What is a phobia? Where do phobias come from? Find out the ten most common phobias and how psychologists treat them.

Being afraid of something that can cause harm is a normal reaction. However, some people show strong, persistent and irrational fears of particular objects, activities or situations. When this behavior interferes with normal everyday functioning, the condition is called a phobia.

The Classic Phobia

Encountering the phobic stimulus results in intense anxiety, causing increased heart rate, difficulty breathing, shaking and sweating. Although the phobic may acknowledge the anxiety is disproportionate to the threat, this does little to reduce the fear and they are highly motivated to avoid it.

The Ten Most Common Phobias

Phobias are classed as anxiety disorders and can be split into one of three categories: agoraphobia, social phobia, and specific phobias.

Here are the ten most common phobias:

1. Arachnophobia – Fear of spiders
2. Social phobia – Fear of social situations
3. Aerophobia – Fear of flying
4. Agoraphobia – Fear of inescapable situations
5. Claustrophobia – Fear of confined spaces
6. Emetophobia – Fear of vomit
7. Carcinophobia – Fear of cancer
8. Rontophobia – Fear of thunderstorms
9. Necrophobia – Fear of death
10. Acrophobia – Fear of heights

Bizarrely, there is even a fear of phobias themselves, called phobophobia. Find out about more uncommon phobias.

Where Do Phobias Come From?

There are many theories on the development of phobias but even today there is still a lack of scientific evidence to prove them.

The psychologists, Rosenhan & Seligman, suggested a theory called Prepared Conditioning. This means that we are genetically prepared to fear certain things depending on the evolutionary threat they posed in the past.

Slater & Shield later observed this genetic link by studying phobias in twins. They found an astonishing 41% hit rate amongst monozygotics (identical twins) and only a 4% hit between dizygotics (non-identical twins). However they failed to collect any evidence of monozygotics who were reared apart - so the shared phobias could have been caused by upbringing.

Another theory is that phobias develop from a traumatic encounter early in life. They can then be worsened by socialisation processes and the expression of fear, e.g. watching a family member react with fear to a certain thing. This may explain why women report significantly more animal-related phobias than men.

Finally, Mowrer suggested a two-process theory of Conditioning, believing the brain is trained to react a certain way to stimuli. The phobia is then reinforced by Classical and Operant Conditioning.

How to Overcome a Phobia

Based on these theories, modern day psychologists have created treatments which teach the brain to reverse the phobia - in essence, to “unlearn” it.

Counter Conditioning

In Counter Conditioning, the patient is trained to substitute fear with relaxation. The stimulus is then introduced in a step-by-step fashion known as Systematic Desensitisation. This method has been proved to work in a single therapeutic session.

This can be even more effective when paired with Modelling, an idea put forward by social learning theorists. In the presence of the stimulus, the patient watches others who show relaxation and not fear. They are then encouraged to imitate the model’s behaviour and overcome their fear.

Virtual Reality helmets which display an image of the stimulus have also proved useful. The scene may be flying in an aeroplane, and when the patient becomes anxious, the frame is frozen and the patient initiates their relaxation response to Counter-Condition against the fear.

Behavioral Therapy

Behavioral Therapy is most effective for specific phobias. Foa & Kozak developed the idea of Exposure Treatment, where the patient is continuously exposed to the stimulus. Physiologically, a state of high anxiety is impossible to maintain for long, and when it subsides the patient will realise nothing dreadful has happened. The fear is extinguished quickly by applying a logical experience for the patient to remember.

Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy reprograms the subconscious brain to think differently about the stimulus. The patient is deeply relaxed while the therapist talks to the unconscious mind. They are also given relaxation cues to call upon when they next encounter the stimulus. This method is proved to reduce the level of anxiety experienced within a single session.

Counseling

For social phobias, counseling is a way of reaching the root cause of the insecurity. The psychologist uncovers the fear and focuses on the mental, emotional and physiological processes of the patient. They are likely to require multiple sessions before eradicating the phobia.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming

Neuro-Linguistic Programming is the study of how people program themselves to deal with reality. It defines a phobia as the result of a faulty construct created by the individual. NLP training reveals and re-programmes these ideas - which automatically eliminates the phobia. The effect is known to be fast and successful.

Further Reading

The 10 Most Common Phobias by Rebecca Turner

Uncommon Phobias by Rebecca Turner