Specific phobias

A specific phobia is a fear of a specific object or circumstance. There are different types of phobias—a specific phobia (also called simple phobia) is when a person is afraid of one specific item or situation. There are also other, more general phobias including social phobia, when a person gets substantial anxiety in certain social situations or when performing in front of a group.

In this article, we’ll deal with specific phobia, explaining what it might look like, and how it is treated.

The experience: A man, age 31, was bitten by a dog at age five and had to be hospitalized. The experience was so terrifying that even now, he is frightened when he sees or hears a dog. He crosses the street to avoid someone walking a dog and, whenever possible, steers clear of homes with dogs. But now that he’s dating a woman who owns a dog, his fear is getting in the way of something important in his life and he needs to solve the problem.

Symptoms: The key characteristic of specific phobia is extreme fear of situations that pose little or no danger or that are no more dangerous than other situations that don’t induce fear. Common phobias include fear of flying, heights, animals, insects, injections, and the sight of blood. Facing the situation or object that induces the phobia produces anxiety immediately, sometimes in the form of a panic attack. Children may cry, have tantrums, freeze, or cling to an adult. Although adults with phobias realize that their fears are excessive or unreasonable, they try to avoid the situations that provoke them. They may refuse to fly in an airplane or visit the home of a friend who has a dog. But this avoidance may interfere with their ability to function normally at work, at school, or in social situations. Many people with this condition also have social phobia, a fear of social situations.

Cause: A specific phobia is often linked to the memory of a particular traumatic event. A person’s genetic make-up is also believed to play a role because the tendency to develop specific phobia runs in families.

Who’s at risk: Women are affected slightly more often than men. Individuals who have a close relative with specific phobia are more likely to develop one. A terrifying or deeply troubling experience, as well as a genetic predisposition, increases the likelihood of developing specific phobia.

Effective treatments: The main treatment is a form of behavioral therapy called desensitization, also known as exposure therapy, in which people are gradually exposed to the source of their phobia until it no longer scares them. Usually the therapist teaches relaxation and breathing exercises to help the person manage anxiety symptoms when they occur. No medication has proved effective in controlling specific phobia, but anti-anxiety drugs may help reduce the intensity of symptoms. These drugs are particularly useful if you can predict exposure to the object of the fear. For example, a person who is afraid of flying can take anti-anxiety medication before getting on a plane.

Anxiety disorders—which include panic attacks, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and phobias—are among the most common mental illnesses, affecting about 23 million American adults. Thankfully, never before have there been so many therapies to help control anxiety. Coping With Anxiety and Phobias is a special report from Harvard Medical School that provides up-to-date information on these treatments, as well as information on the many types of anxiety disorders, their symptoms, causes, and getting a proper diagnosis.