The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1915-07-22
How Morbid Fears Start.
~ n. AopiNoToM sRucE,
Author Of The Riddle Of Personality"
Psychology and Parenthood. etc

There are many people who suffer from NOR
bid fears. Some are abnormaily afraid Of cats.
others of dogs, others Of the dark, or OF water.
There are people who suffer agonies when oblis-
ed to remain alone in closed room. Others
are equally afraid of open spaces, and dare not
60 outdoors for q walk.
tunate confided 70 her physician The mere
thought Of doing 30 makes me faint and dizzy.
My limbs tremble. my heart palpitates, I am
beaded with Precipitation"
When fear of anything becomes az extreme as
this It amounts to a disease, and Is recognized
a. such BY the medical profession. being techni-
cally termed . "phobia-"
Until quite recently little known as to
the cause and proper treatment OF these phobias.
Now. however. 1t has been definitely establish
ed that In nearly every case they result from
A FAULTY uPBRINGING IN CHILDHOOD.
II used to be thought. on wholly theoretical
grounds. that all phobias-or. at any rate. the
more common ones, such agoraphobia, or
fear Of open spaces, and claustrophoba, or
fear OF closed places-were due TO the morbid
outcropping Of ancestral traits at one time use
full in the development Of the race.
Thus. both agoraphobia and claustrophobia
will bark back TO the days Of primitive man.
when closed and open spaces held special and
very real dangers, and were to be regarded with
suspicion.
Similarly. fear OF water would be q heredi.
tary remnant. reminiscent Of the period when
those that feared water most had IN advan-
tage in survival over those less timid"
picity. But II did not explain why particular
individuals inherited" the old instructive fears
In such extreme form. while others inherit
ed them scarcely at all. And II did not indi.
cate any sure means OF overcoming them.
Today II is known that II could not explain.
for the reason that "phobias" are not the pro-
ducts OF Inheritance, but are directly or In
directly caused by UNUSUALLY UNPLEASANT
EXPERIENCES IN THE EARLY LIVES OF
THE PERSONS AFFLICTED WITH THEM
These experiences are seldom consciously re-
membered In adult life. but a subconscious
memory OF them Is retained. to beat lik o ham
mer on the nervous system, until At last Civ.
Ing rise TO the phobia which Is, as II were q
symbol OF their continuing existence In the
depths OF the victims mind
Scores OF cases from recent medical practice
might be cited in support Of these statements
Again and again patient tunnelling into the
minds OF phobiacs, by some method OF psyche
logical analysis. has brought TO light forgotten
memories OF childhood experiences demonstra,
bly, responsible for the particular phobia
Demonstraby. say, because n has been
found that ON THE RECALL OF THESE
FORGOTTEN MEMORIES THE PHOBIA IN
QUESTION rs AT ONCE AND PERMANENT.
LY CURED.
Almost always. too. the experiences giving
rise to phobias are avoidable. Many a phobia
for instance, has originated in the telling of
ghost stories and sensational fairy tales to un
duly impressionable children
The practice of frightening children Ito make
them good" In another fertile cause Of morbid
fears.
Shield children as far ~ possible from severe
emotional strsins; cultivate in them the virtues
OF courage. calmness, and selfrelance, and
phooiAs VIII be to children thus reared thing
unknown.