What is a Phobia?

According to a recent study, almost 5% of the United States general population suffers from one or more phobias.  Phobias are irrational fears, yet they are not a mental disease.  Phobias probably stem from our natural, ingrained fear response to dangerous or stressful situations.  A phobia can occur when the subconscious brain overreacts to a situation.

Phobias are generally a learned behavioral and emotional response to a past experience.  Simply defined, a phobia is a subconscious emotional conflict within the mind, and is usually a learned behavioral response to a past trauma.  Phobias happen when the mind lets past panic get in the way of a present-day, non-dangerous situation.

Common Phobias

• Claustrophobia:  This is the fear of being in small, enclosed spaces, such as cabinets, closets, or elevators.
• Agoraphobia: The fear of unfamiliar or large open spaces.  This can also be associated with the fear of being in the midst of a crowd.  Shopping malls and city parks are common locations that can cause an agoraphobic person to react negatively.
• Acrophobia: This is the fear of heights.  Nature has programmed all of us to fear very high places, as a survival instinct.  True acrophobia is the fear of all heights, even the second floor of a home or an office building.
• Xenophobia: The fear of the unknown, including the fear of unfamiliar or strange places.  Xenophobia also includes the fear of strangers.
• Mysophobia: This is the fear of germs and dirt.  A mysophobic person is not so much concerned with being clean as they are concerned with not picking up germs and unclean things.
• Arachnophobia: The deep fear of spiders.  This is not only the fear of a physical spider itself, but also of  drawings of spiders, photographs or even the word spider itself.
• Hydrophobia: The fear or water, whether it’s tap water from a faucet or large bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers and oceans.  Hydrophobia is also closely associated with the fear of drowning.
• Aerophobia: This fear of flying is quite common in modern society.  This phobia includes all flying vehicles—helicopters, airplanes, even hang gliders.
• Glossophobia: A common, widespread simple phobia or fear of public speaking, especially in front of large groups.
• Hemaphobia: The fear of blood or bleeding.  This can also include just the sight of blood, and often affects men more than women.
• Autophobia: The fear of solitude or time spent alone.  This can also be defined as the fear of being left alone, for short periods or a lifetime.
• Cynophobia: The fear of dogs.  This can be actual physical contact with a dog, or just walking by one in a pet shop or a neighbor’s yard.  Even the sound of a dog barking can instill fear in a person who suffers from cynophobia.
• Noctiphobia: This is the fear of the night and darkness.  This phobia can be felt by those afflicted indoors with the lights off or when physically outdoors after the sun sets for the night.
• Necrophobia: Fear of death, dying, and dead things themselves. 

Treatment of Phobias

Phobias can be treated and overcome in many ways.  Studies over the past few decades have shown that drugs are ineffective in the treatment of phobias.  A phobia should be treated when it interferes with a person’s daily quality of life.  Phobias, while often thought of lightly, can be serious afflictions and should not be taken lightly. 

A simple dislike of dirty or bacteria-infested areas isn’t a phobia that would necessarily require treatment; a person who can’t clean their house because they themselves would be exposed to dirt in the process is experiencing a loss in the quality of their life and should seek treatment.

Psychotherapy is the most common treatment for those with simple and debilitating phobias alike.  This verbal, conversational therapy sometimes uses a three-sided approach: talk-therapy, education, and group support.  The more a person knows about the causes of their phobias, the more likely they are to understand and develop the ability to overcome them.

Hypnosis has become a common technique for the treatment of phobias.  Certified Clinical Hypnotherapists are trained to deal with many behavioral issues stemming from the psyche—phobias are no exception.

Causes of Phobias

Many experts believe that phobias are directly related to negative childhood traumas, or unpleasant emotional experiences that have become rooted in a person’s psyche, or subconscious mind.  Understanding the cause of a phobia is the key to treating and overcoming it.

Serious phobias that debilitate or routinely and negatively impact a person should be evaluated and treated by a medical or healthcare professional.

Uncommon Phobias

The common phobias usually get the most attention, but people can be afflicted with phobias of a more rare and quixotic nature.  Below are some of the more unusual phobias people may experience.

Phasmophobia: The fear of ghosts and spirits, real or imagined.

  Metrophobia: The fear of poetry or rhyming verse, whether spoken or read silently to oneself.

·        Peladophobia: The fear of contact with bald people, as opposed to the fear of becoming bald.

·        Optophobia: The fear of opening one’s eyes under any circumstances.

·        Cyberphobia: The fear of computer usage or physical proximity to a computer.

·        Brontophobia: The fear of thunder or thunderstorms.  This is not the fear of being caught outside in a storm, which is common, and not a phobia, but the irrational, emotional reaction to a storm.

·        Androphobia: The fear or men or contact with men.

·        Gynophobia: The fear of women or contact with women.

·        Triskaidekaphobia: The fear of the number thirteen, or of a Friday that falls on the thirteenth day of the month.  Uncommon and superstitious as this may sound, most hotels do not have a thirteenth room or floor!

·        Alektorophobia: The fear of chickens in any setting.

·        Anthrophobia: A fear of flowers.

·        Automatonophobia: The fear of a ventriloquist’s dummy.

While some of these more uncommon fears may sound comical or implausible, people who have these phobias feel the effects as powerfully as those who suffer the more common and understandable phobias.  A fear of the number thirteen or a chicken may sound laughable to the phobia-free among us, but they can be just as serious as a fear of flying to an aerophobic person.