A phobia is an anxiety disorder that produces a fear of certain people or things that are significant to extreme and sometimes irrational. Someone with a phobia will go to a lot of effort to avoid the thing or situation they fear so much.
The source of a phobia can be biological or psychological, but it can also result from social or environmental factors.
Here are some of the most common phobias.
The fear of heights affects more than 6% of people. This is not merely unease about being near an exposed edge in a high place; it’s an extreme fear of bridges, towers, tall buildings, cliffs, etc.
Few people enjoy airports and flying these days, but between 10 and 40% of Americans have a real fear of flying, even though flying is statistically far safer than driving.
This phobia which affects almost 2% of the population, is sometimes mistakenly called a fear of open spaces. Actually, it’s the fear of situations where escape can be difficult, including open spaces and situations like crowds.
Spiders give a lot of people the creeps, but people with arachnophobia are genuinely terrified of them. Even an image or the thought of an arachnid can trigger a bad reaction.