What is Phobias

A phobia is simply defined as any disorder or an irrational, persistent fear of a specific object, some particular activity or situation. The founder of behaviorism, B.F. Skinner, defines phobias as superstitions. According to him superstitions are any behavioral pattern that does not lead to the predetermined goal with the fewest number of actions.

The term ‘phobia’ is originated from a Greek word ‘phobos’ meaning ‘fear’. It is clinically termed as an anxiety disorder that consists of a morbid and irrational fear.

People who have phobias are often so overwhelmed by a particular object or place that they avoid using those objects or going to such places that give them feeling of anxiety and uneasiness. The most common phobias include the fears of animals, heights, crowded places and social events. Depending on the various different kinds of fears like social situations, specific objects or places and generalized fear, most psychologists and psychiatrists have categorized phobias into three different types. The three different types of phobias are simple, social and agoraphobia. Simple or specific phobias are phobias involving the fear of specific objects or places, social phobias involve fear of social situations or meeting strangers and agoraphobia is a generalized fear of being in places where one feels trapped. In a research study, it was found that social phobias affect 15.5% of women and 11.1% of men in some point of their life. All these phobias have common symptoms of anxiety, sweating, nausea, breathlessness, dry mouth and in the extremes lead to panic attacks.

Some develop phobias at the early years of life and some after a experiencing a tragedy in their personal life. These phobias are often genetic and are carried forward to the next generation or generations ahead. Advancement in science and technology has brought many genuine quick cures for phobias.