|
In psychology, especially in the school of thought developed by Freud, the psychoanalytical psychology, it is believed that most fears and repression of adults are brought about by experiences during the first three years of life. The traumatic experience during the early childhood is often repressed and manifested differently during the other stages of growing up. However, it was found out in recent researches in psychology that fears are common in early childhood. In fact, some of them even function as protective behaviors in specific instances, except of course for irrational phobias. When a child experiences something not favorable to him caused by a certain stimulus, he has a tendency to develop fear on that stimulus. When a stimulus is really harmful (for example, a sharp object like knife) and a child tries to avoid that object or situation, it has become somewhat preventive. In such cases, the fear helps the child to cope.
In the case of infants, some psychologists still argue on whether involuntary reflexes should be inferred as a by-product of fears. Two of these “unconscious” reflexes are (1) startle reflex (where an infant jerks at an unfamiliar sound or sensation, or gasps at the sensation of falling), and (2) avoidance reaction (where an infant recoils from pain or involuntarily avoids a physically harmful stimulus such as heat).
As a child grows older, his fears begin to stem from his experiences with the environment. Though some fears are somewhat realistic (like fear of biting dogs and other ferocious animals), most are brought about by fantasy (like fear of ghosts or monsters). These fears often come out in the child’s dreams that is why most children fear the dark because it means being alone in their room and forcing themselves to go to sleep. This happens especially right after watching a horror or scary movie at night. Their imagination becomes so powerful that they would want to believe that what they had just watched is actually real.
Four Groups of Fears/Phobias for Children
Childhood fears are often divided into four groups. As mentioned earlier, some of these fears are integral for the cognitive and affective development of the child. Unless a child carries any of these fears throughout his adulthood, his parents do not really have anything to “fear”.
1. Specific animal phobias.
This fear usually occurs within three to five years of age. Some examples of this fear are ailurophobia (fear of cats), arachnophobia (fear of spiders) and pyrophobia (fear of snakes).
2. Specific situational phobias.
During the first six months of infancy, a child fears loud noises. On the onset of the seventh month until before his first year, a child is usually afraid of heights (achrophobia) and even unexpected looming objects. Some other examples of this phobia are aichmophobia (fear of sharp and pointed objects), brontophobia (fear of thunder), menophobia (fear of being alone) and nyctophobia (fear of darkness).
3. Social anxieties.
During the eighth month of infancy, a child develops fear of strangers (xenophobia) and even of people in general (anthropophobia). Due to parents’ overprotection of their children, some eventually develop fear of growing up. The most prominent phobia of this type is the school phobia. Psychologists found that teen-agers who suffer from school phobia are often afraid of leaving their home and being separated from their family.
4. Agoraphobia.
This is a fear of open places and it usually happens when a child is in between two to four years old. It can clearly be seen on children who are afraid to go out of their house or are afraid to attend parties and other celebrations outside the “security” of their home.
Overcoming the Fear
When a child grows up and he is not able to cope with his fear that it even controls his life at some point, something must be done to at least alleviate the condition. One way for the child to overcome the fear is through modeling. When the child observes that most people are not afraid of the thing that he fears, he may somehow think about his situation and begin to work out his phobia. In a study conducted by Bandura, Grusec, & Menlove (1967), “preschoolers who feared dogs took part in eight brief sessions in which they watched an unafraid child play happily with a dog. Later, two thirds of the fearful children were able to climb into playpen with the dog.” Another way is through systematic desensitization where a child is gradually exposed to the feared object.
Morris and Kratochwill wrote in their book Treating Children’s Fears and Phobias that during these therapeutic treatments, it is assumed that (1) the fear is not learned, (2) an insight is not necessary to alleviate the phobia (since during therapies, the fear is already considered an irrational phobia and so an irrational phobia can’t possibly be “rationalized”), (3) fears and phobias are samples of child’s behavior and are situation-specific, (4) emphasis of treatment is on the present, and (5) the goals of therapy are specific. Since the fear is object/situation-specific, the objective of the treatment must also be focused on the specific unique case.
Sources:
ABC’s of the Human Mind, edited by Alma E. Guinness
Human Development (7th edition), by Diane E. Papalia, Sally Wendkos Olds, and Ruth Duskin Feldman.
The Fears of Adolescents, by J.H. Bamber
Treating Children’s Fears and Phobias, by Richard J. Morris and Thomas R. Kratochwill
| 
