People often say they have a phobia of something, but when does this exaggeration become a genuine health concern? Scientifically speaking, a phobia is defined as the unrelenting fear of a situation, activity, or thing that causes you to want to avoid it. Even though many people joke about having them, phobias largely go underreported. This is probably because if you perceive situations as threatening to your wellbeing, you’re more likely to just find ways to avoid them rather than report and confront your fear. Therefore, you have to take the statistics with a pinch of salt, but these illnesses have been thought to affect up to 28 out of every 100 people in all western countries. So, what are you scared of?
1. Social Phobia: This phobia – which also goes by social anxiety disorder – is categorised as an excessive fear of embarrassment in social situations. While none of us want to make a big social faux pas, social phobia is extremely intrusive on your wellbeing and can have a debilitating impact on your personal and professional relationships. This fear may cause you to avoid threatening social situations, such as public speaking and meeting new people.
2. Agoraphobia: Although this is mainly regarded as a fear of being outside, agoraphobia can also mean you fear being in a situation from which you either cannot escape or from which escaping would be difficult or humiliating. As with many – if not all – mental disorders, agoraphobia is caused by a number factors. However, the phobia tends to run in families and some people may even have a clear genetic factor contributing to its development.
3. Claustrophobia: This is probably the most famous phobia around, no doubt due to its common appearance on TV shows and in films. If you are claustrophobic, it means you have an abnormal and persistent fear of closed spaces, of being closed in or being shut in. This excessive fear is quite common, which is another reason as to why it’s so well known. The problem with modern life is that closed spaces are becoming more and more common, which means that avoiding stressful situations is becoming harder for claustrophobia sufferers. Confined spaces that trigger claustrophobia include lifts, tunnels or even small rooms.
4. Zoophobia: This is a general term that encompasses fears of specific types of animals, rather than being afraid of all animals or, indeed, the zoo – although you might want to avoid certain enclosures if you are afraid of an animal in particular! Under this umbrella term, you’ll find a zooful of beastly phobias, including arachnophobia (fear of spiders), ophidiophobia (fear of snakes), ornithophobia (fear of birds), apiphobia (fear of bees), and any other animal-specific fear.
5. Acrophobia: Again, this is a pretty well-known one. Acrophobia is an abnormally excessive and persistent fear of heights. While, in theory, a fear of heights is logical – after all, falling from them is no picnic – if you are acrophobic it means you have severe anxiety even when heights pose no threat to you. As a rule, sufferers usually know they’re safe deep down, but experience the fear nonetheless.
6. Aerophobia: If you have an abnormal and persistent fear of flying, this is called aerophobia. While a lot of people are uncomfortable with flying, the genuine phobia generally develops if you witness a plane crash or lose a family member in a plane crash or accident. As with acrophobia, sufferers experience severe anxiety even though they usually realise that their fear of flying is disproportionate to the threat it poses.
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