I had a sister-in-law that had a fear of fuzzy plants. I always saw it as irrational. But that's the thing. Phobias generally seem irrational.
My phobias are high places, drowning, and things with sharp teeth. These aren't really irrational as I have reason to fear the things that have once hurt me. Oh, spinning cutting blades. Table saws scare the crap out of me.
These things aren't paralyzing, but they are all consuming. When they are present I can only focus on them.
Is it irrational to fear what has hurt you? And from that, wouldn't it stand to reason that phobias began at a point of fear?
Could a phobia begin from a suggestion? A small child being teased by an older sibling, perhaps? "That tree is going to reach down and eat you."
Or it could be something else. Fear begins in the amygdala, a small nut size pair of organs behind the eyes. It is my suspicion that infections such as toxoplasmosis, which targets the amygdala, can alter the way it functions. In rats it removes the fear of cats. In people it can increase or decrease the urges of sex... or so the studies suggest. It reduces the concern of consequences, and has been discovered in the bodies of a majority of reckless drivers.
If this, or another organism can infect our brains, could it not alter our fear? Fear is a survival tool. Phobias are not always about survival. Can those few tree species actually hurt you? Where did it come from?
The brain is an amazing thing. But like any complicated machine, it doesn't take much to screw it up.
