phobias - can anyone suggest some reading?

SATSUMA

Hi,

I'm interested in looking into phobias- namely, where they come from. To be specific, can the feelings from a past trauma be transferred onto the object that becomes the phobia?

JuliusCaesar

Well, in PTSD, if the original trauma was a car accident, then the smell of burning may trigger anxiety and so the person may become phobic about it, and avoid being anywhere that they might smell burning.

Is that what you meant?

SATSUMA

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

Well, in PTSD, if the original trauma was a car accident, then the smell of burning may trigger anxiety and so the person may become phobic about it, and avoid being anywhere that they might smell burning.

Is that what you meant?

Yes pretty much but the smell of burning can be directly associated to trigger feelings and memories of the crash. I'm thinking more like if a person was mugged and then gradually over the years became terrified of say dogs.... The trigger doesn't relate to the phobia but the feelings (of fear of attack) do. Sorry I don't have sophisticated language for this!

JuliusCaesar

We all have our own set of associations that may not be obvious to a casual look.