Common Causes
- Papyrophobia: Fear of paper
- Pathophobia: Fear of disease
- Pedophobia: Fear of children
- Philematophobia: Fear of kissing
- Philophobia: Fear of love
- Phobophobia: Fear of phobias
- Podophobia: Fear of feet
- Porphyrophobia: Fear of the color purple
- Pteridophobia: Fear of ferns
- Pteromerhanophobia: Fear of flying
Related Conditions
What is a phobia?
- Panic and fear
- Rapid heartbeat
- Shortness of breath
- Trembling
- A strong desire to get away
What are the most common types of phobias?
What are the top five phobias?
- Social Phobia: The Fear of Judgment or Rejection.
- Arachnophobia: The Fear of Spiders.
- Agoraphobia: The Fear of Open or Crowded Spaces.
- Claustrophobia: The Fear of Tight Spaces.
- Acrophobia: The Fear of Heights.
What are the top 10 phobias?
These factors may increase your risk of specific phobias:
- Your age. Specific phobias can first appear in childhood, usually by age 10, but can occur later in life.
- Your relatives. If someone in your family has a specific phobia or anxiety, you're more likely to develop it, too. ...
- Your temperament. ...
- A negative experience. ...
- Learning about negative experiences. ...
What are the top 5 fears of people?
How do different factors cause certain phobias?
What are the two most common phobias?
The following are just a few of the most commonly diagnosed phobias and how they manifest in patients:Arachnophobia – Arachnophobia is possibly the most well-known of all phobias. ... Ophidiophobia – Ophidiophobia is the fear of snakes. ... Acrophobia – Acrophobia, or fear of heights, affects over 20 million people.More items...•
What are some common specific phobias?
The most common specific phobias include fear of animals (zoophobia), fear of heights (acrophobia), and fear of thunderstorms (astraphobia or brontophobia). At least 5% of people are at least to some degree afraid of blood, injections, or injury. People who have a specific phobia often have two or more phobias.
What is the most common fear today?
1. Social phobias: Fear of Social Interactions. Also known as Social Anxiety Disorder, social phobias are by far the most common fear or phobia our Talkspace therapists see in their clients.
What is the least likely phobia?
What Are the Rarest Phobias?Fear of Walking.Fear of Vomiting.Fear of Peanut Butter.Fear of Mirrors.Fear of Making Decisions.Fear of Long Words.Fear of Chewing Gum.Fear of Phobias.More items...•
What are the 3 most common fears?
The most common phobias include:Trypanophobia: an intense fear of injections.Social phobia: an intense fear of social interactions.Agoraphobia: an intense fear of places that are difficult to escape, sometimes involving a fear of crowded or open spaces.Mysophobia: an intense fear of germs, dirt, and other contaminants.More items...
What is the longest word phobia?
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.
What is the #1 thing people are scared of?
Enclosed spaces Fear of enclosed spaces, or claustrophobia, plagues most people, even those that would not readily list it as their greatest fear. Simple, everyday experiences like riding the elevator to your office can leave many feeling both shaken and stirred.
What are the top 5 biggest fears?
Here are 5 of the most common:1) Claustrophobia: The Fear of Tight Spaces.2) Social Phobia: The Fear of Judgment or Rejection.3) Arachnophobia: The Fear of Spiders.4) Acrophobia: The Fear of Heights.5) Agoraphobia: The Fear of Open or Crowded Spaces.
What is America's biggest phobia?
#1. Glossophobia – The #1 fear in America is the fear of public speaking, with 25% saying they'd prefer to avoid speaking in front of people.
What is the most random fear?
1. Arachibutyrophobia (Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth) Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. While the phenomenon has happened to everyone at one point or another, people with arachibutyrophobia are extremely afraid of it.
What are the most scariest phobias?
Phobias: The ten most common fears people holdAcrophobia: fear of heights. ... Pteromerhanophobia: fear of flying. ... Claustrophobia: fear of enclosed spaces. ... Entomophobia: fear of insects. ... Ophidiophobia: fear of snakes. ... Cynophobia: fear of dogs. ... Astraphobia: fear of storms. ... Trypanophobia: fear of needles.More items...•
What are the 7 rare phobias?
With that said, here are 7 rare but very real phobias you might not know about:Allodoxophobia. ... Decidiophobia. ... Nomophobia. ... Catoptrophobia. ... Chorophobia. ... Ablutophobia. ... Ancraophobia. ... 7 Signs of Self-Sabotage.More items...•
What are the 20 most common phobias?
However, the most common phobias include:Ophidiophobia – fear of snakes.Acrophobia – fear of heights.Aerophobia – fear of flying.Cynophobia – fear of dogs.Astraphobia – fear of thunder and lightning.Trypanophobia – fear of injections.Agoraphobia – fear of being alone.Mysophobia – fear of germs.More items...•
What are the 12 types of phobia?
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 are 50 phobias?
AAblutophobia: Fear of bathing.Achluophobia: Fear of darkness.Acrophobia: Fear of heights.Aerophobia: Fear of flying.Algophobia: Fear of pain.Agoraphobia: Fear of open spaces or crowds.Aichmophobia: Fear of needles or pointed objects.Amaxophobia: Fear of riding in a car.More items...•
What are the top 5 phobias?
Here are 5 of the most common:1) Claustrophobia: The Fear of Tight Spaces.2) Social Phobia: The Fear of Judgment or Rejection.3) Arachnophobia: The Fear of Spiders.4) Acrophobia: The Fear of Heights.5) Agoraphobia: The Fear of Open or Crowded Spaces.
What is a specific phobia?
Specific phobias are an overwhelming and unreasonable fear of objects or situations that pose little real danger but provoke anxiety and avoidance. Unlike the brief anxiety you may feel when giving a speech or taking a test, specific phobias are long lasting, cause intense physical and psychological reactions, and can affect your ability ...
What are the problems that children with phobias face?
Mood disorders. Many people with specific phobias have depression as well as other anxiety disorders. Substance abuse .
What does it feel like to have a phobia?
No matter what specific phobia you have, it's likely to produce these types of reactions: An immediate feeling of intense fear, anxiety and panic when exposed to or even thinking about the source of your fear. Awareness that your fears are unreasonable or exaggerated but feeling powerless to control them.
How do children learn phobias?
This could be an inherited tendency, or children may learn specific phobias by observing a family member's phobic reaction to an object or a situation. Your temperament. Your risk may increase if you're more sensitive, more inhibited or more negative than the norm. A negative experience.
What are some examples of phobias?
Examples of more common terms include acrophobia for the fear of heights and claustrophobia for the fear of confined spaces.
What does "doing everything possible to avoid" mean?
Doing everything possible to avoid the object or situation or enduring it with intense anxiety or fear
When do phobias start?
Specific phobias can first appear in childhood, usually by age 10, but can occur later in life. Your relatives. If someone in your family has a specific phobia or anxiety, you're more likely to develop it, too.
What is social phobia?
Social phobia is an anxiety disorder triggered by social events or interaction. Phobia is a type of anxiety disorder in human beings which is characterized by the persistent fear of objects and situations. Approximately 9% to 18% of people in the US are thought to struggle with one or more phobias. For a fear of an object or situation ...
What is the fear of dirt?
Mysophobia is the fear of dirt due to contamination by bacteria and germs. The phobia is also referred to as verminophobia, germophobia, bacillophobia, or bacteriophobia. Bacteriophobia and bacillophobia specifically refers to the fear of exposure and contamination to bacteria and microbes in general.
What is the fear of dogs called?
Cynophobia. Cynophobia is the fear of dogs. The victim may also be freaked out by just looking at the photos of dogs. More females are affected by this phobia than males. In fact, most adults that have cynophobia may have developed it during childhood, especially between the ages of 5 to 9 years.
How does aerophobia work?
They often try their best to avoid journeys that would involve air travel. In extreme cases, the victims could vomit or get panic attacks at the sight or mention of air travel. They become very irritable and distressed when a planned air travel approaches. Constant air travel helps eliminate aerophobia. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can also be administered.
What is the fear of needles?
An estimated 10% of American adults suffer from trypanophobia.
What is the name of the disorder that is characterized by extreme fear and anxiety of being in a social event or?
8. Social Phobia. Social phobia is also known as social anxiety disorder. It is characterized by extreme fear and anxiety of being in a social event or situation. Social phobic individuals have traits that exceed normal levels of shyness that people might experience when they are in a social situation.
How long does a phobia last?
For a fear of an object or situation to be considered a phobia, it has to be long-lasting, for six months or more. Victims of phobia usually take caution and sometimes even dangerous measures to avoid contact and experience with their cause of fear.
What is NCS R?
The NCS-R is a nationally representative, face-to-face, household survey conducted between February 2001 and April 2003 with a response rate of 70.9%. DSM-IV mental disorders were assessed using a modified version of the fully structured World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WMH-CIDI), a fully structured lay-administered diagnostic interview that generates both International Classification of Diseases, 10 th Revision, and DSM-IV diagnoses. The DSM-IV criteria were used here. The Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS) assessed disability in work role performance, household maintenance, social life, and intimate relationships on a 0–10 scale. Participants for the main interview totaled 9,282 English-speaking, non-institutionalized, civilian respondents. The NCS-R was led by Harvard University.
How many people have phobias?
An estimated 12.5% of U .S. adults experience specific phobia at some time in their lives. 2
What is a specific phobia?
Specific phobia is an intense, irrational fear of something that poses little or no actual danger. Although adults with phobias may realize that these fears are irrational, even thinking about facing the feared object or situation brings on severe anxiety symptoms.
What is the non response rate for adolescents?
The overall adolescent non-response rate was 24.4% . This is made up of non-response rates of 14.1% in the household sample, 18.2% in the un-blinded school sample, and 77.7% in the blinded school sample. Non-response was largely due to refusal (21.3%), which in the household and un-blinded school samples came largely from parents rather than adolescents (72.3% and 81.0%, respectively). The refusals in the blinded school sample, in comparison, came almost entirely (98.1%) from parents failing to return the signed consent postcard.
What percentage of respondents were non-responsible in 2001?
In 2001-2002, non-response was 29.1% of primary respondents and 19.6% of secondary respondents.
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.
What are Phobias?
A phobia is an irrational fear of a situation, animal, or object. Although phobias are overwhelming and stressful, they are unjustified and unreasonable. A person struggling with a phobia will avoid their fear at all costs. This avoidance can be self-destructive and restricting.
What is a specific phobia?
Often co-occurring with other disorders, specific phobias are irrational fears that pose no actual threat. For instance, the common specific phobia of being trapped in small places is claustrophobia. With this phobia, people fear restricted movements, small places, and suffocation. Specific phobias often co-occur with generalized anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Why do people take benzos?
Because benzos are mild tranquilizers, they help reduce anxiety and treat phobias. But, most times, benzos are for short-term treatment of phobias. They are also given at the lowest dosage possible. Common benzos include:
How does social phobia affect everyday life?
Social phobia, also known as a social anxiety disorder, disrupts everyday life because of fear and anxiety. The severe stress of social phobia affects work, school, and relationships. But, the many phobia treatment options, such as therapy and medication for phobias, can help gain confidence hence improving social interactions.
What is the largest age group with phobias?
More than 8.5 percent of adult Americans struggle with specific phobia symptoms. The largest age group with phobias is 45 to 49-year -olds
What is the purpose of CBT?
It’s also useful in treating SUD. The goal of CBT is changing self-defeating thought patterns and unrealistic views of the world.
What are the most common phobias?
According to Current Opinion in Psychiatry, the most common phobias revolve around animals, high places, closed places, being injured, and being alone. Although these are the most common phobias, they are not always the most debilitating.
How are phobias named?
These names themselves are often formed by taking a Greek prefix that represents the fear object and adding the -phobia suffix.
What are the symptoms of a phobia?
Typical symptoms of phobias can include nausea, trembling, rapid heartbeat, feelings of unreality, and being preoccupied with the fear object. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) identifies three different categories of phobias: social phobias, agoraphobia, and specific phobias. 1 When people talk about having a phobia ...
How many people have phobias?
Phobias are one of the most common mental illnesses in the United States. The National Institute of Mental Health suggests that 8% of U.S. adults have some type of phobia. Women are more likely to experience phobias than men.
What is exposure based treatment?
Exposure-based treatments are the first-line approach in the treatment of phobias. In this type of treatment, you are gradually and progressively exposed to what you fear. You might start by just thinking about your phobia trigger and then move slowly toward looking at images of the object and finally being near the object in real life.
What is cognitive behavior therapy?
Often referred to as CBT, cognitive behaviorial therapy involves learning to identify the underlying negative thoughts that contribute to feelings of fear. Once you become better at noticing these thoughts, you can then work on replacing them with more positive, helpful thoughts.
What is in vivo exposure?
In vivo exposure: This involves being exposed to the source of your fear in real life.
What is the fear of being touched?
Androphobia - Fear of men. Anginophobia - Fear of angina or choking. Anthrophobia - Fear of flowers. Anthropophobia - Fear of people or society. Aphenphosmphobia - Fear of being touched. Arachibutyrophobia - Fear of peanut butter. Arachnophobia - Fear of spiders.
