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Page last updated by Dr Elaine Ryan
What are phobias?
Phobias are characterised by fear and anxiety in certain situations where there is little or no real threat.
Many people can manage their phobia by avoiding the thing they fear. Still, it becomes problematic if you have, for example, a needle phobia and need to get blood drawn or get a vaccine.
There are many phobias, and we can categorise them as either a
- specific phobia, or
- complex phobia
Specific phobias are concerned with a fear of something specific, and we can further categorise these phobias around
- animals – spiders, snakes, dogs and cats
- nature – fear of heights, water, thunderstorms
- situations – travelling on trains or planes
- body – fear of blood, vomit, and needles.
Complex phobias are, as their name suggests, more complicated and include
- social phobia, and
- agoraphobia.
More recently, since the occurrence of COVID-19, research (1) has added a Covid phobia to the list. According to recent research, the helplessness experienced by people during the pandemic may have led them to experience fear, anxiety and uncertainty, coupled with worry about their health, careers and future. The unpredictable nature of Covid and the disruption to human behaviour resulting in what was called the new normal increased psychological distress, including phobias.
What are the symptoms of phobias?
Symptoms of a phobia may include intense anxiety and fear when faced with the object or situation that triggers the phobia.
The symptoms are excessive in relation to the particular object, activity or situation.
What causes phobias?
In some cases, we can be taught to be afraid of something when we are children. For example, if we grew up in a home where a parent was afraid of spiders or insects, this may have contributed to a fear reaction over time.
How?
If the parent were afraid of spiders, we would have seen them reacting with fear in the presence of a spider. If the parent had a phobia, we might even have seen them “check” for spiders when entering a room or avoid places where they believed they might encounter a spider.
This may be the beginning of our fear. We react to how other people are feeling. If someone is stressed around us, we can feel that stress. As a child, we look to our parents to learn from them, behave in certain situations, and not touch hot stoves as they can burn us. We pick up and mimic what they do to learn.
We may well have learned to react to spiders with fear.
If you have a needle phobia and a parent who was overly concerned when you received a jag as a child, you may have been taught by the parent (although they do not mean to do this) that getting an injection was something to be afraid of.
You may have had an actual incident before developing a phobia. For example, you may have been bitten by a dog and understandably became cautious around them afterwards. If you could not relax again and perhaps avoided places where you suspected you might encounter a dog, you may have been further teaching your brain to be afraid of dogs.
Our brain pays careful attention to anything that may cause us harm. Injury or pain. It pays attention to anything that may be a threat to us. It does this to protect us the next time we encounter something that may threaten us. It matches the stimulus, for example, the spider, needles, heights, and dogs, with the feeling created in your body – fear.
The next time you encounter, whatever it is that you are afraid of, your brain provides the feeling of fear – a stress response – to help you get out of danger.
What you are afraid of may not represent a real danger or threat and can start to interfere with your daily.
If your phobia is causing you problems, you can teach your brain to relax again and eliminate your fears.
Treatment
The standard treatment is the same as for all anxiety disorders; CBT and exposure therapy.
However, in the past few years, due to what was cited as a lack of access to psychological therapy and the advancement of new technology, Virtual Reality (2) is now being studied as an alternative treatment for phobias.
A to Z of phobias
A
Aphobia: the fear of having a fear or anxiety disorder
Arachnophobia: Fear of spiders. People with this phobia often fear getting close to spiders and may avoid areas with a high concentration of spiders.
Astraphobia: Fear of thunder and lightning
Acrophobia is the fear of heights.
Agoraphobia Fear of open spaces or outdoors. This is one of the most common phobias, affecting around 10% of the population. People with agoraphobia often have a fear that prevents them from leaving their homes or places where they are safe.
Aquaphobia – a fear of water
Autophobia: Fear of being alone, especially in the dark or with unfamiliar people
Astraphobia: Fear of thunder and lightning
B
Bee phobia: known as Apiphobia
Bibliophobia: Fear of books
C
Claustrophobia is a fear of small enclosed spaces and can include anything from a single room to an entire underground complex. Sufferers may feel trapped and have panic attacks in these situations.
Cacophobia: irrational fear of ugliness
D
Dentophobia is the fear of the dentist
Domatophobia: fear of houses
E
Entomophobia is a fear of insects.
G
glossophobia is a fear of speaking up in public
H
Heliophobia is the fear of the sun
Hemophobia is a fear of blood
I
Insectophobia is a fear of insects
L
Leukophobia is a fear of the colour white
M
Mysophobia is a fear of dirt
N
Noctiphobia is a fear of the nighttime
O
Octophobia is an irrational fear of the number 8
Ombrophobia is a fear of the rain
Ophidiophobia is a fear of snames
Ornithophobia is a fear of birds
P
Pathophobia is a fear of disearse
Podophobia is a fear of feet
S
Somniphobia is a fear of sleeping
T
Techophobia is a fear of technology
Tonitrophobia is the fear of thunder
Trypanophobia is a fear of needles
X
Xenophobia is the fear of foreigners
Z
Zoophobia is a fear of animals
References
- Exploring the interrelationship between covid-19 phobia, work-family conflict, family-work conflict, and life satisfaction among school administrators for advancing sustainable management. Targut Karakose, Ramazan Yirci, Stamatios Papadakis. Sustainability (Switzerland) (2021) 10.3390/su13158654
- Recent Progress in Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Phobias: A Systematic Review. Cristina Botella et al. Current Psychiatry Reports (2017) 10.1007/s11920-017-0788-4