A List of Phobias

Recognizing Common Types of Phobias

A phobia is defined as an irrational fear of something. People who have phobias feel an excessive desire to stay away from the

person, object, activity, or situation causing their fear. A comprehensive list of phobias experienced by human beings would be quite large as there are literally thousands of types of phobias. The 10 most common phobias include the following:

The Ten Most Common Phobias

Arachnophobia

The first on the list of phobias is arachnophobia, an irrational fear of spiders and other arachnids like scorpions. It is actually the most common phobia of all. It is believed that half of the women in the United States have a fear of spiders and a quarter of the men.

Acrophobia

Acrophobia is the fear of heights. Many people experience panic and even vertigo when confronted with such a situation and find themselves unable to go to the top floors of large buildings, to use ladders, or to cross bridges with any degree of comfort.

Agoraphobia

Agoraphobia can be a crippling and isolating condition. The sufferer, in this case, has a combination of fears associated with open spaces, leaving their own home, and finding themselves in an an embarrassing or difficult situation over which they have no control. Many agoraphobes remain housebound for years at a time.

Claustrophobia

A person who is said to be claustrophobic is afraid of an enclosed or a severely confined space from which they perceive there to be no escape. People who have this phobia are wary of riding an aircraft, a train, or even an elevator and often experience severe panic attacks when they find themselves in such a situation.

Mysophobia

Mysophobia is simply the fear of germs. Sometimes, this is referred to as germophobia or bacterophobia. It may also go by the name of germaphobia or bacillophobia. People who have this are called mysophibic. They may exhibit extreme obsessive-compulsive behavior as well, washing their hands hundreds of times a day or wearing a breathing mask in public

Brontophobia

Brontophobia is the fear of both thunder and lightning. It is interchangeably referred to as astraphobia, tonitrophobia, or keraunophobia. This phobia is extremely common in very young children but often lingers into adulthood.

Social Phobia

Social phobia is closely related to social anxiety. It is the excessive fear or being in a social situation where the phobic perceives themselves to be the subject of scrutiny and evaluation. This phobia is associated with extreme depression or distress and can lead to a complete inability to interact with other people.

Aerophobia

As the name suggests, aerophobia is the abnormal fear of flying and is related to the fear of drafts of air or even fresh air. People who suffer from this condition can't ride in an aircraft and would never go into extreme hobbies like hang gliding, hot air ballooning, or wind surfing.

Carcinophobia

Simply stated, carcinophobia is the irrational fear of acquiring cancer. It is a relatively modern phobia, closely associated with the degree of publicity about the disease in modern media. People with this fear often engage in excessive behavior they perceive to be a protection against getting cancer, for instance taking massive quantities of natural supplements like anti-oxidants that are thought to be cancer preventative.

Necrophobia

Even if death is a reality of life, many are overly afraid of it. Necrophobia is the fear of anything associated with death including coffins, funeral homes, funerals, and cadavers.

Although many people can and do successfully manage their phobias, for some the fear becomes a crippling presence in their lives requiring professional treatment and help.

Continue to: Common Treatment for Phobias

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