Even the bravest of men are scared of something or the other and we all have some fear of our own. Where some of you might be scared of darkness, others might fear some animals and a few would be scared to even take a bath. Might sound gross but it is true. Different people around the globe have different fears. This fear is good to an extent as it can help to protect you for certain harm and danger but once it escalates and gets accompanied with anxiety turns into phobia. Caused due to an irrational fear, phobia can make you keep a ster distance from various things and objects. Let us take some time to understand what a phobia is along with 3 most common types of phobias that are observed in people around the world with Dr. Samir Parikh, Director, Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences, Fortis Healthcare.
What is a Phobia?
Where each one of us is scared of something or the other, sometimes this fear tends to take the shape of a phobia when accompanied with anxiety and turns into an irrational fear. Here Dr. Samir Parikh explains what phobia actually is and how it is caused.
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Also Read: Fear Of Being Alone Or Lonely? BEWARE! You Might Be Suffering From Autophobia
"In order to understand phobia, one needs to understand what a phobia really is. Phobia can be understood as an irrational fear. A fear that we not isn’t rational but we are still scared of it. This irrational fear makes us avoid that situation even if it is important. Whenever a person is supposed to face that situation, he/she might get a panic attack. This phobia then impairs your functioning in life, which means it negatively affects your daily life. It is important to know how these phobias get caused. In order to understand this, it is crucial to understand the importance of biology first. Phobias are a type of anxiety disorder that are caused due to low levels of serotonin. Autonomic hyperactivity or the arousal threshold neurotransmitters have an important role to play in this as there is a chemical problem going on there. "
To better understand this situation let's say that a person already has a chemical imbalance and he/she has been exposed to something either directly or indirectly. The base of any phobia is a chemical imbalance and an exposure directly or indirectly. Observation and experience put together when accompanied with already existing chemical imbalance is how phobias are formed. The reaction of the mind to the experience of anxiety is the root cause of that first experience. It develops over time and becomes a vicious cycle as people keep on thinking about their fear.”
Types Of Phobias
Also Read: Do You Have A Phobia? Know Different Phobias and Ways to Overcome
By now we know what a phobia is and what causes it. Where a phobia is an intense fear accompanied with anxiety let us take a step ahead to understand about 3 types of phobias.
#1. Zoophobia
The fear of animals is commonly referred to as zoophobia. This phobia is an anxiety disorder that comes as an exaggerated fear of animals. Zoophobia is generally caused due to genetics, learned behavior from parents, siblings or people around, fear processing, anxiety and negative past experience. A person suffering from this kind of phobia might feel the emotion of fear while talking or thinking about a certain animal, hearing about it or even after looking at the image of that particular animal. When exposed to a certain animal, the person with this phobia might experience an increased heart rate, trembling, shortness of breath and even nausea. Some of the most common types of zoophiles are-
- Helminthophobia- Fear of worms
- Cynophobia- Fear of dogs
- Herpetophobia- Fear of reptiles
- Chiroptophobia- Fear of bats
- Ophidiophobia- Fear of snakes
- Melissophobia- Fear of bees
- Equinophobia- Fear of horses
- Ranidaphobia- Fear of frogs
- Ailurophobia- Fear of cats
- Ichthyophobia- Fear of Fishes
#2. Eco- Anxiety
Have you seen people getting scared of thunderstorms or fear of climbing heights? Well, these kinds of extensive irrational fears are categorised as eco-anxiety. Due to eco anxiety a person has a phobia from various environmental damages or natural disasters. People who have migrated from one place to the other, have a lower socioeconomic status, older people or people with some pre existing mental and physical conditions are more likely to experience this kind of phobia. Due to eco-anxiety a person might feel anxious, depressed, go through a shock or trauma and even experience helplessness when faced with a natural calamity. Some f the most common types of eco-anxiety are-
- Astraphobia- Fear of thunderstorm
- Nyctophobia- Fear of darkness
- Hydrophobia- Fear of water
- Acrophobia- Fear of heights
- Halophobia- Fear of sun
- Anemophobia- Fear of wind
- Thalassophobia- Fear of sea
#3. Pharmacophobia
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If you are someone who is scared of injections and hates taking medication more than a normal person, it is important to know that you might be suffering from pharmacophobia. People who have an extensive fear of injections, blood, injury, broken bones and other medical problems are usually the ones suffering pharmacophobia. People with this phobia might have symptoms such as nausea, trembling, panic attacks, palpitation and even racing heart.
With inputs from Dr. Samir Parikh, Director, Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences, Fortis Healthcare.
