Share your fears

Somebody once said: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified, terror which paralyses.”

Channelling this fear is University of Queensland postgraduate student, Madeline Farmer, who is looking to recruit people between the ages of 65 to 80 years who may have a phobia to take part in a research study.

Completing a Professional Doctorate of Clinical Psychology and Geropsychology, Ms Farmer is exploring phobias in older adults and how they respond to their feared stimulus before and after treatment.

The study will focus on an individual’s physical reaction to pictures of their phobia, in order to determine whether this reaction changes with age, and whether it changes with treatment.

Ms Farmer says the aim of the project was to shed light on age differences in anxiety symptoms.

“A phobia is a marked and persistent fear of an object, situation or event, which is excessive and unreasonable, and which interferes with one’s everyday life,” Ms Farmer says.

She claims phobias are one of the most common anxiety disorders experienced by older adults, but the good news, she adds, is phobias have been shown to be effectively treated with psychotherapy.

According to research literature, cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) using an exposure-based intervention is the most effective treatment for specific phobias.

“Numbers for all anxiety disorders worldwide range from five to 15%, with both phobias and disorders less common in later life, but often more distressing.

Fear of spiders and insects in general are reportedly the most common form of specific phobia in people aged 65 years and over. Other common fears are dogs, cats, blood/injury, heights, enclosed spaces and even ceiling fans.

“More unusual fears include fear of beards (pogonophobia), fear of vegetables (lachanophobia), and fear of relatives (syngenesophobia),” Ms Farmer.

The University is looking for people to take part in this research project immediately. Participation in the study is free, and will involve pre-treatment assessments, psychological treatment for phobias using group cognitive-behavioural therapy conducted over 10 weeks, psycho physiological measurements and follow-up testing.

For more information, or if you would like to participate in the study, contact Madeline Farmer on madeline.farmer@uqconnect.edu.au, or call 0415 701 290.

Do you have a phobia? Share your fears here.