Sunday, February 25, 2007

Psychology of fears


There is no human who had never been afraid of something. But some fears are stronger than average. Fear keeps alcoholics drinking, addicts addicted & so on. The good thing is that fear and anxiety can help us to cope. But if we have anxiety disorder it can do the opposite – keeps us from coping and disrupts our daily life.
Most of fears develop in the childhood and they are considered a normal part of development. Parents should respect their child’s feelings and fears, not to ignore or to put the child down for them. Talking with a kid about why he is afraid is helpful.
Children’s fears vary by age, only if they are persistent, interfere with normal life they call for treatment. It begins with loud noises, loss of support, strangers, heights, even toilet, injuries, unexpected objects, also dark, animals, supernatural beings (ghosts, witches), thunder, then of course examinations and performances at school.
Some kids have a fear of going to nursery school or to a camp the first time. But it usually fades with time.
If a child has some kind of problematic fear and if it is not treated it can enter the adulthood. Many adults had a fear of going to school, being separated from parents, being in public places etc. These aspects in adults include a racing heart, nausea, trembling and others.
One of treatment forms is cognitive – behavioral therapy, it involves relaxation and changing thoughts, it helps to master the feeling of fear, it gives a sense of control over the situation.
Another interesting thing I found in psychology of fears was women’s fears. I discovered that some women have the fear of success. It develops from the thought that we live in a man’s world. Some women are afraid to take up such things as science or math only because they are considered to be manly subjects. Not seeking some kind of achievements in higher education is also a part of the fear. This kind of fear hinders the woman’s opportunity to do her best. It blocks her freedom to be herself and to do the things she wants to.
Sometimes people are afraid to share their fears even with families and friends. So it’s even more terrible to make an appointment to see a therapist. Going online for support for this sort of people is very helpful. It’s easier for them to open their mind and heart to others when they make posts under a pseudonym. When the darkest feelings are shared and others reveal that they feel the same people begin to feel more confident of themselves. Being around people who understand you can help to create strong relationships.
Sometimes the fear of overcoming the fear is greater than the original fear. It means we’ll have to go out and do something about our fears. To some of us it seems too scary :) The feeling when you conquer your fear is the most amazing feeling. It gives you a sense of achievement and the foundation that you can do anything. That feeling is worth the tears and sweat blasting through the barrier.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Queue psychology


Queues - they're such a thing that we can't avoid nowadays. They're almost everywhere : in supermarkets, cloackrooms, canteens, doctors offices, libraries etc. Although we collide with queues nearly each day not all people can handle them.
Queues require much patience because in most cases people have to stand in one place doing nothing and that really gets on their nerves. Some people crack inside and go out of the queue because they don't have enough patience or time.
What is important queues can be various - combined and single. Combined ones have the "social justice"- the first person in is the first person out. In single queues you don't have the feeling as though someone else has unfairly skipped the queue before you.
Let's take a queue in a supermarket as an example. Queing here can even cause paranoia - when you stand in a queue and you know that the queues beside you are going faster. Many people can't stand this. Luckily psychologists have some suggestions - people have to assume that all queues are almost the same, they are the same length and move at the same speed. Let's say we have 4 queues, so the chance that you will "cross the finish line" first is one out of four.
To sum up, I would like to say that queing is not such a terrible thing as long as we know how to make it not so annoying and to remember that it isn't going to take our whole life.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

My future profession



I started to study psychology this year. I could say that I really enjoy studying this subject. Of course i can't be sure if my opinion would be the same after some period of time but i hope it remains.
Actually, i'm not sure what i will choose to study after my bachelor studies. Perhaps it would be something different because I'm interested not only in psychology. I hope to combine some subjects in my life and do something that I would really enjoy (I don't know what it is going to be by now but I have plenty of time to discover that).
Psychology seems important and interesting to me because I'll learn many useful things about people, their behaviour, communication, reactions, mood etc. From my point of view, the world today is based on communication, you can do nothing without it. So i believe that the key to more or less successful living is the ability to communicate to many kinds of people in various situations. It'll help if you want to sell or buy something, during journeys, parties, official conferences and so on.
That's not the only good thing about psychology. I'll also learn how to help people. The psychological help is very meaningful. Sometimes people have no motivation to do something to increase the good in their lives although they have all the posibilities to do that. In case they are fed up with everything or have some particular problems in families, their jobs or other, psychologist is the first one who'll return (at least try to) happiness and the right view to life.