The Scream,Edvund Munch

I received this press release from a Company selling a product called Calm Space.

"I was reading your blog and thought you might be interested in a fragrance that is doing wonders for women. Did you know roughly 23 million Americans suffer from claustrophobia and anxiety? A simple task can become debilitating and cause severe anxiety and stress.

 

 

Roy Lichtenstein

A majority of those affected are women, and sadly there has been no mainstream treatment available to reduce this anxiety and stress. Until now!

Healthy Brands LLC has created calmspace™, a discreet, convenient & portable fragrance made of 100% natural therapeutic organic oils. The physician approved formula is proven to manage the anxiety of claustrophobic reactions. Calmspace is easy to use.  Remove the cap, place the scent under the nose & breathe deeply. Since the container is about the size of a tube of lip-balm, it can easily be incorporated into anyone’s lifestyle or routine.

 

            

The Company graciously provided me with their research from Sloane Kettering Hospital, two samples and as it turns out  the scent of vanilla (which Franco Wright  of luckyscent says is  always a  best-selling  category for him) smelled lovely. The lavender was rather sharp.

 

 

I haven’t tried Calm Space yet in a phobic situation (I have what is clinically called ‘mythophobia’, the fear of false statements). But I DO have a myriad of phobias, the product smelled fine, I sleep with a lavender sachet in my pillow; all in all it sounded promising. I try to be a courageous journalist first (before a cowering phobic), did plenty of research, asked a  few ‘experts’ (some who did not want to be quoted, bad for big pharma); this is what I found out about phobias and anxiety :

“A Phobia is defined as an anxiety disorder in people (an estimated 15 million Americans) who display an irrational fear of some thing or a certain situation. A person having a phobia may or may not know why they are experiencing this fear. It can be brought about by a traumatic childhood experience or simply a constant overreaction to a situation. Displaying fear is one of the most fascinating characteristics of human beings. There are phobias that seem downrigt strange and inconceivable, while others are frightening in and of itself.

Phobia is classified into three types:

The Kiss, Pablo Piccaso

Social Phobia refers to the fear of being exposed in public due to inappropriate self-consciousness or fear of being criticized. A person with this kind of phobia is afraid that he might be embarrassed or humiliated in public. This person finds it hard to join social events or even a simple direct family gathering. Social phobia usually develops between the childhood and adolescent stage. It rarely occurs after the age of 25. According to the NIMH statistics, there are approximately 15 million Americans at the age of 18 and above who have social phobia (Malaxophobia- Fear of love  is a  good examples)

 

 Specific Phobia is the most common type of phobia. It refers to the fear of specific object or certain situation. A person only displays inappropriate fear in the presence of the feared object or situation. Person with this kind of phobia generally leads a normal life. There are approximately 19.2 million Americans at the age of 18 and above have specific phobia (fear of flying, heights, public speaking,fear of clowns)

Agoraphobia is another type of phobia in which extreme fear occurs when the person feels that he cannot escape from a certain place such as plane, bus, room, or in a crowded area. NIMH statistics shows that there are 1.8 million Americans at the age of 18 and above suffering from this phobia

That adds up to 36 million adult Americans with  phobias (that is much more than the press release stated number) ; I hope my math is correct as I have Arithmophobia, the fear fo math. 

 

Actor Tony Shalhoub

Less Known Phobias

When talking about facts about phobias, the most interesting subject would have to be the types of fears that can develop in human beings. Of course, there are the more common phobias like the fear of heights and the fear of  public speaking, but there are more bizarre types of fear out there that may seem humorous to the people who can't comprehend the very real symptoms that the people who do have it experience. These less and common phobias include the following:

Phobophobia, the fear of phobias (Tony Shalhoub of The Monk is the poster child of phobias)

 

 Christopher Lee: Dracula would have alliumphobiaium 

Alliumphobia, the fear of garlic

Asymmetriphobia, the fear of asymmetrical things

Aulophobia, the fear of flutes

 

 

 

 Dawn Spencer Hurwitz's Painter's Palette

 Chromophobia, the fear of colors (Eau No: Fear of Dawn Spencer Hurwitz's Chroma Series?)

Consecotaleophobia, the fear of chopsticks

Dikephobia, the fear of justice

Ephebiphobia, the fear of teenagers

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia, the fear of long words

Omphalophobia, the fear of belly buttons

Triskaidekaphobia, the fear of number thirteen

  

 

 Elizabeth Taylor RIP March 23, 2011

 Caligynephobia,  the fear of Beautiful Women

Misophobia or mysophobia, the fear of germs (like actor Howie Mandel)

Acrophobia, the fear of heights(like Perfumer Romano Ricci)

 

 

 I asked several psychiatrists, but they did not want to go on the record.  Many of my friends- in- fragrance are aromatherpists or natural perfumers, but it was Anya McCoy the President of the Natural Perfumer’s Guild, a natural perfumer who replied to me first:

 

 

 “Vanilla absolute (Vanilla planifolia) and lavender  (Lavandula vera aka angustifolia) essential oil have traditionally been used by aroma therapists to calm patients who suffer from anxiety, and claustrophobia is a form of anxiety.  It’s often stated that vanilla brings one back to their childhood via Scent Memory.  They remember a time of mom baking cakes and other goodies flavored and scented with vanilla, and find it comforting and calming.

  

 

 Lavender is historically the choice for linen sachets.  They are often fortified with Lavender oil. Perhaps the thought of crisp, clean sheet, delicately scented with lavender brings a person to a place of calm. Iit is used to relax and bring piece of mind in order to fall asleep by thousands of people.

Anecdotal testimony on Internet aromatherapy forums also gives neroli, the cheerful and floral orange blossom (Citrus aurantium) essential oil a lot of credit for calming anxiety.  Even the hydrosol, carried in a little spray bottle, can be pulled out for a quick spritz when someone feels off balance or anxious".

Thanks to Calmspace we have a draw.

 

 I will tell you some of my phobias so you will be brave and tell me some of yours: Fear of treadmills, fear of windowless spaces, fear of losing creativity, losing my sanity (mind) and fear of escalators. 

 

Please tell us a phobia, and I will email you with its clinical name if it exists (unless you have a phobia about clinical names) and you are then eligible to win one calm space in either Vanilla or Lavender, so specify along with your phobia. There are two winners.

Draw ends  April 22, 2011 (fear of  deadlines— couldn't find a clinical term)

Sissel Tolaas

Editor's Note: Check out the story we posted on CaFleureBon Tolaas' 2006 exhibit the FEAR of Smell — the Smell of FEAR at MIT's List Visual Arts Center (Olfactophobia) by Tim Girvin

My mantra: "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain".

 

 

-Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear, Frank Herbert Dune 1965

 

 – Michelyn Camen, Editor-In-Chief 

Disclaimer: Most of  the technical terms an be found on line unless you have a fear of computers, called Cyberphobia, which means you aren't reading  www.cafleurebon.com or  doing so makes you panic…