What is fear in psychology? Fear is an emotion that alters both perception and reasoning when faced with specific events or situations. Why are we afraid? What is fear for? Adaptive fear serves to protect us from threatening situations; however, when fear is dysfunctional, it can complicate our lives. Dysfunctional fears can generate distressing disturbances due to the proximity of harm (real or imagined). In this sense, fears are experienced habitually by people, but it is necessary to know to what extent it is a normative and appropriate fear and, on the contrary, when this psychological fear crosses the border and is considered an excessive fear. can turn into a phobia. Is it possible to live without fear? No, but it is possible to regulate fear.
There are many types of fears, do you want to know if your biggest fear is among the 20 most common types? Then do not hesitate to continue reading this Psychology-Online article: 20 most common types of fear and their characteristicswhere you will find a list of fears.
1. Arachnophobia
Arachnophobia refers to fear of spiders. This is one of the most common specific phobias, understanding specific phobia as an anxiety disorder in which it appears due to the presence or anticipation of a feared object or situation, in this case, spiders.
Arachnophobia: symptoms
The symptoms of arachnophobia can appear when seeing spiders or in an anticipatory manner, that is, before seeing them, for example, if the person approaches a place where they have previously seen spiders. Thus, people with arachnophobia usually present some of the following symptoms: avoidance, nausea, anxiety, sweating, tachycardia, cryingamong others.
2. Apiphobia
One of the most common types of fear is apiphobia. The term apiphobia refers to fear of bees and the wasps. It is a fear very similar to arachnophobia, although in this case spiders are changed for bees and wasps. People who are afraid of these insects experience symptoms very similar or identical to the symptoms suffered by people who are afraid of spiders. This is a very common fear. What causes fear is possibly the fact that people cannot control these insects and cannot get rid of them with a simple step, a fact that increases the chances of receiving a bite.
3. Ornithophobia
He fear of birds or ornithophobia refer to another of the most common fears, to which people respond, in the presence of birds, with symptoms typical of anxiety (sweating, tachycardia, accelerated heart rate…). In this case, as in apiphobia, people do not have control of these animals, a fact that can promote greater anxiety. Fear of birds can be directed at both predatory birds (eagles…) and harmless birds (pigeons, parakeets…).
4. Zoophobia
what is the name of the phobia to the animals? Zoophobia. Zoophobia includes all the most common fears directed towards animals. Within zoophobia there are both arachnophobia, apiphobia and ornithophobia, these being the most common. However, fears of other animals are also included, such as phobia of animals. dogs (cynophobia)phobia of cats (ailurophobia)phobia of horses (hypophobia)irrational fear of snakes (ophidiophobia)phobia of sharks (selakophobia), among others. This type of fear can be explained by the experience of a traumatic situation with a specific animal or, on the contrary, it can be an irrational and inexplicable fear.
5. Entomophobia
Following the thread of fear of animals, entomophobia must be taken into account, which refers to the fear of insects in general. It is one of the most common types of fear that is included in zoophobia. However, within entomophobia you can find different types of fear, among which are the fear of bees (apiphobia), the fear of ants (myrmecophobia)the fear of butterflies (motephobia)among others.
6. Agoraphobia
Another of the most common types of fear is anxiety, considered an anxiety disorder. People who suffer from agoraphobia are afraid of two or more of the following situations: going on public transport, being in open or closed spaces, standing in line (for example, at a supermarket checkout), being in a crowd, being alone outside the home in other situations. When these situations generate excessive fear, people who suffer from it usually avoid these types of situations and, to face them, the presence of a companion is almost always necessary.
Agoraphobia: symptoms
People tend to be fearful in these situations due to disabling thoughts and symptoms or humiliating in circumstances in which escape would be difficult or circumstances in which the person is aware that no help would be available. Some of these thoughts and symptoms may be the following: dizziness, fainting, sweating, tremor, tachycardiapalpitations, accelerated heart rate, feeling of difficulty breathing, feeling of suffocation, pain or discomfort in the chest, nausea, instability, derealization (feeling of unreality), fear of losing control, fear of dying, among others.
7. Hematophobia
Another of the most common specific phobias is hematophobia. In this case, the fear is directed at the vision of blood, needles and wounds, although rather, fear is directed towards fear due to the anticipation of the unpleasant consequences of situations in which needles, blood and/or wounds are witnessed, such as dizziness or fainting. Thus, in this type of fear, avoidance and/or escape behaviors also occur, related to places, objects and situations, such as, for example, a blood donation room, hospital, violent movies, among others.
The most notable physiological responses or physical symptoms of hematophobia or blood phobia are divided into two phases. In the first phase there is a increased heart rate, blood pressure and breathing. Next, in the second and last phase, a rapid decline of these three aspects already mentioned, especially heart rate and blood pressure. This abrupt decrease is what can lead people to dizziness and, sometimes, Fainting to see blood
8. Brontophobia
Another of the most common types of fears is brontophobia. What is the meaning of brontophobia? Brontophobia refers to fear of weather phenomena, such as storms, thunder and lightning. In cases of non-excessive fear, people may feel anxiety and/or discomfort. However, in extreme cases of fear of meteorological phenomena, people’s daily lives can be interfered with, since during times of the year when these phenomena are more common, people can feel completely unprotected, a fact that leads them to To be unable to carry out normal activities of their daily lives, such as getting up and going to work, going out to buy bread, among others.
9. Claustrophobia
Claustrophobia is one of the most common types of fear. It consists of the fear of be in a closed space. Although there are different types of claustrophobia, in general, claustrophobic people will try to escape or avoid situations such as the following: being in small or windowless rooms, using the elevator, wearing a full-face helmet (those that cover the entire face), and other situations in which they are in closed or small places that cause them the sensation of difficulty escaping.The difficulties presented by people who have this fear are breathing difficulties, fear of suffocation, restriction or inability to move or leave a place, fear of having a , fear of getting hurt due to nerves, fear of losing control or go crazy, among others. In addition, these people also often perform defensive behaviors to reduce the intensity of their fear, such as leaving a window open, not locking the door, etc.
10. Scotophobia
Scotophobia is defined as fear of the dark. It is a very common fear in childhood, although it can also be suffered in adulthood. If the fear is very persistent, it can significantly interfere with the development of the individual and considerably affect family functioning, especially when it is a fear of the dark in childhood, since, on some occasions, with such In order to get the child to sleep, inappropriate solutions are carried out, such as letting the child sleep with the parents.
11. Hydrophobia
Another of the most common types of fears is hydrophobia. The meaning of hydrophobia is to experience fear of water. It is not about water as a drink, but from sea or pool water, where people can swim. People with this type of fear are afraid of falling into the water, of being pushed, of not being able to swim and of choking or drowning if they swallow water, among others. For this reason, people who are afraid of water avoid going to the beach or places where they may find themselves in front of a swimming pool. However, in cases where they are faced with a feared situation, the behaviors they usually perform to reduce their fear are: carrying a float or inflatable that allows them not to drown, being accompanied by a trusted person, not entering in the water and stay on the shore.
12. Aerophobia
He fear of flying on airplanes is commonly called Among people who are afraid of flying, two types can be differentiated: people who avoid flying and people who do so with intense and considerable discomfort. Within this fear you can find other fears that vary depending on each person, such as thinking about the possibility of having an accident (therefore, fear of getting hurt or dying in the accident), being locked up for a certain time in a small space, dizziness and nausea due to the instability of the plane, the height, not having control or losing it (for example, screaming), among others.
13. Acrophobia
Another of the most common types of fears is fear. Acrophobia is characterized by being commonly called fear of heights. There are different aspects that can foster this type of fear in people, such as the distance they are from the ground, transparent floor or floor with grates (non-solid floor), lack of railings, looking downward, certain attractions. of theme parks, looking out of a balcony or a window, among others.
People with a fear of heights, as with many other fears, usually avoid finding themselves in situations where they are placed at a certain level in relation to the ground. However, when people cannot avoid these situations, they tend to…