Phobia, << FOH bee uh, >> is an unreasonable yet strong fear of a certain object, class of objects, or situation. Nearly half of all people report having a phobia. Common phobias include fear of crowds, darkness, heights, and animals, such as snakes or spiders. Phobia sufferers experience fear and a strong desire to escape whenever they encounter the phobic object or situation. Most people are able to avoid the object of their phobia or endure it with some mild distress. However, when a phobia causes personal distress or when avoidance of it interferes with a person’s ability to carry out normal activities, mental health professionals classify it as an anxiety disorder. These sufferers may need specialized treatment to overcome their phobias.
Many phobias have special names. The fear of heights is acrophobia. Agoraphobia is the dread of open spaces, and claustrophobia is the fear of small places or of being closed in. Ailurophobia is the fear of cats, ophidiophobia the fear of snakes, and arachnophobia the fear of spiders. Other phobias include hydrophobia (fear of water), mysophobia (fear of dirt or germs), and xenophobia (fear of foreigners or strangers).
Phobias are unreasonable in that they overestimate the likelihood of danger and underestimate the sufferer’s ability to manage feared encounters. For example, acrophobia sufferers are not likely to fall while safely looking out the window of a tall building, but they experience that fear nonetheless. Phobia sufferers usually realize that their fears are unreasonable when they are not in the feared situation.
Most phobias develop in middle to late childhood, but can also occur later in life. Phobias may be learned through childhood experiences, such as a painful or frightening encounter with an object or situation. Children may also pick up phobias from a phobic person, such as a parent or friend, or by hearing and believing information that makes an object or situation seem dangerous. Researchers have found that genetics as well as experience may influence the development of phobias. For example, phobias tend to run in families and are more common in identical twins compared with fraternal twins. Most childhood phobias disappear as the child gains positive experience with the phobic object.
Mental health researchers have found that repeated positive encounters with feared objects or situations help people overcome their phobias. This procedure is called exposure. In exposure therapy, the participants list a variety of fearful encounters that range in fear from low to high. They then make a plan for handling the encounters and begin gradually but repeatedly facing their fears. Over time, the object or situation becomes less frightening and avoidance is no longer needed.
See also Anxiety disorder .
