What creates our fears?

Question

Im an arachnaphobic(think thats how its spelled) and i know that my fear came from when i was a child and they still scare me why does this happen and why does our brain do this

Answer 1

every person has wat is called the "fight or flight response"...this is what happens to us wen we are confronted in certain situation that causes us fear...ok so a normal healthy version of this is...

say u were camping and u came across a bear...your response is to either flee(flight) or fight...physically wat goes along with that is: sweaty palms, fast heart rate, tunnel vision...your typical anxiety symptoms...ok so your flight or fight response is basically screwed up...which causes an anxiety disorder...so you get flight or fight reactions happen when u see you know what...the only therapy that is proven effective for this is exposure (gradual of course)...and possibly anxiety meds.

hope i helped

take care

marissa ^_^

Answer 2

There are five things that can result in developing a fear/phobia:

1. Conditioning through direct experience.

2. Conditioning through avoidance.

3. Conditioning through learned behavoir.

4. Traumatic event.

5. Genetics.  Believe it or not, there's a phobia gene that can result in any phobia.  

Answer 3

I think you are on track to answering your own questions.  Often times the fears of our parents or some traumatic event in childhood reveals some clues.  Most of us learn these things at a very early age.