Specific phobia is an anxiety disorder, characterized by an extreme, unreasonable, and irrational fear associated with a specific object, situation, or concept which poses little or no actual danger.[1][2] Specific phobia can lead to avoidance of the object or situation, persistence of the fear, and significant distress or problems functioning associated with the fear. A phobia can be the fear of anything.
Although fears are common and normal, a phobia is an extreme type of fear where great lengths are taken to avoid being exposed to the particular danger. Phobias are considered the most common psychiatric disorder, affecting about 10% of the population in the US,[3] according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), (among children, 5%; among teens, 16%). About 75% of patients have more than one specific phobia.
It can be described as when patients are anxious about a particular situation. It causes a great load of difficulty in life. Patients have a lot of distress or interference when functioning in their daily life. Unreasonable or irrational fears get in the way of daily routines, work, and relationships due to the effort that a patient makes to avoid the terrifying feelings associated with the fear.[4]
Females are twice as likely to be diagnosed than males with a specific phobia (although this can depend on the stimulus).[dubious – discuss]
Children and adolescents who are diagnosed with a specific phobia are at an increased risk for additional psychopathology later in life.[1]
^"Specific Phobia". National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Archived from the original on 22 February 2022. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
^Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM–5). American Psychiatric Association (APA). 22 May 2013. ISBN 978-0-89042-557-2. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
^Smith M, Robinson L, Segal R, Segal J (September 2020). "Phobias and Irrational Fears". HelpGuide.org. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
Specificphobia is an anxiety disorder, characterized by an extreme, unreasonable, and irrational fear associated with a specific object, situation, or...
phobias. Phobias can be divided into specificphobias, social anxiety disorder, and agoraphobia. Specificphobias are further divided to include certain...
distinguish between generalized social phobia and specific social phobia. People with generalized social phobia have great distress in a wide range of...
British English) is an extreme irrational fear of blood, a type of specificphobia. Severe cases of this fear can cause physical reactions that are uncommon...
pathological fear of contamination and germs. It is classified as a type of specificphobia, meaning it is evaluated and diagnosed based on the experience of high...
eremophobia, is the specificphobia or a morbid fear or dread of oneself or of being alone, isolated, abandoned, and ignored. This specificphobia is associated...
officially recognized as a mental disorder, but may be diagnosed as a specificphobia if excessive fear and distress occur. Most affected people experience...
psychiatry groups phobias such as agoraphobia, social phobia, or simple phobia, see phobia. The following lists include words ending in -phobia, and include...
other anxiety disorders. Scopophobia is considered both a social phobia and a specificphobia. The term scopophobia comes from the Greek σκοπέω skopeō, "look...
Social anxiety disorder (SAD), also known as social phobia, is an anxiety disorder characterized by sentiments of fear and anxiety in social situations...
canines in general. Cynophobia is classified as a specificphobia, under the subtype "animal phobias". According to Timothy O. Rentz of the Laboratory...
of scattered and/or isolated thunderstorms, a type of specificphobia. It is a treatable phobia that both humans and animals can develop. The term astraphobia...
trigger. In the DSM-5, agoraphobia is classified as a phobia along with specificphobias and social phobia. Other conditions that can produce similar symptoms...
technically known as spheksophobia, is a relatively common type of specificphobia. It is similar to fear of bees (which is often called apiphobia or...
this phobia. Despite not being recognized specifically by the American Psychiatric Association in the DSM-5, it does meet their criteria for a specific phobia...
Emetophobia is a phobia that causes overwhelming, intense anxiety pertaining to vomit. This specificphobia can also include subcategories of what causes...
considered a specificphobia of natural environment type in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. A specificphobia is an intense...
while in flight. It is also referred to as flying anxiety, flying phobia, flight phobia, aviophobia, aerophobia, or pteromerhanophobia (although aerophobia...
and Josh D. Lipsitz. "Treatment of SpecificPhobia in Adults." Clinical Psychology Review 27.3 (2007): 266–86. Phobias: A Handbook of Theory, Research,...
are sedative and addicting. Aquaphobia List of phobiasPhobia Sinking of the Titanic Specificphobia "thalass(o)-, comb. form". OED Online. Oxford University...
melissophobia, is a specificphobia triggered by the presence of bees. It is a variation of entomophobia, a fear of insects. The phobia arises primarily...
often complex, as with many phobias. The diagnosis is clinical. It is often difficult to determine if the specificphobia of hodophobia should be the...
under the category of "Other" specificphobia 300.29 (F40.298). Features of ergophobia are often consistent with social phobia or performance anxiety, specifically...
as a type of specificphobia. The term may also refer to strong dislike of birds. People with ornithophobia are often afraid of specific types of birds...
fear of dead fish, up to irrational fear (specificphobia). Selachophobia, or galeophobia, is the specific fear of sharks. The term ichthyophobia comes...
phobia is a specificphobia of blood/injection/injury type. It is an abnormal, pathological fear of having an injury. Another name for injury phobia is...
Masklophobia (sometimes referred to as maskaphobia) is a specificphobia used to classify a general and in some cases an irrational fear of masks, people...
Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition) as a specificphobia of blood-injection-injury type phobia (BII phobia). Phobic level responses to injections cause...