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List of Phobias: Most Common Phobias From A to Z

Written by Resurchify | Updated on: May 26, 2022

List of Phobias: Most Common Phobias From A to Z

You might have heard that a person fears height. Have you imagined why some people fear such things while others do not? Well, there is a strong reason behind this. Many people have some kind of fear that usually doesn't make sense, but they are the most fearful things for the person. In general terms, it is known as phobia. A person can have any kind of phobia, may it be, height, darkness, public places, water, fire, etc.

Here we are going to discuss how many types of phobias are. As a piece of prior information, let me tell you that they can be of many types, and they can continue for a long time. Many people try hard to fight it. Many succeed, and many do not. Let us look at what kind of phobia a man possesses.

What is a Phobia?

Phobia is a kind of mental disorder that a person possesses. Though, the object of fear doesn't cause any severe damage. Still, people feel serious anxiety when they get exposed to the cause of their fear. The person who suffers from phobia knows that their anxiety is irritational, but they can't help it. 

Phobia may cause severe anxiety in the person. When the person is exposed to the reason for their anxiety, they get frustrated and fearful. They know that their fear is futile, but they can not fight the fear. When the level of fear increases, the phobic person rearranges their whole life to avoid things that are causing anxiety to the person. 

Causes of Phobia

There can be various reasons for phobia. Some people face it because of their prior experiences, while others have it inborn. Let us discuss a few reasons that cause a phobia.

Past Experiences

It is one of the most common reasons of causing phobia. It happens when the person has faced a bad experience in the past. It can be anything like if someone had faced turbulence by fire, he might develop a phobia against fire. Or, if someone has seen disasters of cyclones or hurricanes, it develops a phobia against environmental disasters.

Experiences in the Childhood

What we learn in our childhood affects our behavior and thinking capabilities for a long time. For a person who has seen an adverse situation or resides with a phobic person, chances are high that that person will also develop that phobia. For example, if a child is living with a socially phobic person. He may also develop a social phobia.

Strong Panic Attack in Responses

Some people tend to give a strong panic-stricken attack in response. This tendency makes them prone to develop anxiety towards things, especially when the person gets a strong reaction to their behavior. This anxiety might develop into a phobia.

Long-Term Stress

Stress leads to anxiety and depression. People start feeling fear of getting the job done, it makes them anxious. If it continues for a long time, it develops fear in the mind of people. It may lead to getting a phobia.

Genetic Factors

Studies have suggested that a person is more to develop a phobia if he has a family background in phobias. It makes them more vulnerable to developing anxiety about something.

Some cases of phobia develop from childhood. So, there is very little that we can do something about it. But if the phobia develops at a later age, we can do something about it. For example, before phobia develops, it is some trigger or prior alert to the person. If we can trigger that alerts and identify them. We can save ourselves from developing a phobia of something. Another thing that we can do is to reduce our stress levels. Stress plays a vital role in the case of phobia. In this case, if we can avoid taking a lot of stress, we can effectively fight against advanced phobia symptoms. 

Types of Fear

A large population of the world is facing the problem of phobia. The reason for phobia varies from person to person, so the level of anxiety that they face is also different. The most common type of phobia is fear of height. Let us discuss other kinds of phobias here.

Specific Phobia

Specific phobias or simple phobias are a particular type of phobia where people are feared of specific kinds of things. These phobias are easy to avoid and can be detected easily. Since they are specific, they are easy to avoid. 

Examples of specific phobia are

  • Animal Fear

In this type of phobia, people are feared by animals. Generally, dogs, cats, snakes, spiders, bears, mice, etc., fall in this category. 

  • Environmental Fear

In this category, people fear environmental activities. For example, water, fire, storm, cyclone, height, depth, etc.

  • Needle Fear

This category includes injections, blood, needle, invasive medical procedure, etc.

  • Situational Fear

In this kind of fear, people are afraid of situations like enclosed space, darkness, flying, etc.

  • Other phobias

Apart from the above-mentioned phobias, there are also others. For example, fear of losing the phone, fear of falling from a height, etc.

Social Phobias

Next in this line are social phobias. This phobia means people are afraid to be in social life. They avoid social gatherings as much as possible. One example of these types of phobias is fear of public speaking. 

Another type of social phobia is agoraphobia, where people fear going outside the house and being in public spaces and social gatherings. These kinds of people spend most of their time sitting inside their homes. They are too afraid to leave their comfort zone and meet new people.

These phobias are more dangerous than other phobias because social gatherings are something that no one can avoid easily. 

Most common types of phobias

Phobias are of several types, but some common types of phobias dominate the whole category of phobia. We should know about these phobias to tackle the fear. 

Acrophobia

Acrophobia means fear of height. In this phobia, people cannot look down from a height. And, they do not go to a high place. At a certain point in life, people face this problem. Some continue to fear it for their whole life. These types of people cannot stand at a height. They don't even go on tall buildings, mountains, sky diving, etc. However, this phobia doesn't affect the lifestyle of a person much. Also, women are more likely to face it than men.

Aerophobia

It is a kind of fear from height. In this phobia, people are afraid of flying. They face problems, extreme pain, anxiety, odd sounds, and a fear of terror attacks. They avoid flying as much as possible. Studies have shown that this problem is more common among women rather than men. It is one of the most commons phobias, and it widely takes over the first-time traveler.

Bll Phobia

Bll phobia is of two types. One is aichmophobia, and the other is hemophobia. 

Aichmophobia means fear of needles and injections. People feel extreme fear and anxiety after looking at the needles and injections. The person who is facing hemophobia is afraid of blood and can't look at the bleeding. It feels him with horror and anxiety. A drop of blood is like a scene from a horror film for them.

It is one of the most common phobias which affects around 3 percent of the total population. The person who is suffering from this problem is so afraid that he even skips some medical procedures. This avoidance of medical procedures sometimes affects the health of the person severely.

People suffering from hemophobia maintain a special kind of care. They avoid sharp objects as much as possible so that they do not have to see blood. They are even afraid to go to the hospitals.

Claustrophobia

Claustrophobia means fear of crowded or occupied places. People suffering from this phobia avoid public gatherings and crowds. They like to spend their time at home. They have very small or no friends circle because of their fear. 

It creates serious social problems because people cut themselves off from the mainline and confide in the house. They usually avoid crowded places like elevators and markets. 

Nearly one-sixth of the population faces this problem at least once in their life. It may not continue for long, but it is more likely to strike when a person does work for the first time.

Dentophobia

It might seem shocking, but about 1 percent of the population faces this phobia. It means that the person is feared by the dentist. It may develop from the previous experience they have faced in their childhood. Or, by listening to the prior experience of other people. Such people avoid going to the dentist. It is a common problem in western countries. 

This kind of person avoids going to the dentist risking their health. They often have to face oral health problems.

Driving Phobia

Some people are afraid of driving. They do not even try to learn to drive. This type of person shows signs of poor mental health and a lower quality of life. 

Driving phobia and driving anxiety are completely two different things. Driving anxiety is just a reluctance, but driving phobia is complete avoidance.

Insectophobia

Many people are afraid of insects, for example, cockroaches, spiders, etc. They either avoid them or harm them. It might be mild to severe. However, knowing more and more about the insects might help to remove the fear of people.

Glossophobia

It is a part of social phobia where people avoid public speaking for the fear of embarrassment, judgment, humiliation, etc. They feel serious anxiety when they are standing in front of people. However, they feel comfortable talking to people in person.

Hypochondria

Hypochondria is a condition where people excessively think about their health. Even simple health problems look like serious issues to them. They have a prolonged history of standing in front of the doctor. 

Germaphobia

People suffering from germaphobia are afraid of germs and bacteria. They try to keep it always clean. It is always accompanied by hypochondria.

Sociophobia

It is the fear of social justice where people are afraid of being judged. These types of people avoid public life altogether. The anxiety might strike anything like walking in the street or holding a private party. 

Zoophobia

It is the fear of animals. People facing these problems are afraid of animals like lions, tigers, dogs, birds, insects, etc. This kind of fear starts at an early age in the bathroom.

These are some kinds of phobias that are common among people. The severity of the phobia may be different in different people. Someone has a mild phobia which means they get afraid of it but can live in harmony with it. Next is a severe phobia in which people experience extreme anxiety and fear of something. Due to this, they are ready to change the whole course of their life. 

Different Kinds of Phobias

Apart from these common phobias, people also face some rare kinds of fear. Phobia can be anything by which you feel extreme anxiety and fear. Some phobias are pretty common among people, such as fear of height. While other phobias are found rarely. We had already discussed common phobias. Now, let us discuss a few rare phobias. 

Types of Phobias
Meaning
Achluophobia
Fear of darkness
Algophobia
Fear of pain
Amaxophobia
Fear of driving a car
Androphobia
Fear of men
Anginophobia
Fear of angina or chocking
anthropophobia
Fear of people or society
Arithmophobia
Fear of numbers
Astraphobia
Fear of thunder and lightning
Ataxophobia
Fear of disorder or untidiness
Atelophobia
Fear of imperfection
Atychiphobia
Fear of failure
Bathmophobia
Fear of stairs or steep slopes
Batrachophobia
Fear of amphibians
Belonephobia
Fear of pins and needles
Bibliophobia
Fear of books
Catoptrophobia
Fear of mirrors
Chionophobia
Fear of snow
Chromophobia
Fear of colors
Chronomentrophobia
Fear of clocks
Domatophobia
Fear of houses
Dystychiphobia
Fear of accidents
Ephebiphobia
Fear of teenagers
Equinophobia
Fear of horses
Gamophobia
Fear of marriage
Genuphobia
Fear of knees
Haphephobia
Fear of touch
Heliophobia
Fear of the sun
Hemophobia
Fear of blood
Herpetophobia
Fear of reptiles
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia
Fear of long words
Koinoniphobia
Fear of rooms
Koumpounophobia
Fear of buttons
Leukophobia
Fear of the color white
Lilapsophobia
Fear of tornadoes and hurricanes
Lockiophobia
Fear of childbirth
Mageirocophobia
Fear of cooking
Megalophobia
Fear of large things
Melanophobia
Fear of the color black
Necrophobia
Fear of death or dead things
Noctiphobia
Fear of the night
Nosocomephobia
Fear of hospitals
Obesophobia
Fear of gaining weight
Octophobia
Fear of figure 8
Ombrophobia
Fear of rain
Ophidiophobia
Fear of snakes
Papyrophobia
Fear of paper
Pathophobia
Fear of disease
Pedophobia
Fear of children
Philematophobia
Fear of kissing
Philophobia
Fear of love
Phobophobia
Fear of phobias
Samhainophobia
Fear of Halloween
Scolionophobia
Fear of school
Scoptophobia
Fear of being stared at
Selenophobia
Fear of the moon
Sociophobia
Fear of social evaluation
Tachophobia
Fear of speed
Technophobia
Fear of technology
Tonitrophobia
Fear of thunder
Venustraphobia
Fear of beautiful women
Verminophobia
Fear of germs
Wiccaphobia
Fear of witches and witchcraft
Xenophobia
Fear of strangers or foreigners

Phobias are of various types. Some are also unique and interesting. They could be anything. This diversity makes them explore different kinds of things. Let us see a few interesting phobias that people possess.

Bibliophobia

It is the fear of books. The person facing Bibliophobia fears books. It might develop from bad childhood experiences that the person may have faced in childhood. A lot of children have bibliophobia in their childhood.

Atychiphobia

It is the fear of failure. It is a common problem for people who had never failed in their life. The failure might be devastating and heartbreaking for these people. They could not cope with it.

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia

Read out the title. If you felt fear or anxiety while reading the word, then it is the case of Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. It is a fear of long words. It is a fear that children sometimes develop in childhood, and it continues in the youth.

How to Treat Phobia?

In some cases, a phobia is mild, and people can easily avoid it. But this is not the case always. A person facing severe phobia needs treatment. Hopefully, the phobia can be treated with the help of medicines. Some medicined may help to not vanish then at least reduce the fears.

Exposure Therapy

The foremost method of treatment of fear is exposing the person to their fear. It would be gradual and progressive. First, the person will be told to imagine the fear and in the end, fight with the fear. It is a natural and effective way to fight phobia.

This process is divided into three steps

Exposing Technique

In this method, the person facing phobia is exposed to what they are afraid of and is told to face it. It is followed by breathing exercises to reduce the anxiety and stress struck in the mind of the person.

Virtual Exposure

In this technique, people are told to virtually imagine that they are exposed to their biggest fear. Then, think about what will they do in that situation. What may techniques to reduce that fear? Then, they are told to virtually imagine that they have triumphed over the fear. Then, what type of feeling will they get? Then, enjoy the virtual triumph that the person got over their phobia.

Systematic Exposure

After then, they are again exposed to their fear. It is systematic. They are gradually moved in their path. The primary purpose behind doing this is that the person should get used to their cause of fear. It helps the person to effectively fight against anxiety.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive-behavioral therapy or CBT is one of the most effective methods to fight against phobia. In these cases, the person is giving a kind of talking therapy where people discuss their problem with the therapist.

Then, the therapist and the person work along to identify the kind of thought that comes into the mind of the person when they are exposed to their fear. Those thoughts are identified. And, negative thoughts are shortlisted among them. Then, these negative thoughts are replaced with positive ones. It effectively reduces the fear in the mind of the person. This therapy is a part of exposure theory.

Eye Movement Desensitizing and Reprocessing

Eye movement desensitizing and reprocessing focus on eye movement to fight against the traumatic experiences of life. It focuses on the rhythmic movement of the eye. It is an effective method to fight against the fear of traumatic experiences that might have happened in the past. It is a part of stress control therapies but is effective against other mental health problems as well, like a phobia.

Medications

Medications are given in a rare case of phobia. Most probably, medicines are not effective against it. But they are given to fight against the effects of phobias like fear and anxiety. In most cases, the healthcare provider advises antidepressant medicines, beta-blockers, anti-anxiety drugs, and tranquilizers to control the anxiety.

So, this was about various treatments for phobias. Apart from this, some simple tricks also help the person fight their anxiety. One of the methods is to find other people who are facing the same problem as you. Talk to them and work on the methods that might help the person fight the fear. Taking others' help is an effective method because the person who is facing the same problem can understand your problem well. The solution provided by them might be the most effective method.

Conclusion

Phobia is a common problem. Around 25 percent or more of people face some kind of phobia in their life. Phobia may not continue for the whole life, but it largely affects the life of people. It can be of various types and levels. A person may have a mild phobia, moderate phobia, or severe phobia. Types of phobias decide how they are going to affect the life of the person. For example, if the person has social phobia, then it is largely going to affect the social life of the person. They may resist the social life at all.

Thankfully, phobias are curable. Various methods are present today that help to cope with phobia. Mostly, they are therapy. Medication does very little to affect in case of phobia. However, it can decrease anxiety.

References


         

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