Phobia Categories

Most psychologists and psychiatrists divide phobias into three categories:

  1. Social phobias – fears to do with other people and social relationships such as performance anxiety, fears of eating in public, etc.
  2. Specific phobias – fear of a single specific panic trigger, like dogs, flying, running water and so on.
  3. Agoraphobia – a generalized fear of leaving your home or your small familiar ‘safe’ area, and of the inevitable panic attacks that will follow. Agoraphobia is the only phobia regularly treated as a medical condition.

A sudden attack of fear,panic attacks that will follow. Agoraphobia is the only phobia regularly treated as a medical condition.

Many specific phobias, such as fears of dogs, heights, spider bites, and so forth, are extensions of fears that everyone has. People with these phobias treat them by avoiding the things they fear.

Many specific phobias can be traced back to a specific triggering event, usually a traumatic experience at an early age. Social phobias and agoraphobia have more complex causes that are not entirely known at this time. It is believed that heredity, genetics, and brain chemistry combine with life experiences to play a major role in the development of anxiety disorders and phobias.

Phobias vary in severity among individuals, with some phobics simply disliking or avoiding the subject of their fear and suffering mild anxiety. Others suffer full-fledged panic attacks with all the associated disabling symptoms.