The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 31

Your Problems and Other Persons' Answers What Are You Afraid of? Scientists List 27 Fears You May Have 10 and Still Be Normal By Isabel Stone HAVE you a pet fear? Kavc you a subconscious terror which throws you into a frantic panic, quite unreasonably? Do you avoid heights, or darkness, or crowds? Can a cat cause you a perfect frenzy of loathing? Are you uneasy if you are alone? Then you m'ay sympathize with thousands of other people in the world who also are haunted by their own personal devils, and appreciate the letter of a Baltimore debutante who asks for reassurance concerning her abnormal fear. "I hope you won't think I am a little queer," she writes, "but I have a peculiar horror of bells. When I hear the chimes of church bells on Sunday or striking the hour during the day, or on a radio progiam or any other similar sound, I go rigid with terror. "Every New Year's Eve is a nightmare to me, the more so because everyone else is celebrating and 1 must hide my fear, or be considered 'odd. "Why is it? Apart from this ridiculous and embarrassing fear, I am a perfectly normal person.

I can find no possible explanation for this fear in my life. Am I unusual, or are there other people who have these mysterious feelings of loathing for something or other?" NO, Miss Baltimore is not queer. On the contrary, the Westminster College psychology department has discovered through research that practically every normal person has some fear or "phobia," deep-locked in his consciousness. They have even classified twenty-seven of the better known phobias, and scientists say you may have as many as ten, and still claim normalcy. The list includes among the most common, "claustrophobia," or fear of enclosed spaces; "bacterio-phobia," fear of germs; "astro-phobia" fear of lightning, one of the few innate phobias; fear of snakes; and "acrophobia," fear, of -high places.

Less frequent are fear of poisoning; fear of being 13th at a dinner party; "thanatophobia" or fear of death; "taphophobia" or fear of being buried alive; "pyro-phobia," fear of fire; "pharmaco-phobia" or fear of drugs; fear of crowds; "nyctophobia" fear of darkness; fear of crossing bridges; "ergasiophobia," fear of work; fear of solitude; "anthropophobia" fear of people, and "ailurophobia," fear of cats. The most obscure of the phobias are feai of new things, fear of lights, and "siderodromophobia," fear of railroads. THESE phobias are fixed ideas, almost impossible to dislodge from the subconscious, without the aid of psychotherapy. Although the victim may know that there is no logic in his fear, the intensity of it can not be alleviated by mental persuasion. Their causes almost certainly date back to specific events in childhood, psychologists now recognize.

Psychiatrists in an effort to overcome these phobias may unravel step by step a life history, until by retracing the delicate thread back into the sub-conscious a horror or dread or terror is revealed which forms the basis for the obsession. Once found and thoroughly diagnosed, the first step is mads in recovery from the slavery to the phobia. A notable case in point is that of Professor William Elkny Leonard of the University of Wisconsin, who was confined for 27 years in a phobia prison, of six square blocks near the University campus, lie traced his "agoraphobia" back to a fright he had when as a small child a locomotive thundered by close to him. The fear had diminished during the years, but during a state of mental depression following the death of his first wife, it returned. Professor Leonard made a study of his phobia in an effort to overcome its tyranny, and wrote a book "The Locomotive God" in which he analyzed his fear.

His second wife shared his odd entrapment for twenty years, and then divorced him. He married again, one of his former pupils, who was able to enlarge somewhat for him his narrow boundaries through her inspiration. A-NOTIIER example of "agoro-phobia'' v.h'ch resulted in serious matrimonial reverberations was John llewins Kern, a New York newspaperman, who had also been confined for years to an imaginary prison of a few blocks' radius. Then he discovered that a Miss Elsie Clarke exercised a "magic" effect on him, and by holding his hand she could lead him across the invisible prison wall into freedom. Delighted with his new-found escape, he stayed away for days, until his wife started action.

Psychologists diagnosed the "magic control" Miss Clarke had over his phobia as due to the fact that she resembled his mother, which aroused subconscious faith in her protection. Joseph Hergesheimer, noted author, suffers from a different, subconscious quirk, the fear of being enclosed, which keeps him out of motion pictures, the subway or any similar shut-in srace. The origin of his fear, he has decided, was his experience in a tunnel accident. Clemence Dane, well known English actor, never uses a handkerchief more than once before throwing it away, and another prominent and, fortunately for him, prosperous New Yorker will wear nothing after it is laundered. IN history, there are many records of phobias exercising their odd antipathies.

Henry VIII, it is recorded, trembled on seeing a dead fish and Henry III of France was sick at the sight of eggs. Schopenhauer, the German philosopher, was so afraid of razors that he singed his beard instead of shaving. Jonathan Swift was so averse to noise and social contact that he once went a year without speaking to anyone. Peter the Great, could not bring himself to cross a bridge. I)e Maupassant, Leo Tolstoy and John Bunyan all shared an overwhelming fear of death.

In Hollywood, where the fast pace of work and living makes the emotions run rampant, many phobias hold sway over their subjects. Ethel Barrymore, after years of successful performance, still suffers agonies from stage-fright, which may be straced to her or fear of crowds, a complex from which her brother, John, also suffers. It is this same phobia that has made Garbo a recluse, keeping her away from large parties, although she enjoys entertaining intimate groups of her friends. Joan Crawford is prey to two fears, fear of height, which keeps her out of airplanes, and fear of the dark, which causes her to burn a light all night in her room. Recently in the news was the account of the odd tomb constructed for himself by a man who was haunted by "taphophobia" or fear of being buried alive.

He had left instructions with his best friend that his body was to be placed un-embalmed in the tomb, which was air-conditioned by a special process, and secured with a lock which could be opened from the inside. Few people escape the stigma left on their sub-consciousness from some long past moment of panic, which still has the weird power of ruling their lives at moments. The workings of the mind are still mysterious even to psychiatrists, although long strides have been taken within recent years in psychotherapy. Don't Let His Girl "Is there really such a thing possible as platonic love between the sexes "My fiance and I are soon to be married in fact all the arrangements have been made. But now a very worrying complication, at least to me, has arisen.

My fiance, who considers himself very modern, wants me to agree that after our marriage, I shall not expect him to cut out seeing several of his girl friends, with whom he enjoys tennis or luncheon downtown. "I have never been especially jealous, and I am quite well aware that he chose me for his wife, knowing these girls, but he is very popular and attractive and if these are his views, I see trouble ahead for us. "BRIDE-TO-BE." PREPARING ahead for too much freedom in marriage is basing its foundations on shifting sands. It sounds very bold, emancipated and broad-minded to be in favor of after-marriage association with friends of the opposite sex, but human nature has changed very little for all its "brave, new freedom." Marriage is a complicated business at best, with its daily need to reconcile two temperaments in one home and toward one common goal. Why risk further complications by attachments which may be platonic at the beginning, but may develop by proximity and association into warmer emotions? In every married life, at some time there are almost bound to be disappointments, disagreements and disillusionments.

A sympathetic ear outside the home, at a crucial moment, may result in conjugal disaster. Your fiance has probably drunken too deep of freedom in the past, and may prove to be a tough matrimon- Joan Crawford has a fear of height, which keeps her out of airplanes, and fear of the dark, which causes her to burn a light all night in her room. Professor 'illiam E. Leonard, of the University of Wisconsin, and Mrs. Leonard (right).

The professor was confined for 27 years in a phobia prison, six square blocks near the college campus. He traced his fear to a scare by a locomotive when he was a small boy. His wife has managed to enlarge his boundaries by her inspiration. Don't "Is it possible for a worrying nature to learn how not to worry "I am what is known as a I apparently can't help it, although I wish I could, for the habit keeps me from enjoying life as I should. After two years of marriage my wife tells me that we will never be as happy as we should be so long as I take trouble so much to heart.

"PESSIMIST." TROUBLE is inevitable in small or large doses for all humans inescapable at some time during our lives, no matter how we try to avoid it. But worry has the sad habit of making even the littlest troubles into big ones that threaten, in the imagination, to engulf the worrier. Worry never yet solved anything and never will. It only begets more worry and those who are its wretched victims simply "double trouble and trouble others, too." It is selfish to burden others with the surp'us of our troubles, as the worrier is wont to do. Trouble presents a problem to be Him Keep Friends ial subject.

Devotion that usually accompanies real love, at least at the offset of a marriage, would not really be interested in preserving the fine threads of possible romance elsewhere. The wedding contract, after all, is "forsaking al1 others until death do us part," not "until we are bored with each other." Of course your fiance hasn't looked that far ahead to the actual wrecking of your marriage on the effects of his freedom, but he is certainly skirting close to the shoals when he says, "Of course, I love you, darling, but if life gets a bit flat and monotonous with you, I'm sure you're broad-minded enough to be willing for me to play about a bit with Mary or Jane. They are such good sports and will understand." Understand what? That you are not sufficient for him and he looks for relief with them Wouldn't that be reason for them to build their hopes on further intimacy in the near future? A platonic friendship that breaks down for one ivirty with them may mean heartache for the "girls" too. Of course there is the other ex-ti erne, the wife who goes into a temper or harbors misgivings as to her husband's fidelity if he happens to meet an old friend for an impromptu luncheon or dances with other partners at a social affair. That type of over-nossessivness leads as rapidly downhill to the divorce court as its other extreme jf excess freedom.

The wife who rattles the marital chains is as much a social menace as the husband who considers a man is "sissy" if he pays too much attention to his wife. But there is a happy medium of mutual consideration upon which a successful married partnership guaranteed to stand the passage of time may be based. it-f Kn.P Air- f' Greta Garbo suffers from "ochlophobia" or fear of crowds. This has made her virtually a recluse, although, she likes to entertain small groups of intimate friends. Be a Worrier Trouble Presents a Problem Map Out A Course of Action and Follow It solved a crisis to be met and passed.

Instead of worrying out of all proportions, examine your problem as coolly as possible, sec it in its true perspective. Sit down and map a. course of action, practically and sensibly, and deal with the trouble positively, not passively. Besides lacking omniscience, how do you know that your apparent trouble is not a blessing in disguise? There is a very thin ha'rlino sometimes between success and fai'ure, between happiness and misfortune just one little turn of the mills of the gods. MANY persons have been down-cast over losing tl.e'r position.

But their unemployment has proven to bo the best thing that ever happened to them. They have been forced out of the rut into a new field of endeavor in which they have found the success that had eluded them. The sudden end of the steady income, forced them to do something different instead of plodding on along the same monotonous path, and in many cases that "something" has been the making of them. It is bad enough to indulge in forward-looking worry, but to allow the mind to sink into backward-look Although she has spent a lifetime on the stage appearing before large crowds, Ethel Barrymore still suffers from stage-fright. ing worry over past mistakes is a form of emotional moronity.

The past is unchangeable wipe it off the slate, charge it up to experience and start anew with fresh resolutions. Worrying over the past prevents seeing the future in its proper perspective or taking intelligent measures to insure the success ahead. WORRY distorts the workings of the mind and warps the judgment. It makes a man magnify the small defeats of today and anticipate defeats of tomorrow, that may never happen. Try making the most of the present; extract from each day its full measure of enjoyment and value.

Then if tomorrow should bring you trouble, you at least cannot be robbed of your yesterday. "The coward dies a thousand deaths" is a well-known truism and by the same token the worrier has many times as many troubles as anyone else, for he tastes their bitterness, coming, present and after they have passed, not to mention the anticipation of those that never materialize at all. Remember that most worries are but shadows that may be dispelled by the cold light of reason. How to Be Unhappy When Married Break These Six Rules and You're on the Way Toward Divorce! JJT WAS just one of those I days when everything goes wrong," the young voice was lamenting at the next luncheon table. And her tale of woe was poured into the outwardly sympathetic ears of her confidant, blissfully unconscious that she was betraying to a wiser woman that she was herself to blame for most of her own unhap-piness.

"First I woke up with a tearing headache, and Jack was irritatingly cheerful you know, whistling in the shower and that sort of thing. Then we bickered over his reading the paper at breakfast. It always annoys me, but usually I manage to keep still. "He cracked that it was more cheerful than my face nowadays and left for the office in a fine huff. I vow I'm going to start staying in bed for breakfast, if the days start off like this often.

"1 was so low I sat down and had a good cry. In the middle of it, Betty called up and like a dope I told her how beastly Jack had been and how fed up I was with everything. I FTER I got all that off my chest, though, I began to feel better and decided perhaps I had been a bit ill-tempered with him. So I telephoned him at the office to say I was sorry. "But he didn't have the grace to even listen properly, just mumbled something about being busy and he'd see me later, and rang off! That's the last time I'll eat humble pie if that is the way he is going to be.

"Then Jack's mother arrived for a visit. She seems to have a positive genius for arriving on the days when everything has gone wrong. And she always seems to find something to criticize. "Today it was poor Jack's shirts. She said that she had noticed last time she saw him that one of his cuffs was fraying badly and that if I liked, she'd take some of his shirts home and turn them for me.

"Why didn't she say outright that her poor darling was being neglected by his giddy wife? I told her that I could manage his shirts quite nicely myself. She looked very injured and went horns early, which was no hardship for me. "I can just hear her next time she sees Jack, 'Helen has been looking lather worn lately, she doesn't seem like her old sweet self at all. I wonder if she doesn't need a You know, kind on the surface but just enough of a dig to get Jack thinking I've been mean to her. ii A climax Grace dropped in for a cocktail on her way home from a bridge party, and hinted that she understood that Jack had been neglect ing me.

Of course she had been talking to Betty, the little gossip! I could kick myself for giving her another tidbit for the girls to play around with. "She invited Jack and me to join her and Jim for the movies after dinner and I said we'd love to. "But Jack arrived home with 'a whole mess of work to do and sim ply refused to step out. He suggested that I go without him. What a chance! That would help to convince them all that we were on the verge of Reno.

"So I had to call up and beg off with some lame excuse. I went to bed right after dinner in disgust and left him to his old work. I wonder he comes home at all these days he certainly isn't much company! What are you shaking your head about with that Sphinx-like smile?" II, my darling," rejoined II her friend, "I was just checking up in my mind to see if there wasn't one mistake in-'How to Be Unhappy When Married' that you had missed! Because you know most of your troubles are of your own design!" "Well, I like that!" answered the young wife. "How can I help when everything goes at logger-heads?" "First, send your man off cheerful in the morning, even if you have to bite your tongue to keep down the cracks and grin even though it hurts. There are trials and tribulations enough at business to be met, without greeting the new day with a disrupted temper from home quarrels.

"Second, don't call him up at work, even for apologies, if they are lengthy. You are interrupting his work and usually he hasn't sufficient privacy to answer at you would like to hear him anyway. "Third, don't spill your husband-troubles to anyone else. Nine times out of ten, their interest is only curiosity and the story is exaggerated all out of shape in the 11 retelling. "Fourth, for goodness sake, why always suspect the worst of your mother-in-law? She took care of your husband's clothes ever since he wore three-cornered pants, and maybe she misses the job.

"Let her have a little of him, too, since you have taken the lion's share of his time and attention. Coming between a man and his mother is courting disaster and un-happiness for all three of you. "Fifth, never accept any invitations without consulting your husband. He may have plans of his own and at least he likes to pass on where and how he may spend his time. "And sixth, that stupid old home work is part of the wherewithal that provides your home, so treat it with respect.

It may be boring to have an ambitious husband, but it has its advantages over the one without ambition enough to pay a decent rent. "And end the day, as you begin it. with a smile for him!" It Looks Like a Qreat Christmas Folks Ami Here's a Tip cm How io Get D'or Gifts Simply go through the basement, attic and garage, making a list of those articles you no longer need. You'll find odd pieces of furniture, an old heater children's toys, a bicycle, camera, golf clubs, musical instruments. Offered to The Sun's tremendous circulation tbjv'll bring cash in a hurry.

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