though the phobia is proven harmless, most with phobias will not be able to see that.

Nevertheless, I’m not going to spend the whole time telling you about that. What I was really supposed to do was answer this question: In what part of the brain do phobias occur? The answer I found was the amygdale. The amygdale is a Greek word for “almond”. It was named that because of its shape. The amygdale is located deep within the temporal lobes and next to the hippocampus, other parts of the brain. The amygdale controls Arousal, Controls Autonomic Responses Associated with Fear, Emotional Responses, and Hormonal Secretions. The amygdale appears to be at the very center of most of the brain events connected with fear. That’s way it’s where phobias come from. It works like this: it is responsible for storing memories of emotional reactions, so if a person experiences being stuck in an elevator and becomes frightened, the amygdale will store not only the memory of the event but the frightened reaction as well. Then, the likelihood for that person is that they will become frightened again, if they find themselves in a similar situation, which is in this case, going into an elevator for a second time.

So now you have learned two new things: what phobias are, and what causes them. (You ought to thank me) I hope it wasn’t so dull that you fell asleep. Well, thank you for listening to me drone on! ( Bibliography shown above)

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