The 10 Most Common Phobias In The World
Phobias are fears that keep some peoples lives captive. There are thousands of phobias around the world associated with fear of very different things. Phobias are not really fears to be taken lightly. One cause of most phobias is thought to be related to a past experience. However, it may not be possible to understand why some phobias exist in some people. Many different treatment methods to get rid of phobias
Phobias are the fears that capture the lives of some people. There are thousands of phobias around the world associated with fear of very different things. Phobias are not really fears to be taken lightly. One cause of most phobias is thought to be related to a past experience. However, it may not be possible to understand why some phobias exist in some people. There are many different treatment methods available to get rid of phobias. There are also methods whose success varies according to the person. In fact, the number of people who apply to people who are not at all competent to get rid of phobias is not very few.
If you have a phobia, you need experts to overcome it. So what are the most common of these thousands of different types of phobias? We dont know if you have a phobia, but these 10 phobias are very common around the world and have affected millions of people.
10. Cardiophobia
Astrophobia is the extreme fear of lightning and thunder.
Acrophobia, which is a very severe fear of heights, is a dangerous phobia.
What Are The Different Groups Of Phobias
What are the different groups of phobias?There are three main groups of phobias which include the following
- Specific phobia: These are the most common type of phobias and focus on a specific object. Specific or simple phobias produce intense fear of a particular object or situation that is, in fact, relatively safe. People who suffer from specific phobias are aware that their fear is irrational, but the thought of facing the object or situation often brings on a panic attack or severe anxiety. Examples may include persistent fear of dogs, insects, or snakes driving a car heights tunnels or bridges thunderstorms and/or flying.
- Social phobia: People with a social phobia are afraid of being in the company of other people. They fear being humiliated or embarrassed in front of other people. This problem may also be related to feelings of inferiority and low self-esteem and can drive a person to drop out of school, avoid making friends, and remain unemployed.
- Agoraphobia: People with agoraphobia are afraid of being in open spaces such as markets, bank queues, or bridges. In some cases, panic attacks can become so debilitating that the person may develop agoraphobia because they fear another panic attack. In extreme cases, a person with agoraphobia may be afraid to leave their house.
What Are The Most Common Phobias And What Are The Psychological Causes Of Them
Are you afraid of spiders, heights, or clowns? Well, youre not alone. But just what is the most common phobia?
Our fears of seemingly trivial things can seem irrational at times, but these are fears shared by millions of people. Even something as harmless as a mouse can strike fear in a grown adult.
For many phobias, weve got a decent idea of what causes them. For others, the jury is still out and some are yet to be recognized as official phobias.
Using data from a survey by YouGov, which had a relatively large sample of 2,088 adults, were going to run through the top 10 in their list, from most to least common, and explain a bit about each.
Lets begin.
1. Heights
In first place, the most common phobia is the fear of heights. Twenty-three percent of respondents said they were very afraid of heights, while 35 percent said they were a little afraid. People tended to get more fearful as they got older, too.
This is known as acrophobia, which comes from the Greek ákron meaning peak or edge. This phobia appears to stem from an inability to perceive vertical dimensions.
Research suggests that people with this phobia overestimate vertical distances, and those with the biggest miscalculation have the strongest fear of heights. Its not clear which one drives the other, however.
2. Snakes
In second place, with 21 percent of people very afraid and 31 percent a little afraid, its the humble snake.
3. Public speaking
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The Top 10 Most Common Phobias Ranked
Here’s what scares Americans the most.
The more than 500 recognized phobias range from super common to incredibly rare, and from NBD to deadly serious. Nearly one in 10 Americans suffers such a frighthere’s what scares them the most.
No. 1:Critters50 percent of phobics fear insects, snakes, or birds.
No. 2: Heights48 percent are afraid of being way up high.
No. 3: Tight Spaces34 percent hate tunnels, caves, and elevators.
No. 4: Flying31 percent are scared of airplane trips.
No. 5: Water26 percent can’t stand being in or on open water.
No. 6: The Dentist25 percent would rather never go.
No. 7: Blood22 percent freak over the red stuff.
No. 8: Bad Weather21 percent fear thunderstorms or lightning.
No. 9:Crowds17 percent panic in throngs of people.
No. 10:The Hospital15 percent can barely set foot in the door.
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Agoraphobia The Fear Of Open Or Crowded Spaces
Nearly 2 out of every 100 Americans suffers from Agoraphobia, the fear of open or crowded spaces. This is a debilitating condition which prevents the phobic from visiting malls, markets, theaters and other crowded areas as well as open grounds. The individual feels intense panic at the mere thought or sight of such a space . Agoraphobia becomes a vicious circle where the sufferer feels afraid of experiencing a panic attack and these thoughts again lead to a panic attack. Limiting activities and avoidance behavior becomes a part of the phobics life. Depression is hence a common symptom of this phobia.
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Fear Of Suffering From A Disease Nosophobia
This is an irrational fear of having a certain disease. People with nosophobia have a few physical symptoms, are afraid of a specific disease and become persuaded that they have the symptoms of that specific disease. This phobia is common among those researchers or students who spend a lot of time on reading about a particular disease.
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How The Brain Works During A Phobia
Some areas of the brain store and recall dangerous or potentially deadly events.
If a person faces a similar event later on in life, those areas of the brain retrieve the stressful memory, sometimes more than once. This causes the body to experience the same reaction.
In a phobia, the areas of the brain that deal with fear and stress keep retrieving the frightening event inappropriately.
Researchers have found that phobias are
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The Rarest Phobias In The World
| Stuff
Everyone is afraid of something, but when the fear becomes too intense and disruptive, a phobia can develop. While everyone has heard of common phobias like arachnophobia, claustrophobia, and aerophobia , there are numerous phobias that most people have never heard of. This list includes some of the rarest phobias in the world.
In general, phobias can be divided into three categories: specific phobias, social phobia, and agoraphobia. All phobias are a type of anxiety disorder and share symptoms commonly associated with anxiety.
Since there are not a lot of statistics regarding how many people might suffer from a certain phobia, this list was arranged in alphabetical order.
The Difference Between Fear And Phobia
The term phobia gets thrown around a lot these days, but having a fear and having a phobia arent exactly the same thing.
Essentially, fear is temporary phobia isnt.
Having a phobia creates a stumbling block in your life, and the fear it causes can be so strong that youll do anything to avoid the object of that phobia. Phobia that becomes debilitating is a type of anxiety disorder. Take, for example, a job offer. You made it through the hardest partlanding your dream positiononly to find out that your office will be on the 20th floor of an office buildingand you have a phobia of heights. In order to avoid being so high off the ground, you turn the position down and pass up a significant job opportunity because of your phobia.1
Phobias can be debilitating and crippling, and they can keep you from enjoying the things you love with the people you love. But it doesnt have to be this way. There is hope and help for people with phobias.
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Ophidiophobia The Fear Of Snakes
The fear of snakes or Ophidiophobia is the second most common zoophobia affecting nearly 1/3rd of the adult human population. Like the phobia mentioned below, the fear of snakes also has evolutionary roots. To an extent, the fear of venomous snakes is also essential for survival. Extreme Ophidiophobia can affect ones life as one tends to avoid hiking, camping and related activities or might even become afraid of pet store snakes and other reptiles. Next up is the number one phobia of all time.
Zoophobia: A Menagerie Of Fears
The most common type of specific phobia is zoophobia or fear of animals. Zoophobia is actually a generic term that encompasses a group of phobias involving specific animals. Examples include arachnophobia fear of spiders ophidiophobia fear of snakes ornithophobia fear of birds, and apiphobia fear of bees. Such phobias often develop in childhood and sometimes go away as the child ages. But they can persist into adulthood.
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Treating Phobias In Baton Rouge
It is perfectly normal to experience some level of hesitation or nervousness when confronted with a new or intimidating situation. However, such instances should not produce symptoms of panic such as increased heart rate, rapid breathing, trembling, and nausea. If these types of symptoms occur as the result of a particular object or situation, you are likely suffering from a phobia. Fortunately, most of these conditions can be improved dramatically with care from a mental health professional. If you are in the Baton Rouge area and struggling with a phobia, contact Psychiatry Associates of Baton Rouge to request an appointment with one of our skilled psychiatric physicians.
How Can You Manage Your Phobias
While it’s easy to dismiss other people’s phobias, in severe cases they can have an extremely negative impact on someone’s life. For example, it’s not hard to see how a fear of public speaking might harm someone’s career prospects.
A phobia can easily bring about an anxiety attack, There are many potential physical and psychological symptoms, from sweating and trouble breathing to simply not being able to control your thoughts.
If you have a phobia that’s stopping you making the most of life, our GPs are here to help you. These are just a few of the treatment options available.
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Cynophobia The Fear Of Dogs
Cynophobia, the extreme fear of dogs, is one of the most common animal phobias around the world. Nearly 36% sufferers seek treatment for Cynophobia and the majority of these are also known to be afraid of cats. The extreme fear of dogs is actually even more debilitating than the fear of spiders and the fear of snakes due to the fact that dogs are commonly present in most residential areas. Nearly 75% of Cynophobes are women, though the fear also affects men. The condition usually begins in childhood, but many patients are also known to have developed the fear in their adulthood.
Trypophobia The Fear Of Holes
Biological revulsion and culturally learned fears are the primary causes of Trypophobia, which is the extreme and irrational fear of holes. While this fear might seem irrational to normal people, the mere sight or thought of holes can set off a panic attack in the Trypophobe. As a result, the individual avoids objects such as coral, sponges, skin, meat, dried honeycombs and pretty much everything that has holes on it. Holes seem disgusting and gross to the sufferer and s/he goes to all lengths to avoid it.
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How Many People Have Phobias
If you have one of the previous phobias, you can be sure that you are not alone. Phobias are the most common psychiatric illness among women, says the American Psychiatric Association. It is the second most common in men.
The National Institute of Mental Health has suggested that about 10% of U.S. adults are affected by phobias each year. Phobias typically appear during childhood or adolescence and go on into adulthood. They also affect about twice as many women as men.
What Are The Phobia Symptoms
For different persons, symptoms of phobia could be different. For different types of phobia, symptoms also vary. There could be some common symptoms of all kinds of phobia.
For example, unusual sweating, muscle numbness, hazy vision, stammering, shivering and many others are considered as common aftermaths of all sorts of phobias.
Along with these basic symptoms, there are some symptoms which have been known or regarded as unique. Nevertheless, depending on the type of phobia, the common symptoms or normal symptoms of phobia have been triggered. In the following section, a few common symptoms of phobia have been discussed.
Uncontrollable anxiety is a common aftermath of phobia or panic attack for a person. It may be triggered in some situations or conditions.
People suffering from phobia want to avoid the source of fear at all cost.
Behind phobia, the irrational mindset can be regarded as an issue. During the phobia attacks, people may talk about irrational things and it is a common symptom of any kind of phobia.
Apart from these mental or mind related symptoms, there are a few physical symptoms associated with a phobia. In the following section, you can have a quick glimpse of these physical symptoms:
abnormal breathing
Euphobia: Surprisingly, this is a phobia of hearing good news.
Vestiphobia: This type of fear happens due to clothes. Yes, there are certain people who fear of clothing.
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A Worry Of The Dental Gear
Once you take a look at the tools dentist could use of their clinic, they will look scary and seem like theyre from a torture chamber. Wanting on the numerous tools dentist could use can set off individualss phobias and make them scared to let the dentist do their job. Youll be able to communicate to your dentist in the event you undergo from this and have them clarify the completely different instruments and what theyre used for to place you comfortable.
How Do You Treat A Phobia
Phobias can be hard to treat but not impossible. The best way to overcome a phobia is to present it to the afflicted in a safe environment. This would need to be done repeatedly and would show the person that there is no reason to be scared of their phobia. One of the best ways to replace bad memories is to drown them out with more pleasant ones.
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Globophobia The Fear Of Balloons
When you think of some of the silliest phobias in the world, were sure the fear of balloons, or globophobia, is high up on the list. Turns out, even Oprah Winfrey is afraid of balloons, and if that isnt enough to make you feel better about your phobia, we dont know what is. People suffering from this phobia feel a severe fear at the thought, sight, touch or even smell of balloons. The sound of it popping is enough to set a sufferer running for life.
What Are The 5 Most Common Phobias
Firstly, its useful to define what a phobia actually is the NHS Choices website defines phobias as an overwhelming and debilitating fear of an object, place or situation, feeling or animal.
It is more extreme than fear in the normal everyday sense and develops when a person has an exaggerated or irrational perception of danger or threat about a particular thing. So, for example, being a bit wary of spiders isnt the same as being arachnophobic. Phobias arent always entirely irrational in the sense that some spiders, for example, ARE dangerous and should be avoided. But a phobia will assume that ALL spiders even a tiny house spider is a threat.
In Jungian psychology, archetypes can help explain the existence of snake and spider phobias in people living in urban environments where they would have never encountered dangerous creatures. In fact, in the UK, electricity is a far greater danger and accounts for many injuries and fatalities, with electric ovens being the leading cause of these, accounting for almost 700 deaths and serious injuries each year . However, electrophobia is much less common despite the threat being far more real in countries like the UK, whereas few as 12 people have died from snake bites in the last century and there have been no recorded spider related deaths.
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What Are The Top Ten Worst Fears
Fear of driving. 13. Fear of dogs. 14. Fear of dentists. 15. Fear of snakes. 16. Fear of needles. 17. Fear of being alone. 18. Fear of water. 19. Fear of god. 20. Fear of abandonment. 21. Fear of long words. 22. Fear of clowns. 23. Fear of falling. 24. Fear of change. 25. Fear of germs. 26. Fear of music. 27. Fear of