Phobias involve strong feelings of fear and anxiety about certain objects or situations. They’re not uncommon, and a variety of treatments can help.

If you have strong anxiety and feelings of panic around certain objects or situations, it could be caused by a phobia.

Feeling fearful or anxious can be normal and even helpful. But when the fear is overwhelming and disproportionate to the actual threat, it may be a sign of a phobia.

Even though phobias rank among the most common anxiety disorders, few seek professional help despite treatments to relieve symptoms.

Fear vs. phobias

The word “phobia” comes from the Greek word phobos, meaning fear or horror. But having a diagnosable phobia is more than just being fearful.

Fears of specific objects or situations are widespread. More than 70% of Americans report having one or more “unreasonable” fears. This doesn’t mean, however, that 70% of the public has diagnosed phobias.

Fears are:

an emotional response to a real or perceived threat
experienced by everyone at some point
part of how we protect ourselves
both emotional and physical

Phobias involve:

intense and excessive anxiety about a feared object or situation
feeling as if fear of the object or situation is holding you back
avoiding the feared object or situation

Though plenty of people would be startled or even shriek at seeing a snake slithering across their foot, not everyone would feel this fear holds them back or impairs them.

Someone with a true phobia of snakes would feel intense anxiety when snakes might be present or avoid the situation altogether.

If you have a phobia, you could experience physical symptoms like:

rapid heartbeat
shortness of breath
panic
tremors
sweating
nausea

Are phobias common?

Phobias are the most common type of anxiety disorder in the United States, according to the American Psychiatric Association.

Older research from 2017 suggests that 7% of adults around the world experience a specific phobia at some point in their life, with females being more likely to experience them than males.

Types of phobias

Phobias are generally broken down into three diagnoses:

specific phobia
social anxiety disorder (social phobia)
agoraphobia

Specific phobia

If you have a specific phobia, you may have strong feelings of anxiety or panic about a specific stimulus. These feelings can make it difficult (and sometimes impossible) to function as usual.

Avoiding the stimulus reduces symptoms of distress for many people with the phobia, but the condition is unlikely to go away over time without any treatment.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), specific phobias are typically broken down into five subcategories:

Blood, injection, and injury. Includes fear of needles, blood, or wounds.
Natural environment. Includes fear of heights, natural disasters, the dark, or water.
Animals. Includes fear of dogs, cats, snakes, spiders, birds, sharks, and other animals.
Situational. Includes fear of being in an enclosed space, flying, or using public transportation.
Other. Includes fear of objects or situations that don’t fit in any of the other categories.

Most people with specific phobias fear more than one object or situation.

Some common — and less common — phobias include:

Achluophobia: fear of darkness
Acrophobia: fear of heights
Aerophobia: fear of flying
Aquaphobia: fear of water
Belonephobia: fear of needles
Claustrophobia: fear of enclosed spaces
Coulrophobia: fear of clowns
Cynophobia: fear of dogs
Dentophobia: fear of dentists
Enochlophobia: fear of crowds
Heliophobia: fear of the sun
Hemophobia: fear of blood
Musophobia: fear of mice
Mysophobia: fear of germs and contamination
Nyctophobia: fear of the dark
Ophidiophobia: fear of snakes
Pyrophobia: fear of fire
Trypophobia: fear of holes

Your level of distress may change depending on how long you’re exposed to the stimulus and how close you are to it.

Social anxiety disorder

If you have social anxiety disorder, social situations can cause intense anxiety. You may fear being judged negatively by the people around you, or worry about blushing, sweating, or stumbling over words.

Social anxiety disorder can impact functioning in your workplace, school, or social events. Concern over breaking social norms, offending others, or coming across in a negative light can cause many people with social anxiety disorder to avoid these situations altogether.

Even doing everyday activities, like eating or drinking in front of people, talking with a cashier, or using a public restroom, can cause intense anxiety if you have social anxiety.

Agoraphobia

Closely related to specific phobia, agoraphobia is the sometimes overwhelming fear of situations and places that may be difficult to escape.

If you have agoraphobia, you’re likely to avoid any settings that bring on these feelings of panic, such as being outside of the house alone or being in a crowd.

In some cases, this condition can make it harder to leave home, which could impact day-to-day life for some people.

Diagnosing phobias

A psychologist or other mental health professional usually diagnoses phobias. Even though phobias are a common anxiety disorder, many people don’t get a formal diagnosis.

A specific phobia diagnosis requires the following:

fear and anxiety in the presence of a particular situation or object
fear and anxiety nearly every time you’re in contact with the situation or object
avoiding the object or situation if possible, or strong anxiety if you can’t
fear or anxiety that’s disproportionate to the actual danger
at least 6 months of symptoms
the situation or object causes you distress and makes day-to-day life harder to manage

Children often have temporary fears that don’t cause much impairment. In these cases, specific phobia generally isn’t diagnosed.

If you have any of these symptoms or think you may have a phobia, reaching out to your doctor is a good first step. They may refer you to a mental health specialist.

Causes and risk factors for phobias

Like many other anxiety disorders, the exact cause of phobias isn’t well known. Still, scientists believe potential causes of phobias are:

Temperamental. The tendency to feel uncomfortable emotions, being withdrawn, and a fear of being seen negatively are connected to the development of phobias.
Environmental. Bad or traumatic experiences with the feared object often happen before a phobia comes up. For example, getting stuck in a tight space could cause claustrophobia.
Genetic. Phobias often run in families. Some types, like animal and situational phobias, are about 30% heritable.

What conditions occur with phobias?

Around 60% of people with a lifetime phobia also have another mental health condition.

In adults, phobias tend to coexist with medical conditions such as:

coronary heart disease
immune disorders
thyroid diseases
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

Between 10% and 7% of people with COPD also have a specific phobia.

Phobias are also strong predictors of other mental health disorders and substance use.

Up to 70% of people with social anxiety disorder also live with major depression (MD), making MD the most commonly co-occurring condition with social anxiety disorder.

Those with social anxiety disorder also have higher rates of substance use. Though the reason for this isn’t entirely clear, some may use substances to manage the strong emotions caused by the phobia.

People with specific phobias are significantly more likely to attempt suicide than those without the diagnosis. However, co-occurring anxiety and mood disorders could also contribute.

Is it possible to overcome a phobia?

Overcoming your phobia is possible. Many methods can reduce or eliminate the symptoms of phobias. Some common treatments include:

Systematic desensitization treatment. This involves using mental imagery and anxiety managing techniques to move from least to most feared stimuli. This can be done with the stimulus actually present, on a computer, or through virtual reality.
Therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) includes both exposure to the feared stimuli and building up more constructive ways of thinking.
Medications. Though no medication can entirely remove a phobia, beta-blockers, benzodiazepines, antidepressants, or D-cycloserine may be helpful in reducing anxiety and other symptoms.

Children and teens are more likely to overcome their phobias. In adults, about 80% of new phobias become chronic. It’s still possible, though, to recover from phobias as an adult, especially if you find a treatment that helps.

Next steps

If you or someone you know is living with a phobia that’s getting in the way of daily life, the first step is often reaching out to a doctor. Getting the right treatment for you can help reduce your symptoms and the dread and anxiety you may feel.

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