Week 1

Before getting into my onsight, let’s first examine the evolutionary reasons for fears. Before modern civilization, humans lived in small, hunting/gathering groups. These groups were nomadic as they followed large megafauna for food. As time went on, people began to develop certain fear responses to dangerous aspects of their environment. Regardless of how dangerous the stimuli that generated the fear response was, it was evolutionarily advantageous to be afraid and avoid it. An example of this would be being afraid of a snake, even if it’s not dangerous. Staying away from it provides the best possible chances for survival, regardless of how deadly it is. The early human nomadic habits may have also affected this behavior as certain characteristics of potentially dangerous creatures/situations can set off the fear response, even if the stimulus itself was something different altogether. An example of this would be a spider’s long spindly legs. This noticeable trait enabled early humans to have a general fear response to things of that nature including other arthropods. This fear reaction is the way one’s body prepares itself for a dangerous situation. The areas of the brain responsible for movement activate. Additionally, hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol are released into the bloodstream.

During my first week at Small Brooklyn Psychology, my main focus was tackling the ever-expanding waitlist. The practice is implementing a new summer policy and needed to get the word out to those still waiting for a spot. Because Small Brooklyn Psychology is a bustling establishment, I have not been able to meet one-on-one with any of the psychologists who specialize more so with phobias. Despite this, I do plan on setting up a meeting with them to learn more about how phobias are diagnosed and treated. Additionally, I spent a good portion of my first-day learning about HIPAA and the policies regarding personal information as protecting people’s right to privacy is of the utmost importance.