PacificNorthwestStudent

Bio

About me

I'm a high school senior living in the Pacific Northwest. I enjoy Art, going out in nature, learning anything about Science. My other hobbies include cooking & baking, writing, and Reading mostly fictional novels and sometimes non-fiction. People who start reading books, regularly, at a young age, continuously develop larger vocabularies. Professionally, I would like to work in a healthcare field, hence the great interest in Science

My Wikipedia Interests

While it is not my first time using Wikipedia, this is my first experience working extensively with this site. I've used Wikipedia references for Science and some Historical projects. If I become more active on Wikipedia in the future, I would like to review or analyze novels. I would also hope to encourage or educate readers and viewers on medicine.

Article Evaluation

Throughout my life, I've been surrounded by people who have fears. They have it to a certain extent; some might say it affects their life tremendously, others might say not so much for them. Even I have grown to fear such things as insects. But I wanted to explore and cover more of unheard phobias, such as the fear of crossing a bridge. I visited the Gephyrophobia article on Wikipedia and found three aspects of it worth commenting on: the lack of study & statistics, the out of date citations, and the 'irrelevant' section of the page.

Medical Background

I've noticed that with the page, it only provides the basis of the phobia. For example, the definition and some signs and symptoms, but it doesn't go further than that. It does not give any substantial medical studies(observations or experimentations), the etiology, diagnosis, mechanisms of what triggered the fear, treatments, and its success rate, etc. In fact, I know that some of the treatments for this phobia include hypnotherapy and cognitive therapy but this page doesn't emphasize that nor does it explain the connection of the phobia to the brain(only briefly mentioned in one of the NY Times sources).

Citations

There are a few citations on the page. Both cited in the paragraph and at the bottom of the page. But because of the lack of multiple scientific or any major research, the sources don't contribute to the reliability of the page. Some of the sources are also out of date, and when I click on some of the links below, the pages are not founded. The page needs major updates and the addition of more sources, that would help expand the coverage of the phobia.

Irrelevant Section

The page also contributes 1/3 of the paragraphs to explain the media portrayal of gephyrophobia. This section of the page seems irrelevant in regards to the topic. This section doesn't provide any substance but perhaps the purpose of this was to demonstrate the effect of this phobia on people or to just enlighten the viewers on this existing condition. But that doesn't equate to a reliable source.

Conclusion

The page is not something I would rely on due to the lack of content. It does supply some of the background information but not adequate to use for a research-based essay or presentation. It cites sources, but most of them are in need of updates and/or dead links. And there are so many pieces of information that would have made this whole page more beneficial to read, such as the scientific aspect, especially with newer technologies and recent knowledge on this fear.