Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsPhobia vs. FearTypesSigns of PhobiaOvercoming a PhobiaTreatment
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Phobia vs. Fear
Types
Signs of Phobia
Overcoming a Phobia
Treatment
Aphobiais an ongoing, excessive fear of something specific such assnakes, heights, enclosed places, or other objects or situations.This leads to a person either avoiding the thing they fear or experiencing great distress when they encounter it. It is possible to learn how to get over a phobia with treatment and strategies aimed at desensitizing you to the thing you’re afraid of.
Specific phobia is a type ofanxiety disorder. Roughly 12.5% of adults in the United States have a specific phobia at some point in their lives.
This article will discusstypes of phobias, signs and symptoms of phobias, tips to overcome them, and treatment options.
A phobia is more severe than a fear. More specifically, a phobia is an irrational fear that is out of proportion compared to the actual threat.There may be little threat, or even no threat at all, and the person could experiencesymptoms of anxiety.
A person with a phobia may experience a fight-or-flight response in the presence of the thing they’re afraid of. When this happens, stress hormones are released that cause symptoms such as increased heart rate, dizziness, hot flashes or chills, chest pain or tightness, and butterflies in the stomach. Other symptoms can include difficulty breathing, nausea, sweating, confusion, or disorientation.
Fear, on the other hand, is an intense emotion in response to a threat in the moment. A person experiencing fear may have some of the same symptoms, but they only occur in response to a real threat or something that most people would perceive as a threat. Unlike a phobia, a fear response does not happen often enough to interfere with a person’s quality of life.
Phobias and other anxiety disorders can be comorbid, meaning they occur together. For example, the same person may have generalized anxiety disorder (experiencing excessive anxiety or worry about everyday events) and social phobia.
Types of Phobias
There are different types of phobias. Specific phobia is an anxiety disorder that includes five types of phobias.Social phobia is also an anxiety disorder, but it is not classified as one of the five specific phobias.
Types of Specific PhobiaThe five types of specific phobias include:Animal typeNatural environment typeBlood-injection-injury typeSituational typeOther type
Types of Specific Phobia
The five types of specific phobias include:Animal typeNatural environment typeBlood-injection-injury typeSituational typeOther type
The five types of specific phobias include:
Animal Type
Animal type is a specific phobia. People with this type of phobia have an intense, ongoingfear of animalsorinsects.Examples includedogs,cats,birds, mice, snakes,butterflies, andspiders.
Natural Environment Type
Natural environment type is a specific phobia. People with this type of phobia have an intense, ongoing fear of objects that make up natural surroundings.Examples includedeep water,heights, lightning, orstorms.
Blood-Injection-Injury Type
Blood-injection-injury type is a specific phobia. People with this type of phobia have an intense, ongoing fear of seeing or experiencing injury,blood, orinjections. Additional examples are blood draws or medical procedures.
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Situational Type
Situational type is a specific phobia. People with this type of phobia have an intense, ongoing fear of certain experiences. Examples include elevators,enclosed places, flying,driving,animatronics, and public transportation.
Other Type
People with this type of phobia have an intense, ongoing fear of something that is not part of one of the other types of specific phobias. Examples include choking,germsor getting sick,time, vomiting,dolls,ghosts, or loud noises.
What About Social Phobia?Social phobiais a social orperformance anxietythat involves self-consciousness and a significant fear of being judged and embarrassed. It is extreme and ongoing, leading to either avoidance or acute distress when in those situations.Social anxiety disorderis another name for this type of phobia.
What About Social Phobia?
Social phobiais a social orperformance anxietythat involves self-consciousness and a significant fear of being judged and embarrassed. It is extreme and ongoing, leading to either avoidance or acute distress when in those situations.Social anxiety disorderis another name for this type of phobia.
Signs You May Need to Overcome a Phobia
It is normal to have fears of anything that could be harmful. For example, it is natural to be afraid of swimming in a lake during a thunderstorm because it’s possible lightning could strike.
However, some people experience extreme, ongoing fears of objects and situations that are not likely to be harmful, or the fear is out of proportion to the risk level.If phobias are severe enough to cause significant symptoms of anxiety or interfere with daily life, it is wise to work to overcome them.
Signs of a PhobiaYou experience an excessive, irrational fear about a specific object or situation.You take actions to avoid an object or situation that you irrationally or excessively fear.You experiencesymptoms of anxietyas soon as faced with an object or situation that is irrationally or excessively feared.
Signs of a Phobia
You experience an excessive, irrational fear about a specific object or situation.You take actions to avoid an object or situation that you irrationally or excessively fear.You experiencesymptoms of anxietyas soon as faced with an object or situation that is irrationally or excessively feared.
Tips to Overcome a Phobia
Verywell / Theresa Chiechi
Desensitize Yourself
Partner Up
If a friend or a family member has a phobia as well, it can be helpful for both people to overcome them together. It doesn’t even have to be the same phobia.
How to Help a Child Cope With a PhobiaLet your child know that you take their fear seriously. Find ways to talk to your child about their fear and help them think about their fear in a rational way. For example, if they’re afraid of spiders, you can discuss how most spiders aren’t dangerous and those that are rarely bite. You can also work on ways to desensitize them to their fear, though in extreme cases, it may be best to do this with the help of a mental health professional who specializes in working with children.
How to Help a Child Cope With a Phobia
Let your child know that you take their fear seriously. Find ways to talk to your child about their fear and help them think about their fear in a rational way. For example, if they’re afraid of spiders, you can discuss how most spiders aren’t dangerous and those that are rarely bite. You can also work on ways to desensitize them to their fear, though in extreme cases, it may be best to do this with the help of a mental health professional who specializes in working with children.
Join a Support Group
In addition to friend and family support, or if friend and family support is not available, it can help to join asupport group. A support group is a professional-led group of people who come together to cope with or overcome a problem.In this case, it is a group to overcome a phobia, and the professional leader can provide techniques and support.
Relaxation, Visualization, and Breathing Techniques
Relaxation, visualization, and breathing techniques can be used to help overcome phobias.These techniques can be used during the desensitization process, when encountering what is feared, and even when thinking about possibly encountering the fear in the future.Relaxation techniquesmay be combined with visualization and breathing techniques.
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A phobia can also be treated with the help of a healthcare professional such as a psychologist or psychiatrist.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy,or CBT, is commonly used to treat specific phobias. CBT for specific phobias combinestalk therapywithexposure therapythat involves confronting the fear in small steps, in a controlled and safe environment.
Medication
Medication may also be used along with talk therapy. This type of treatment does not help the person overcome the fear, but it can relieve some of the symptoms.
Medication is usually prescribed only for use in specific situations and only in the short term. For example, someone with a fear of flying may need to take medication if they have to get on an airplane.
Medications used to treat specific phobias include:
How Is Phobia Treated?
Summary
A phobia is an extreme, irrational fear that is ongoing and can interfere with daily life or lead to anxiety symptoms. It may be a fear of a specific animal or insect, something in the environment, a potential experience, a social situation, or something else.
There are techniques and treatments to overcome and cope with phobias. Anyone struggling with a severe, ongoing fear should consult a healthcare professional such as a psychologist or psychiatrist for support.
What Is Severe Anxiety?
12 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Psychological Association.Phobia.National Institute of Mental Health.Specific phobia.National Health Services.Symptoms - phobias.Wardenaar KJ, Lim CCW, Al-Hamzawi AO, et al.The cross-national epidemiology of specific phobia in the World Mental Health Surveys.Psychol Med. 2017;47(10):1744-1760. doi:10.1017/S0033291717000174American Psychological Association.Specific phobia.American Psychological Association.Social phobia.Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.DSM-IV to DSM-5 specific phobia comparison.Siegel P, Warren R, Wang Z, Yang J, Cohen D, Anderson JF, Murray L, Peterson BS.Less is more: Neural activity during very brief and clearly visible exposure to phobic stimuli. Hum. Brain Mapp. 2017;38:2466-2481. doi:10.1002/hbm.23533Pitkin MR, Malouff JM.Self-arranged exposure for overcoming blood-injection-injury Phobia: a case study.Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine. 2014;2(1):665-669. doi:10.1080/21642850.2014.916219American Psychological Association.Support group.National Health Services.Self-help - phobias.Bandelow B, Michaelis S, Wedekind D.Treatment of anxiety disorders.Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2017;19(2):93-107. doi:10.31887/DCNS.2017.19.2/bbandelow
12 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Psychological Association.Phobia.National Institute of Mental Health.Specific phobia.National Health Services.Symptoms - phobias.Wardenaar KJ, Lim CCW, Al-Hamzawi AO, et al.The cross-national epidemiology of specific phobia in the World Mental Health Surveys.Psychol Med. 2017;47(10):1744-1760. doi:10.1017/S0033291717000174American Psychological Association.Specific phobia.American Psychological Association.Social phobia.Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.DSM-IV to DSM-5 specific phobia comparison.Siegel P, Warren R, Wang Z, Yang J, Cohen D, Anderson JF, Murray L, Peterson BS.Less is more: Neural activity during very brief and clearly visible exposure to phobic stimuli. Hum. Brain Mapp. 2017;38:2466-2481. doi:10.1002/hbm.23533Pitkin MR, Malouff JM.Self-arranged exposure for overcoming blood-injection-injury Phobia: a case study.Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine. 2014;2(1):665-669. doi:10.1080/21642850.2014.916219American Psychological Association.Support group.National Health Services.Self-help - phobias.Bandelow B, Michaelis S, Wedekind D.Treatment of anxiety disorders.Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2017;19(2):93-107. doi:10.31887/DCNS.2017.19.2/bbandelow
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
American Psychological Association.Phobia.National Institute of Mental Health.Specific phobia.National Health Services.Symptoms - phobias.Wardenaar KJ, Lim CCW, Al-Hamzawi AO, et al.The cross-national epidemiology of specific phobia in the World Mental Health Surveys.Psychol Med. 2017;47(10):1744-1760. doi:10.1017/S0033291717000174American Psychological Association.Specific phobia.American Psychological Association.Social phobia.Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.DSM-IV to DSM-5 specific phobia comparison.Siegel P, Warren R, Wang Z, Yang J, Cohen D, Anderson JF, Murray L, Peterson BS.Less is more: Neural activity during very brief and clearly visible exposure to phobic stimuli. Hum. Brain Mapp. 2017;38:2466-2481. doi:10.1002/hbm.23533Pitkin MR, Malouff JM.Self-arranged exposure for overcoming blood-injection-injury Phobia: a case study.Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine. 2014;2(1):665-669. doi:10.1080/21642850.2014.916219American Psychological Association.Support group.National Health Services.Self-help - phobias.Bandelow B, Michaelis S, Wedekind D.Treatment of anxiety disorders.Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2017;19(2):93-107. doi:10.31887/DCNS.2017.19.2/bbandelow
American Psychological Association.Phobia.
National Institute of Mental Health.Specific phobia.
National Health Services.Symptoms - phobias.
Wardenaar KJ, Lim CCW, Al-Hamzawi AO, et al.The cross-national epidemiology of specific phobia in the World Mental Health Surveys.Psychol Med. 2017;47(10):1744-1760. doi:10.1017/S0033291717000174
American Psychological Association.Specific phobia.
American Psychological Association.Social phobia.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.DSM-IV to DSM-5 specific phobia comparison.
Siegel P, Warren R, Wang Z, Yang J, Cohen D, Anderson JF, Murray L, Peterson BS.Less is more: Neural activity during very brief and clearly visible exposure to phobic stimuli. Hum. Brain Mapp. 2017;38:2466-2481. doi:10.1002/hbm.23533
Pitkin MR, Malouff JM.Self-arranged exposure for overcoming blood-injection-injury Phobia: a case study.Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine. 2014;2(1):665-669. doi:10.1080/21642850.2014.916219
American Psychological Association.Support group.
National Health Services.Self-help - phobias.
Bandelow B, Michaelis S, Wedekind D.Treatment of anxiety disorders.Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2017;19(2):93-107. doi:10.31887/DCNS.2017.19.2/bbandelow
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