• Cancer
    • Colorectal Cancer
    • Lymphoma
    • Penile Cancer
    • Uterine Cancer
    • Breast Cancer
    • Stomach Cancer
    • Bone Cancer
    • Cervical Cancer
    • Brain Cancer
    • Leukemia (Blood Cells Cancer)
    • Endometrial Cancer
    • Neuroblastoma
    • Kidney Cancer
  • Brain
    • Stroke
    • Dyslexia
    • Down Syndrome
    • Cerebral Palsy
    • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
    • Alcoholism
    • Autism
    • Multiple Sclerosis
    • Epilepsy
    • Schizophrenia
    • Insomnia
    • Alzheimer’s Disease
    • Parkinson’s Disease
    • Migraine
    • Phobia
  • Heart
    • Hypertension
    • Endocarditis
    • Coronary Heart Disease
    • Myocardial Infarction (Heart Attack)
    • Arrhythmia
    • Angina
    • Enlarged heart
    • Pericarditis
    • Venous Thromboembolism (VTE)
    • Peripheral Arterial Disease
    • Ventricular Septal Defect
    • Hypotension (Low Blood Pressure)
  • Urinary Health
    • Chronic Kidney Disease
    • Diabetic Nephropathy
    • Urinary Tract Infection
    • Prostatitis
    • Urinary Incontinence
    • Enlarged Prostate
    • Blood in Urine (Hematuria)
    • Kidney Stones
    • Erectile Dysfunction
    • Cystitis
  • Eye
    • Myopia
    • Glaucoma
    • Dry Eyes
    • Conjunctivitis
    • Cataracts
    • Color Blindness
    • Macular Degeneration
    • Diabetic Retinopathy
    • Retinal Detachment
    • Keratoconus
  • Skin
    • Shingles
    • Rosacea
    • Eczema
    • Vitiligo
    • Psoriasis
    • Scabies
    • Acne
    • Dandruff
  • Women Health
    • Uterine Fibroids
    • Pregnancy
    • Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)
    • Vaginitis
    • Endometriosis
    • Preeclampsia
    • Menstruation (Period)
    • Ovarian Cyst
    • Pelvic Inflammatory Disease
  • Digestive Health
    • Celiac Disease
    • Hemorrhoids
    • Achalasia
    • Diarrhea
    • Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GRED)
    • Diverticulitis
    • Liver Cirrhosis
    • Irritable Bowel Syndrome
    • Constipation
    • Appendicitis
    • Ulcerative Colitis
    • Gallstones
    • Crohn’s Disease
  • Bone Health
    • Osteoarthritis
    • Osteoporosis
    • Bone Cyst
    • Osteomyelitis (Bone Infection)
    • Sciatica
    • Fibromyalgia
    • Calcium Deficiency (Hypocalcemia)
    • Gout
    • Rickets in Children
    • Spinal Stenosis
  • Dental
    • Periodontal Disease
    • Dental Caries
    • Bad Breath
    • Sensitive Teeth
    • Dry Mouth
    • Supernumerary Teeth
    • Bruxism (Teeth Grinding)
    • Tooth Loss (Edentulism)
    • Impacted Tooth (Tooth Impaction)
  • More
    • Hyperthyroidism
    • Rhinitis
    • Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
    • Thalassemia
    • Hepatitis
    • Sinusitis
    • Acromegaly
    • Health and Wellness
    • Achondroplasia
    • Diabetes Mellitus
    • Asthma
    • Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19)
    • Sleep Apnea
    • Tuberculosis

Write For Us

What's Hot

How Big Are Kidney Stones?

February 3, 2021
Gallstones without a gallbladder image

Can you Get Gallstones without a Gallbladder?

July 12, 2022
Dyslexia

What Do Words Look Like to a Dyslexic Person?

February 3, 2021
Facebook Twitter YouTube
DiseaseFix – World's Largest Disease Information Center
  • Write For Us
Facebook Twitter YouTube
  • Cancer
    • Colorectal Cancer
    • Lymphoma
    • Penile Cancer
    • Uterine Cancer
    • Breast Cancer
    • Stomach Cancer
    • Bone Cancer
    • Cervical Cancer
    • Brain Cancer
    • Leukemia (Blood Cells Cancer)
    • Endometrial Cancer
    • Neuroblastoma
    • Kidney Cancer
  • Brain
    • Stroke
    • Dyslexia
    • Down Syndrome
    • Cerebral Palsy
    • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
    • Alcoholism
    • Autism
    • Multiple Sclerosis
    • Epilepsy
    • Schizophrenia
    • Insomnia
    • Alzheimer’s Disease
    • Parkinson’s Disease
    • Migraine
    • Phobia
  • Heart
    • Hypertension
    • Endocarditis
    • Coronary Heart Disease
    • Myocardial Infarction (Heart Attack)
    • Arrhythmia
    • Angina
    • Enlarged heart
    • Pericarditis
    • Venous Thromboembolism (VTE)
    • Peripheral Arterial Disease
    • Ventricular Septal Defect
    • Hypotension (Low Blood Pressure)
  • Urinary Health
    • Chronic Kidney Disease
    • Diabetic Nephropathy
    • Urinary Tract Infection
    • Prostatitis
    • Urinary Incontinence
    • Enlarged Prostate
    • Blood in Urine (Hematuria)
    • Kidney Stones
    • Erectile Dysfunction
    • Cystitis
  • Eye
    • Myopia
    • Glaucoma
    • Dry Eyes
    • Conjunctivitis
    • Cataracts
    • Color Blindness
    • Macular Degeneration
    • Diabetic Retinopathy
    • Retinal Detachment
    • Keratoconus
  • Skin
    • Shingles
    • Rosacea
    • Eczema
    • Vitiligo
    • Psoriasis
    • Scabies
    • Acne
    • Dandruff
  • Women Health
    • Uterine Fibroids
    • Pregnancy
    • Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)
    • Vaginitis
    • Endometriosis
    • Preeclampsia
    • Menstruation (Period)
    • Ovarian Cyst
    • Pelvic Inflammatory Disease
  • Digestive Health
    • Celiac Disease
    • Hemorrhoids
    • Achalasia
    • Diarrhea
    • Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GRED)
    • Diverticulitis
    • Liver Cirrhosis
    • Irritable Bowel Syndrome
    • Constipation
    • Appendicitis
    • Ulcerative Colitis
    • Gallstones
    • Crohn’s Disease
  • Bone Health
    • Osteoarthritis
    • Osteoporosis
    • Bone Cyst
    • Osteomyelitis (Bone Infection)
    • Sciatica
    • Fibromyalgia
    • Calcium Deficiency (Hypocalcemia)
    • Gout
    • Rickets in Children
    • Spinal Stenosis
  • Dental
    • Periodontal Disease
    • Dental Caries
    • Bad Breath
    • Sensitive Teeth
    • Dry Mouth
    • Supernumerary Teeth
    • Bruxism (Teeth Grinding)
    • Tooth Loss (Edentulism)
    • Impacted Tooth (Tooth Impaction)
  • More
    • Hyperthyroidism
    • Rhinitis
    • Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
    • Thalassemia
    • Hepatitis
    • Sinusitis
    • Acromegaly
    • Health and Wellness
    • Achondroplasia
    • Diabetes Mellitus
    • Asthma
    • Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19)
    • Sleep Apnea
    • Tuberculosis
DiseaseFix – World's Largest Disease Information Center
Home » Brain and Nervous System Diseases » Phobia » Different Types of Phobias

Different Types of Phobias

Sana MasroorBy Sana Masroor7 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email
Contents Hide
1 What Does Phobia Mean?
2 Symptoms of Phobia
3 What are the Different Types of Phobias?
4 List of Phobias
5 How Do Doctors Diagnose Phobias?
6 Treatment Options for Phobias
7 How Can People Cope With Phobias?
8 Frequently Asked Questions

What Does Phobia Mean?

A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder in which there is a persistent, excessive and irrational fear reaction.

A person having a phobia either tries to avoid the thing that triggers the fear, or encounters it with great anxiety and distress. The person may not experience phobia until he/she comes in contact with the source of the fear. The fear can be of a specific place, situation, or object.

The impact of a phobia can range from irritating to severely disabling. People with phobia find that their fear is excessive and unrealistic but they can’t help anything about it. Such fears can interfere with their work, school, office and personal relationships.

Phobias often start in children or teens, and continue into adulthood.

Approximately, 19 million people in United States have a phobia that causes difficulty in some way in their lives. You should consult your doctor if you have a fear that prevents you from leading your fullest life.

Symptoms of Phobia

The symptoms of phobias may include:

  • Excessive and irrational fear of an object or situation
  • Avoiding the object or fearful situation
  • Facing the fearful situation with great distress
  • Anxiety or a panic attack symptoms such as sweating, diarrhea, trembling or shaking, increased heartbeat problems with breathing (shortness of breath), feeling dizzy and sometimes unconsciousness.

What are the Different Types of Phobias?

There are majorly 3 types of phobias:

Specific Phobia

It is also termed as simple phobia. People with specific phobia, may have fear of specific animals (such as dogs, snakes), people (such as clowns and doctors), places (such as dark places, hill stations) or situations (such as flying in a plane, and lightening).

These conditions may be partly genetic (inherited) and seem to run in families.

Some unusual specific phobias may include alektorophobia (fear of chickens), onomatophobia (fear of names), pogonophobia (fear of beards), nephophobia (fear of clouds), cryophobia(fear of ice or cold).

Social Phobia

People with social phobia may fear from social places where they may feel humiliated, and embarrassed. These types of people specially become panic when unknown people are involved.

The fear may hinder their performances when they have to present a lecture, and business presentation. People who have a shy nature since their childhood and who have some negative social experiences in childhood are mostly found with this phobia.

Agoraphobia

Agoraphobia is the fear of being in places where a person finds one difficult in and sometimes may also feel embarrassed to make a quick exit.

These types of people mostly avoid going to a movie, riding over a bus or train and attending conferences. People with agoraphobia likely develop anxious and panic symptoms like trembling, sweating etc.

Check out Other Trusted Resources on Phobias

According to a 1998 survey of more than 8,000 respondents published in the British Journal of Psychiatry Trusted Source, it was found that some of the most common phobias include.

Acrophobia

Acrophobia refers to a fear of heights. You might feel dizzy, increased sweating, chest pain or tightness, shaking and trembling when faced with heights and increased heartbeat.

The cause of acrophobia may develop in response to a traumatic experience of falling from heights.

Aerophobia

Aerophobia refers to the fear of flying either in helicopters and airplanes and other flying vehicles. Specifically, there is no cause of aerophobia but it is believed that excessive exposure to media that shows plane crashes and other flight related incidents may play a role.

Astraphobia

Astraphobia refers to the abnormal fear of thunder and lightning. This phobia can develop in both humans and animals.

Symptoms of astraphobia may include: panic attacks that may include sweating, shaking, nausea and crying, before or during a storm.

Autophobia

Autophobia refers to the fear of being alone. People with autophobia find it difficult to being alone, even in their own comfortable places like home. It can cause them to develop anxiety and panic attack.

Claustrophobia

Claustrophobia is a type of situation phobia which is caused due to a fear of crowded and closed spaces.

The phobia may occur to such people who encountered situations like getting stuck in a crowded elevator, locked in a room without window, or driving on a heavy traffic highway.

Hemophobia

Hemophobia refers to the abnormal and persistent fear of blood. Hemophobia may occur in people who have a previous negative experience with blood.

People who have gone through a traumatic injury or illness that leads to a major loss of blood may be at an increased risk.

Hydrophobia

Hydrophobia is the fear of water in which there is an excessive fear of something which cannot harm the person in real.

People with this type of phobia may fear from any source of water like a bath tub, river and an ocean.

Ophidiophobia

Ophidiophobia is the fear of snakes. If you have this phobia, you may even be unable to look at photographs or videos in which snakes appear.

If you have mild ophidiophobia, you may fear with large or venomous snakes. If your phobia is more severe, you may fear from smaller snakes as well.

Zoophobia

Zoophobia refers to the fear of dangerous and life threatening animals. Usually zoophobia cases are mostly found in females.

A person can develop zoophobia if he/she was ever attacked or hurt by animals, or saw someone else in such a condition.

List of Phobias

Achluophobia Fear of darkness
Acrophobia Fear of heights
Algophopia Fear of pain
Arachnophobia Fear of spiders
Amathophobia Fear of dust
Ailurophobia Fear of cats
Agarophobia Fear of public place
Bibliophobia Fear of books
Barophobia Fear of gravity
Chromophobia Fear of colors
Dendrophobia Fear of trees
Emetophobia Fear of vomiting
Genophobia Fear of sex
Ochlophobia Fear of crowds
Ornithophobia Fear of birds
Pnigophobia Fear of choking
Pteronophobia Fear of feathers
Pyrophobia Fear of fire
Trycophobia Fear of holes
Venustraphobia Fear of beautiful women
Wiccaphobia Fear of witches and witchcraft
Xenophobia Fear of strangers

How Do Doctors Diagnose Phobias?

If a doctor suspects that you may have a phobia, you will likely be asked a number of questions for the doctor to explore all the symptoms you are having. You may need to have a medical interview and physical examination.

A phobia may develop along with a number of other mental-health problems, including schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), depression, and substance-abuse disorders.

Treatment Options for Phobias

Usually, psychotherapy and medications are preferred as a treatment for phobia. The treatment particularly includes:

  • Desensitization is a mental-health therapy that involves the regulated exposure of the person with phobias to situations that are increasingly similar to the ones they are experiencing while having phobia. These situations can either include actual or computer-generated anxiety-provoking stimuli.
  • Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) helps the phobic patient to relieve from symptoms by changing their pattern or way of thinking about their phobia.
  • Medications when used in combination with talk therapies like desensitization and CBT are most effective in treatment. The medications for phobia are usually given to increase the levels of serotonin in the brain. Examples of these medications include fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Paxil), fluvoxamine (Luvox), sertraline (Zoloft),  citalopram (Celexa), vortioxetine (Brintellix), escitalopram (Lexapro) and vilazodone (Viibryd).
  • Phobias can also be treated by beta-blocker medications, which decrease the physical symptoms associated with panic by blocking the effects that adrenaline (epinephrine) has on the body. One example of a beta-blocker is propranolol.
  • Phobia can also be treated with drugs in a medication class called benzodiazepines or minor tranquilizers. Examples of medications from that group include diazepam (Valium), lorazepam (Ativan), and clonazepam (Klonopin).

How Can People Cope With Phobias?

There are some ways that individuals with a phobia can work toward overcoming their fears such as talking about their phobias, imagining themselves facing their fears (visualization), and making positive statements to themselves.

In fact, when self-help methods are combined with psychotherapy, phobia patients may achieve significant improvement in symptoms.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Most Dangerous Phobia?

Necrophobia is among the most dangerous phobias. Necrophobia refers to the fear of death and it usually develops as a result of many other phobias like nyctophobia (fear of darkness), acrophobia (fear of height), claustrophobia (fear of crowded places) and zoophobia (fear of animals).

What are the Causes of Phobia?

There are some genetic and environmental factors that can cause phobias. Children who have one of their parents with an anxiety disorder are at risk of developing a phobia. Some distressing events, such as nearly drowning, flight crashing can bring on a phobia. Long exposure to confined spaces, extreme heights, and animal bites can all be sources of phobia.

Can Phobias be Cured?

All phobias can be successfully treated and managed. There are some therapies and medications which can be used for the treatment. The therapies include densensitization or exposure therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy. Specific medications which are usually recommended by the doctors are beta blocker agents like propranolol and drugs which increase the level of serotonin like paroxetine (Paxil), fluvoxamine (Luvox) and sertraline (Zoloft) citalopram (Celexa). For some cases, sedatives are also recommended but these are mostly avoided as people become habitual of these drugs.

Do Phobias get Worse With Age?

No, phobias usually improve with age because as you get older, you produce much less adrenaline (the fight or flight hormone). But if your phobia has anything to do with being vulnerable, such as heights or big crowds, it can probably get worse with age.
Sana Masroor

Sana Masroor is a biochemist and has pursued her Master’s degree in biochemistry from Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi. She has worked as a Research Trainee in the Special Center for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Follow-Up Reads

Phobia of Holes

November 23, 2020

Phobic Hallucinations in Children

November 20, 2020

Phobia Linked With Other Mental Disorders

November 20, 2020

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Best Practices for staying Healthy: Strategies & Tactics
doctor with mask Best Practices for staying Healthy

Treatment for COPD in the Elderly Explained

By Kapil Sharma5 Mins Read

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common and debilitating condition that affects the lungs,…

Lemon Juice Glass

Top 10 Home Remedies to Pass a Kidney Stone in 24 Hours

February 20, 2023
Runny Nose

Spike in H3N2 Influenza Cases in Delhi-NCR

February 16, 2023
Newborn child

Healing From a Stillbirth or Infant Loss: A Guide for Parents

February 14, 2023
Latest Posts
pregnant young woman consulting obgyn

Top Trends in OBGYN Healthcare and Billing

March 28, 2023
Timing Intercourse for Pregnancy

Timing Intercourse for Pregnancy: How It Works

March 28, 2023
Menstrual pads, blood period calendar and clocks.

How Long Should Your Period Last?

March 28, 2023

Factors That Affect Fertility: What You Should Know

March 28, 2023
pregnant woman exercise

Exercise During Pregnancy: Safe and Effective Workouts

March 28, 2023
Subscribe To Our Newsletter
About Us
About Us

DiseaseFix is primarily known as an online publisher of disease-centric medical information related to human health and well-being. The information is published as disease modules accessible to users from across the world free of cost.

Email Us: contact@diseasefix.com

Our Picks
Breast Cancer

Moving Forward After Breast Cancer Surgery

December 30, 2022
Five Things Patients Experience Immediately After Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Five Things Patients Experience Immediately After Breast Cancer Diagnosis

April 23, 2021

Real Life Experiences About Coping With Cancer

April 22, 2021
Company

Disease Index

About Us

Our Team

Privacy Policy

Disclaimer

Contact Us

Write For Us

 

Facebook Twitter YouTube
© 2023 Diseasefix. All rights reserved.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.