The Fear of the Number 13-Triskaidekaphobia

Everybody has a different perspective on fear and everybody is affected differently. The Mental Health Foundation stated that, “Fear can last for a short time and then pass but it can also last much longer and stay with us. In some cases it can take over our lives, affecting appetite, sleep, and concentration for long periods of time. Fear stops us from travelling, going to work or school, or even leaving the house.” This quote shows that fear does not affect people as much as it does to others. Although, fear can affect people for a long time which can cause them to stay isolated from others. There are many types of fears and some examples of fears include: the fear of the number 13, the fear of spiders, the fear of heights, and many others. There are hundreds of fears and many people have these fears and everybody is affected differently.

In human nature there exists a morbid desire to explore the darker realms of life. As sensitive beings we make every effort to deny our curiosity in the things that frighten us, and will calmly reassure our children that there aren't any creatures under their beds each night, but deep down we secretly thrive on that cool rush of fear. Despite our efforts to maintain a balance of respectable emotions, we are a society of people who slow down to look at traffic accidents and find excitement in the macabre. We turn off the lights when watching scary movies, and when it's time to go to bed, we secretly make sure the closet doors are shut. Fear keeps our hearts pumping and endorphins rushing, for it is an emotion that reminds us of our

     We humans especially, fear many different things: death, disease, old age, commitment, noises in the night, pain, responsibility, work, being too fat or too thin, or any number of other things. Some of our fears are reasonable and rationale, like the fear for our safety so we lock our doors at night, never walk alone on dark streets, and

Have you ever wondered why you enjoy being scared? In Allegra Ringo’s interview, “Why do some brains enjoy fear?”, with Dr. Kerr, a scare specialist, he states that many enjoy being scared because the brain triggers “a flood” of adrenaline, dopamine, and endorphins. To enjoy the feeling of being terrified, our brains have to process that we are in a safe space. Scary movies, stories, roller coasters, and haunted houses all create a breathtaking response to fear. These experiences we have with fear are said to create self-confidence, relieve stress, and even bring us together. Americans spend over 7.5 billion dollars on Halloween activities and costumes. Dr. Kerr states in the interview, that people love Halloween so much because it constructs a strong emotional response and build stronger memories. Dr. Kerr also says that when we are happy, or afraid we release hormones that help those moments “stick” in our brain. We all love a good scare! “The Raven”, by Edgar Allen Poe, and “Beware: do not read this poem”, by Ishmael Reed both analyze the allure of fear through symbolism and descriptive imagery, which is a part of gothic literature. Both Poe and Reed signifies their themes differently but both themes allude to the fascination of fear.

Samhainophobia is the fear of Halloween, and it affects people of all ages and ethnicities. When a fear, even a fear that starts off as rational, becomes intense and irrational to the point one goes into shock or cannot think it is considered a phobia. This particular phobia is one of the more common phobias, but it can still be fairly hard to diagnose. Samhainophobia is thought to affect eleven percent of people. To truly understand why this fear affects so many different people and age groups, it is imperative that one understands the history behind Halloween as well as the reasons behind fear itself and how it affects people, what treatments are effective and available to the general public.

“Fears are educated into us, and can, if we wish, be educated out.”-Karl Augustus Menninger.

Even though this story is about a serious subject, Gawande still manages to throw some of his own humor into the mix. This is a good point made by him. As this was mentioned earlier, bad things can happen to anyone, anytime, and anyplace. To several people, including myself, this is just a superstition; nothing more and nothing less. Sure, there are always different opinions, but that’s all they are: OPINIONS. Gawande explains this very well in just one statement. He says that we could have feared any other day of the year. We could have feared Thursday the thirteenth, or Friday the fifth, instead of Friday the thirteenth (16). It is in fact true that we could have referred to any day as unlucky. It’s just like having a lucky number too. To you, it may truly be lucky and make you feel that way too. On the other hand, your “lucky number” may not be someone else’s lucky number. Instead, it very well might be their unlucky number. In another instance, at the very beginning of the story, Gawande gives certain examples of athletes having their own superstitions (13). For example, Jack Nicklaus wouldn’t ever play a round of

“it’s impossible to live without failure , unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not lived at all , in such case, you have failed by default” J.K Rowling according to the “uncollege board” (2015)

Using superstitions and rituals aren’t uncommon, as millions of people believe in such a magical phenomenon. Some of the millions are the most successful lawyers of New York. These thoughts of superstitions and rituals boost the confidence and performance of many, including these lawyers. However, some of these superstitious

Fear can change people in many ways. Three of them are by making people afraid of change, by making them avoid possible death, and also by staying away from what they fear.

In this TED talk video, the necessity of it is because in general public it is told to ignore fear instead of using it as a tool in life, which prompts us for not being well prepared with having something going on all around us. Additionally, our disposition to accept control and we compose more clear however nonsensical worries as opposed to the more honest yet sensible ones. Karen Thompson Walker uses cases of fear to portray this from standard society today, including critical instances of affairs the world appearances, for instance, moderate ecological change and coronary ailment, getting her point across to her group that she has identified as her audience, which is 21st century Americans.

Introduction: Almost everyone has an irrational fear or two—of mice, for example, or your annual dental checkup. For most people, these fears are minor. But when fears become so severe that they cause tremendous anxiety and interfere with your normal life, they’re called phobias. A phobia is an intense fear of something that, in reality, poses little or no actual danger. Common phobias and fears include closed-in places, heights, highway driving, flying insects, snakes, and needles. However, we can develop phobias of virtually anything. Most phobias develop in childhood, but they can also develop in adults. If you

**3rd Transition** Now that we are aware of the amount of fear, and why there is so much of it, lets turn our attention to some methods of prevention.

When one has a fear of something, one normally does not spend much time thinking about it, and it only affects one when one is forced to confront it.

There are so many ways to portray messages of fear, and that’s why it’s used in so many diverse industries to sell both products and services. For example, the sunscreen industry shifted its messaging from helping people get the darkest possible tans, to helping people avoid getting skin cancer. By using a message that elicits feelings of fear in consumers’ minds, sunscreen brands turned what could have been a brand disaster into a brand opportunity. “Cutting your