Surprising Facts About Phobias: What You Need To Know

Fear vs. Phobias: Understanding Phobias

The word “phobia” comes from the Greek word phobos, meaning fear or horror. But having a diagnosable phobia is more than just being fearful.

Fears of specific objects or situations are widespread. More than 70%Trusted Source of Americans reports having one or more “unreasonable” fears. This doesn’t mean, however, that 70% of the public has been diagnosed with phobias.

FearsTrusted Source is:

• an emotional response to a real or perceived threat
• experienced by everyone at some point
• part of how we protect ourselves
• both emotional and physical

Phobia, unlike fear, is defined by:

• intense and excessive anxiety about a feared object or situation
• feeling as if fear of the object or situation is holding you back
• avoiding the feared object or situation

Though plenty of people would be startled or even shriek at the sight of a snake slithering across their foot, not everyone would feel this fear holding them back or impairing them.

Someone with a true phobia of snakes would feel intense anxiety when snakes might be present or avoid the situation altogether.

If you have a phobia, you could experience physical symptoms like:

• rapid heartbeat
• shortness of breath
• panic
• tremors
• sweating
• nausea

Are Phobias Common?

Phobias are the most common type of anxiety disorder in the United States.

The estimated prevalence of specific phobia in the United States varies by study. But generally, between 7–12.5%Trusted Source of adults may live with a specific phobia.

About 6.8% of adults live with social anxiety disorder, though new studiesTrusted Source suggests the actual number could be much higher.

About 1.3%Trusted Source of U.S. adults experiences agoraphobia.

Phobias typically develop during childhoodTrusted Source or the teen years, though this isn’t always the case. Older adults could develop phobias as a result of specific experiences or medical conditions.

Women are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with a specific phobia. Though the data is less consistent, ratesTrusted Source of social anxiety disorder also appears to be higher in women, while prevalenceTrusted Source of agoraphobia is similar across the sexes.

Women tend to show more intense signs of phobia and are more likely to have multiple types of anxiety disorders. But men with phobias are more likely to experience problems with substance use than women.

Curiously, rates of phobias are consistently highestTrusted Source in the United States than in other countries. This could be explained by cultural differences or diagnostic testing catered to Americans. More research into the differing rates of phobias by country is needed.

Types Of Phobias

Phobias are generally broken down into three diagnoses:

• specific phobia
• social anxiety disorder (social phobia)
• agoraphobia

Specific phobia

About 19 million adults in the United States live with a specific phobia, making it the most common phobia diagnosis.

If you have a specific phobia, you may have strong feelings of anxiety or panic about a specific stimulus. These feelings can make it difficult (and sometimes impossible) to function as usual.

A total of 21.9%Trusted Source of adults with specific phobia experience serious impairment. This means the phobia has a bigger impact on the way they live day-to-day.

Avoiding the stimulus reduces symptoms of distress for many people with the phobia, but the condition is unlikely to go away over time without any treatment.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), specific phobias are typically broken down into five subcategories:

• Blood, injection, and injury. Including fear of needles, blood, or wounds.
• Natural environment. Including fear of heights, natural disasters, the dark, or water.
• Animals. Includes fear of dogs, cats, snakes, spiders, birds, sharks, and other animals.
• Situational. Including fear of being in an enclosed space, flying, or using public transportation.
• Other. Includes fear of objects or situations that don’t fit in any of the other categories.

Most people with specific phobias fear more than one object or situation.

Some common — and less common — phobias include:

• achluophobia: fear of darkness
• acrophobia: fear of heights
• aerophobia: fear of flying
• aquaphobia: fear of water
• belonephobia: fear of needles
• claustrophobia: fear of enclosed spaces
• coulrophobia: fear of clowns
• cynophobia: fear of dogs
• dentophobia: fear of dentists
• ochlophobia: fear of crowds
• heliophobia: fear of the sun
• hemophobia: fear of blood
• musophobia: fear of mice
• mysophobia: fear of germs and contamination
• nyctophobia: fear of the dark
• ophidiophobia: fear of snakes
• pyrophobia: fear of fire
• trypanophobia: fear of holes

Your level of distress may change depending on how long you’re exposed to the stimulus and how close you are to it.

Social anxiety disorder

If you have a social anxiety disorder, social situations can cause intense anxiety. You may fear being judged negatively by the people around you, or worry about blushing, sweating, or stumbling over words.

Social anxiety disorder can impact functioning in your workplace, school, or social events. Concern over breaking social norms, offending others, or coming across in a negative light can cause many people with a social anxiety disorder to avoid these situations altogether.

Even doing everyday activities, like eating or drinking in front of people, talking to a cashier, or using a public restroom can cause intense anxiety if you have social anxiety.

Agoraphobia

Closely related to specific phobia, agoraphobia is the sometimes overwhelming fear of situations and places that may be difficult to escape.

If you have agoraphobia, you’re likely to avoid any settings that bring on these feelings of panic, such as being outside of the house alone or being in a crowd.

In some cases, this condition can make it harder to leave home, which could impact day-to-day life for some people.

Diagnosing phobias

Phobias are usually diagnosed by a psychologist or other mental health professional. Even though phobias are a common anxiety disorder, many people don’t get a formal diagnosis.

According to the DSM-5, a specific phobia diagnosis requires:

• fear and anxiety in the presence of a particular situation or object
• fear and anxiety nearly every time you’re in contact with the situation or object
• avoiding the object or situation if possible, or strong anxiety if you can’t
• fear or anxiety that’s disproportionate to the actual danger
• at least 6 months of symptoms
• the situation or object causes you distress and makes day-to-day life harder to manage

Children often have temporary fears that don’t cause much impairment. In these cases, specific phobias shouldn’t be diagnosed.

If you have any of these symptoms or think you may have a phobia, reaching out to your doctor is a good first step. They may refer you to a mental health specialist.

Causes and risk factors for phobias

Like many other anxiety disorders, the exact cause of phobias isn’t well known. Still, scientists believe potential causes of phobias are:

• Temperamental. The tendency to feel uncomfortable emotions, being withdrawn, and a fear of being seen negatively are connected to the development of phobias.
• Environmental. Bad or traumatic experiences with the feared object often happen before a phobia comes up. For example, getting stuck in a tight space could cause claustrophobia.
• Genetic. Phobias often run in families. Some types, like animal and situational phobias, are about 30%Trusted Source heritable. Brain structures and connectivity could also contribute to phobias.

Other risk factors for developing phobias include:

• parental loss or separation
• physical or sexual abuse
• having another mental health condition
• substance use
• experiencing or witnessing traumatic events

What conditions occur with phobias?

Around 60%Trusted Source of people with a lifetime phobia also have another mental health condition.

In adults, phobias tend to coexist with medical conditions such as:

• coronary heart disease
• immune disorders
• thyroid diseases
• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

Between 10–17%Trusted Source of people with COPD also have a specific phobia.

Phobias are also strong predictors of other mental health disorders and substance use.

Up to 70%Trusted Source of people with social phobia also live with major depression (MD), making MD the most commonly cooccurring condition with social anxiety disorder.

About 16%Trusted Source of people with a social anxiety disorder also has substance use disorder. Though the reason for this isn’t entirely clear, it’s likely that substances are used to manage the strong emotions caused by the phobia.

People with a specific phobia are significantly more likelyTrusted Source to attempt suicide than those without the diagnosis. But co-occurring anxiety and mood disorders could also contribute.

Is it possible to overcome a phobia?

Overcoming your phobia is possible. Many methods can reduce or eliminate the symptoms of phobias. Some common treatments include:

• Systematic desensitization treatment. This involves using mental imagery and anxiety-managing techniques to move from least to most feared stimuli. This can be done with the stimulus actually present, on a computer, or through a virtual realityTrusted Source.
• Therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) includes both exposure to feared stimuli and building up more constructive ways of thinking.
• Medications. Though no medication can entirely remove a phobia, beta-blockers, benzodiazepines, antidepressants, or D-cycloserineTrusted Source may be helpful in reducing anxiety and other symptoms.

Children and teens are more likely to overcome their phobias. In adults, about 80% of new phobias become chronic. It’s still possible, though, to recover from phobias as an adult, especially if you find a treatment that helps.

In summary, if you or someone you know is living with a phobia that’s getting in the way of daily life, the first step is often reaching out to a doctor. Getting the right treatment for you can help reduce your symptoms and the dread and anxiety you may feel. I hope you find this article helpful.