Phobia comes from the Greek word “phobos,” which means fear.[1] Phobias are extreme fears that limit one’s ability to cope with daily activities due to the anxiety the fear causes. Phobias can be effectively treated with the use of psychotherapy, medications, or a combination of the two.
Key Points
- People worldwide suffer from common and rare phobias that impact their daily ability to function.
- The most common treatments for phobias include exposure therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and medications.
- No matter how unusual a phobia may sound, others struggle, and you are not alone.
What Are Phobias?
While many people may have a dislike for spiders or small spaces, a phobia is an extreme fear and is characterized by [2]
- Intense fear, anxiety, and panic immediately when exposed to or even thinking about the topic of the phobia.
- Despite recognizing this as an irrational fear, the person cannot control their fear response to the situation or item.
- Anxiety increases as the situation or object gets physically closer to the person or in time.
- The person will do everything possible to avoid the item or situation or face it with extreme anxiety or fear.
- Difficulty completing daily activities because of their fear.
- Experience physical reactions, including sweating, rapid heartbeat, tight chest, trouble breathing, feeling like throwing up, dizziness, and fainting.
Phobias are categorized as follows:[3]
- Animals (spiders, insects, dogs, etc.)
- Natural environment (heights, storms, water, etc.)
- Blood injection injury (needles, invasive medical procedures, etc.)
- Situational (airplanes, elevators, enclosed places, etc.)
- Other (situations that may lead to choking or vomiting, loud sounds, costumed characters, etc.)
Common Phobias
Specific phobias are a common anxiety disorder. It is estimated worldwide, in any given year, 7.7% to 12.5% of the population experiences a specific phobia.[4] 26.9% of those people fall in the age range of 20-50. More females than males experience specific phobias, and the frequency of phobias tends to decrease with age.
Common phobias include:[5]
- Acrophobia: fear of heights
- Aerophobia: fear of flying
- Agoraphobia: fear of public spaces
- Arachnophobia: fear of spiders
- Aquaphobia: fear of water
- Claustrophobia: fear of confined spaces
- Coulrophobia: fear of clowns
- Emetophobia: fear of vomiting
- Glossophobia: fear of public speaking
- Globophobia: fear of balloons
- Ophidiophobia: fear of snakes
Rare Phobias
Other phobias are more unusual. Just because they are rare does not decrease the amount of distress the individual experiences due to the phobia.
Some examples of rare phobias include[6]
- Ablutophobia: fear of bathing, cleaning, or washing – This is a common developmental stage for toddlers and a rare phobia for adults. For adults who do suffer from this phobia, it is often a result of trauma. It often results in social problems because of their lack of hygiene.
- Alektorophobia: fear of chickens—This phobia can include other feathered birds and their eggs. A traumatic experience often causes it.
- Arachibutyrophobia: fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of one’s mouth – While this is never a pleasant feeling, most people do not have extreme fear of it. It may be that the person had an unpleasant experience that caused anxiety, and it has built into fear with subsequent reinforcing events.
- Arithmophobia or Numerophobia: fear of numbers – Fear of numbers may be related to a specific superstitious number, like 13 or 666, or it may be related to math and completing equations.
- Catoptrophobia or eisoptrophobia: fear of mirrors – This fear is often due to superstitions about mirrors, body image issues, or the result of a horror movie or story.
- Ephebiphobia: fear of teenagers – With this phobia, the person may experience a panic attack just by thinking about having to talk to or confront a teenager. At extreme levels, the person may change location to avoid interacting with a teenager (crossing the sidewalk or leaving a store).
- Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia: fear of long words – People who develop this phobia have likely had an experience where they mispronounced a long word and were ridiculed or embarrassed by their mistake.
- Omphalophobia: fear of belly buttons – People with this fear will often avoid situations where they will be exposed to belly buttons, such as swimming or going to the beach. They usually do not even like their belly button and avoid touching and looking at their navel.
- Nomophobia: fear of being without a mobile phone – With this phobia, the person experiences extreme anxiety over the possibility of not having their phone, having a dead battery, or not having cell service.
- Phobophobia: fear of phobias – This is a very self-limiting and self-replicating phobia. The sufferer may have one or more existing phobias but continues to fear developing more. Or a person may not have an established phobia but has a fear of developing one to the point that they limit their daily activities.
- Pogonophobia: fear of beards – The person may have a trauma associated with someone with a beard, or they may have a negative connotation of a person with a beard (homeless, religious fanatic) that has escalated into a phobia.
- Trypophobia: Fear of holes – This phobia is related to small holes, often in asymmetrical clusters (not large holes in the ground that one might fall into). People who suffer from this phobia associate the holes with some kind of danger. They may fear holes in meat, pores in skin, fruits or vegetables, sponges, wood, honeycombs, etc.
Treatment and Management Options for Rare Phobias
Treatment for phobias can include psychotherapy, medications, or a combination of the two. The best treatment depends on each person’s situation, phobia, severity, and impact on daily life. Identifying the cause of the phobia is less important than treating the developed avoidance patterns. The goal of treatment is to learn how to manage responses, thoughts, and feelings so the phobia no longer has control and one’s quality of life is improved.
The two most effective therapy treatments for phobias are Exposure Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
Exposure Therapy
Exposure therapy focuses on changing how you respond to your phobia by exposing you to it.[7] Exposure can happen in one of two ways.
Systemic Desensitization or Graded Exposure: Using this method of exposure therapy, you will gradually expose yourself to the phobia a little at a time. You will work with a mental health professional to process your fears in small bite-size amounts. For example, if you are afraid of clowns, you should start by thinking about them or looking at pictures of them. You would then progress to going near them, and in the final steps, you would interact with a clown. Slowly exposing yourself to clowns and processing your fears will make you less afraid.
Flooding: Using this method of exposure, you would expose yourself to the phobia at full capacity until it no longer triggers you. For example, with clowns, you would immediately interact with a clown until your triggered symptoms have passed. This method of exposure should be used cautiously, as it can be very triggering and upsetting to people if they are not ready to sit through all their phobic responses.
The process of exposure therapy can happen in one of two ways.
In Vivo Exposure: This means “in real life” exposure. You would expose yourself to your phobia in real life to work towards overcoming your fear.
Imaginal Exposure: Working with a mental health professional, you will imagine your phobia and interact with it in a non-fear-based way. This allows you to work through your fear by thinking about it and imagining yourself in situations with it. This is the only way to work on some phobias through exposure therapy due to possible dangers or costs that would be prohibitive to use in vivo exposure.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for phobias combines slow exposure to the phobia with learning ways to view and cope with the feared item or situation differently. CBT works to challenge your fears and tolerate uncomfortable feelings.[8] It teaches you to master your thoughts and feelings rather than allowing them to control you.
Medication
Psychotherapy, either exposure therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy, is often successful in treating phobias. For some people, their phobia is so severe that medication can help reduce anxiety and panic symptoms so they can tolerate gradual exposure to their phobia. Other people may choose to use medication when they know they will be encountering situations that cause them excessive fear, but there are no avoidance options. For example, if you fear flying and must fly overseas for a family or work obligation, there are no alternative transportation options. Many people choose a medication option to help them get through a temporary situation such as flying.
Medications that are frequently prescribed for phobias include [9]
Beta Blockers: These medications block the stimulation effects of adrenaline experienced during exposure to a phobia, such as increased heart rate, high blood pressure, pounding heart, shaky voice, and trembling limbs.
Sedatives: Medications such as benzodiazepines allow you to be more relaxed and reduce anxiety. Sedatives should not be prescribed if you have a history of alcohol or drug dependence. Sedatives are highly addictive and can interact negatively with other medications.
Antidepressants: Although antidepressants are typically prescribed to treat depression, they can also help treat anxiety for some people. They can help your brain control your mood and manage stress, which in turn can help with managing your phobia.
You should work closely with your healthcare provider before taking any medications to treat a phobia to weigh the risks and benefits.
Overcoming Phobias
Phobias are treatable, even unusual phobias and severe phobias. Phobias are a recognized mental health disorder. If you believe you or a loved one are struggling with a phobia, there are treatment options.