What is phobia?
Phobia refers to an extreme or irrational fear of certain situations, objects, place, thing, or people. They are much more than normal fear and around 50 million people in the US have a phobia.
What are the most unusual phobias?
The extreme fear of being anxious due to a particular person or situation is called phobophobia. In simple terms, it is the fear of fear. Such people fear of embarrassing themselves while being anxious. 38. Triskaidekaphobia Ranking the list of most unusual phobias, triskaidekaphobia is the fear of number “13.”
Why do adults with phobias struggle to overcome their fears?
The distress associated with the phobia and/or the need to avoid the object or situation can significantly interfere with the person's ability to function. Adults with a specific phobia recognize that the fear is excessive or unreasonable, yet are unable to overcome it.
Do adults with phobias have to recognize irrationality?
In previous DSM editions, adults with specific phobias had to recognize that their fears are out of proportion to reality, but children did not. The 2013 edition now says the adults no longer have to recognize the irrationality of their behavior to receive a diagnosis.
What is an intense and irrational fear called?
A phobia is an excessive and irrational fear reaction. If you have a phobia, you may experience a deep sense of dread or panic when you encounter the source of your fear. The fear can be of a certain place, situation, or object. Unlike general anxiety disorders, a phobia is usually connected to something specific.
What is intense fear called?
A phobia is an intense fear of something that, in reality, poses little or no actual danger. Common phobias and fears include closed-in places, heights, highway driving, flying insects, snakes, and needles. However, you can develop phobias of virtually anything.
What are the most irrational fears?
Here are some of the most unique, quirky, yet extremely relatable irrational fears people usually foster.Fear Of Showers And Bathtubs. ... Fear Of Falling Down A Flight Of Stairs. ... Fear Of Falling Into A Manhole. ... Fear Of Bugs Getting Into Your Ear. ... Fear Of Having An Airplane Fall On You. ... Fear Of Finding A Snake In The Pot.More items...•
What does irrational fear mean?
[fo´be-ah] a persistent, irrational, intense fear of a specific object, activity, or situation (the phobic stimulus), fear that is recognized as being excessive or unreasonable by the individual himself.
What is the name of fear?
A phobia is an irrational fear of something that's unlikely to cause harm. The word itself comes from the Greek word“phobos,” which means “fear” or “horror.”
What are 3 types of phobias?
There are three main groups of phobias which include: Specific (simple) phobias, which are the most common and focus on specific objects. Social phobia, which causes extreme anxiety in social or public situations, and. Agoraphobia, which is the fear of being alone in public places from which there is no easy escape.
What is the most common fear?
Social phobias are the most common type of fear. They are considered an anxiety disorder and include excessive self-consciousness in social situations. Some people can fear being judged so much they avoid specific situations, like eating in front of others. Up to one in 20 people have a social phobia.
What are irrational thoughts?
It refers to something that's not based on reason, logic, or understanding. From a psychological perspective, irrational thoughts: are not based in evidence. operate mostly on assumptions. are rooted in beliefs based on past experiences — positive or negative.
What are common fears?
Common phobias include:fear of spiders, or arachnophobia.fear of flying in an airplane, or aviophobia.fear of elevators, or elevatophobia.fear of heights, or acrophobia.fear of enclosed rooms, or claustrophobia.fear of crowded public places, or agoraphobia.fear of embarrassment, or katagelophobia.
What is Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia?
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is one of the longest words in the dictionary — and, in an ironic twist, is the name for a fear of long words. Sesquipedalophobia is another term for the phobia. The American Psychiatric Association doesn't officially recognize this phobia.
What is Xanthophobia fear?
Xanthophobia is the fear of the color yellow.
What are the 12 phobias?
Top 12 Most Common Phobias in AmericaMysophobia- fear of germs or dirt.Pteromerhanophobia- fear of flying.Social phobias- fear of social situations and people.Trypanophobia- fear of injections.Astraphobia-fear of thunder and lightening.Cynophobia- fear of dogs.Agoraphobia- fear of not being able to escape 8.More items...•
What Is A Phobia?
Phobias are irrational fears of objects, concepts, or situations that usually pose no real danger.
How To Treat Irrational Fears
Phobias can be extremely difficult to treat because they often require exposure therapy (a technique that exposes people to their fears) for treatment. If you suffer from a specific phobia, you may be able to use a related substitution technique (replacing irrational fear with something less harmful and more controllable).
Conclusion
If you are afraid of something, but it doesn’t make sense to be scared of this fear, then you have an irrational fear. These fears can cause people great distress and worry because they cannot seem to get the thoughts out of their heads. This article will help you identify if your anxiety is rational or not.
A Word From Mantra Care
Your mental health — your psychological, emotional, and social well-being — has an impact on every aspect of your life. Positive mental health essentially allows you to effectively deal with life’s everyday challenges.
What is a phobia?
A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder that causes an individual to experience extreme, irrational fear about a situation, living creature, place, or object. When a person has a phobia, they will often shape their lives to avoid what they consider to be dangerous. The imagined threat is greater than any actual threat posed by the cause ...
How does a phobia become diagnosable?
A phobia becomes diagnosable when a person begins organizing their lives around avoiding the cause of their fear. It is more severe than a normal fear reaction. People with a phobia have an overpowering need to avoid anything that triggers their anxiety.
What are the symptoms of a phobia?
They are common across the majority of phobias: a sensation of uncontrollable anxiety when exposed to the source of fear. a feeling that the source of that fear must be avoided at all costs.
Why do people not seek treatment for phobias?
Many people with specific phobias will not seek treatment as these fears are often manageable .
What are the most common phobias?
The most common specific phobias in the U.S. include: 1 Claustrophobia: Fear of being in constricted, confined spaces 2 Aerophobia: Fear of flying 3 Arachnophobia: Fear of spiders 4 Driving phobia: Fear of driving a car 5 Emetophobia: Fear of vomiting 6 Erythrophobia: Fear of blushing 7 Hypochondria: Fear of becoming ill 8 Zoophobia: Fear of animals 9 Aquaphobia: Fear of water 10 Acrophobia: Fear of heights 11 Blood, injury, and injection (BII) phobia: Fear of injuries involving blood 12 Escalaphobia: Fear of escalators 13 Tunnel phobia: Fear of tunnels
How many people have phobias?
This can prevent them from functioning normally and sometimes leads to panic attacks. In the United States, approximately 19 million people have phobias.
How does anxiety feel when you have a phobia?
headache. A feeling of anxiety can be produced simply by thinking about the object of the phobia. In younger children, parents may observe that they cry, become very clingy, or attempt to hide behind the legs of a parent or an object. They may also throw tantrums to show their distress.
What is a specific phobia?
A specific phobia is an intense and irrational fear of a specified object or situation. A phobia is an excessive and overwhelming fear that results in avoidance or extreme distress. Some phobias are centered on a specific fear object, while others are complex and tied to different situations or circumstances.
What is a situational phobia?
Situational type: This type of phobia centers on fears triggered by specific situations. These include the fear of washing (ablutophobia) and enclosed spaces (claustrophobia).
How long does a phobia last?
Six months duration: In children and adults, the duration of symptoms must last for at least six months. Not caused by another disorder: Many anxiety disorders have similar symptoms.
What are the different types of phobias?
There are five types of specific phobias: 3. Natural/environment type: These are phobias of nature, weather, and environmental events or situations. These can include the fear of thunder and lightning (astraphobia) or water (aquaphobia). Injury type: This type of fear is related to a fear of physical harm or injury.
What is the DSM-5 for phobias?
Therapists cannot use a lab test to make this diagnosis, so they and other mental health professionals consult the DSM-5 ( Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 5 th Edition ). This guide provides diagnostic criteria for specific phobia from the American Psychiatric Association: 3. Unreasonable, excessive fear: The person exhibits excessive ...
What is excessive fear?
Unreasonable, excessive fear: The person exhibits excessive or unreasonable, persistent and intense fear triggered by a specific object or situation.
Can phobias be debilitating?
While specific phobias can be serious and debilitating, effective treatments are available. These can help reduce or even eliminate symptoms. They include:
What is the fear of people?
An unwarranted, extreme, and irrational fear of people and the society is called Anthropophobia. This phobia is prevalent in around 10% of the people in the US. It is different from other social phobias like glossophobia, since the fear here is constant, irrespective of any social situation. They avoid social interactions and might even keep family at bay since they perceive everyone as a potential threat. Symptoms include thoughts of getting embarrassed at social gatherings, onset of panic before the gatherings, and nausea, crying, and sweating.
What is it called when you see a chicken?
A condition where mere image or sight of a chicken induces irrational fear is termed as alektorophobia. A survey conducted shows that nearly 5% of the adult humans suffer from this. People with this phobia tend to go at great lengths to avoid encountering chickens. However, when they see an image or actual chicken, they might develop restlessness, dry mouth, nausea, and distorted articulation abilities.
What is a phobia?
Feb 21, 2017. List of phobias. Phobia refers to an extreme or irrational fear of certain situations, objects, place, thing, or people. They are much more than normal fear and around 50 million people in the US have a phobia. Mentioned below is the list of phobias, with their common triggers and symptoms.
What is it called when you are afraid of being alone?
An irrational fear of being alone is called monophobia. Many individuals experience this phobia and show extreme insecurity, anxiety, and depression when left alone. As a result, they avoid such situations to a great extent. However, when such a situation arises they might experience dizziness, nausea, inability to distinguish between reality and unreality, lightheadedness, fear of fainting, and chest pain. A negligible percentage of people actually suffer from this phobia.
What is it called when you think you are going to die?
An extreme fear or irrational thoughts of death is called thanatophobia. It is prevalent in around 20% of the world population. The individual fears leaving the house owing to this phobia. A mere talk or thought of death could trigger symptoms like dizziness, choking, numbness, sadness, anger, repetition of gory thoughts, and disorientation.
What is it called when you fear God?
A persistent and unhealthy fear of the God, which affects the day to day life of the sufferer and his family is called Theophobia. Such a person avoids going to religious places like churches and worshiping idols. When put in an unavoidable situation, the person tries to run away from the place and has a full-blown panic attack. Studies show that between 5 and 13% of the population in the US suffers from this phobia.
What is the fear of unknowns?
Commonly known as “the fear of unknowns”, xenophobia is a fear induced when a person, or group of people, or situations are perceived as strange. Apart from common physical symptoms like in other phobias, the person escapes from the situation involving meeting new people or encountering new situations, and a severe panic attack triggered by a mere thought of strangers. The percentage of this phobia greatly differs from one country to another, depending on their social well-being. In the US, about 14% of the total population suffers from this phobia.
How Common Are Specific Phobias?
The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that about 5%-12% of Americans have phobias. Specific phobias affect an estimated 6.3 million adult Americans.
Can Specific Phobias Be Prevented?
Although many specific phobias cannot be prevented, early intervention and treatment following a traumatic experience, such as an animal attack, may prevent the person from developing a severe anxiety disorder.
What is the best medication for phobias?
Medication: For situational phobias that produce intense, temporary anxiety (for example, a fear of flying), short-acting sedative-hypnotics (benzodiazepines) such as alprazolam ( Xanax) or lorazepam ( Ativan ) may be prescribed on an occasional, as-needed basis to help reduce anticipatory anxiety. Unless a phobia is accompanied by other conditions such as depression or panic disorder, long-term or daily medicines are generally not used. Occasionally, serotonergic antidepressants such as escitalopram oxalate ( Lexapro ), fluoxetine ( Prozac ), and paroxetine ( Paxil) may have potential value for some patients. More recently, common blood pressure drugs called beta-blockers have been used to treat anxiety related to specific phobias.
How to tell if you have a phobia?
Symptoms of specific phobias may include: 1 Excessive or irrational fear of a specific object or situation 2 Avoiding the object or situation or enduring it with great distress 3 Physical symptoms of anxiety or a panic attack, such as a pounding heart, nausea or diarrhea, sweating, trembling or shaking, numbness or tingling, problems with breathing (shortness of breath), feeling dizzy or lightheaded, feeling like you are choking 4 Anticipatory anxiety, which involves becoming nervous ahead of time about being in certain situations or coming into contact with the object of your phobia; for example, a person with a fear of dogs may become anxious about going for a walk because they may see a dog along the way.
What is the fear of a specific object?
Excessive or irrational fear of a specific object or situation. Avoiding the object or situation or enduring it with great distress. Physical symptoms of anxiety or a panic attack, such as a pounding heart, nausea or diarrhea, sweating, trembling or shaking, numbness or tingling, problems with breathing (shortness of breath), ...
What is a specific phobia?
Specific Phobias. The term "phobia" refers to a group of anxiety symptoms brought on by certain objects or situations. A specific phobia, formerly called a simple phobia, is a lasting and unreasonable fear caused by the presence or thought of a specific object or situation that usually poses little or no actual danger.
What is it called when you are nervous about something?
Anticipatory anxiety, which involves becoming nervous ahead of time about being in certain situations or coming into contact with the object of your phobia; for example, a person with a fear of dogs may become anxious about going for a walk because they may see a dog along the way.