A phobia consists of an intense and persistent fear of an object or situation. This fear can be activated by the object or situation, present or not, since in many cases what the subject does is anticipate it. Fear sometimes even refers to losing control when exposed to what is feared.
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When a person has a phobia, insistently tries to avoid what generates fear since you could experience panic, fear, tachycardia, sweating, loss of control, feeling of suffocation or lack of air, among others.
Below we present some of the most and least common phobias
Most common phobias
- Agoraphobia: fear of public, open places or spaces where it is difficult to escape or where it is considered that we will not get help.
- Aerophobia: fear of flying on a plane that frequently generates a feeling of discomfort that ends up forcing the person not to take the plane.
- Claustrophobia: fear of closed or confined spaces, especially if this place is small or has dim light.
- Glossophobia: fear of speaking in public that may or may not also occur with a social phobia.
- Hematophobia: midco to blood or any aspect related to it such as syringes, cuts, wounds, hospitals, etc.
- Homophobia: fear, rejection, prejudice or dislike towards homosexuals.
- Xenophobia: fear, hatred or dislike towards foreigners.
- Misophogia or germophobia: fear of germs, contamination or dirt that is usually accompanied by continuous and compulsive hand washing.
- Sociophobia: intense and persistent fear of being judged negatively in social situations. It is a very common phobia that appears in adolescence and persists into adulthood.
Unusual phobias
- Phagophobia: unjustified fear of eating and swallowing, since doctors do not find anything abnormal to justify this fear.
- Pedophobia: fear or aversion to children or babies, taking care of them or being close to them, among other aspects.
- Bromidrosiphobia: unjustified fear of bad body odor, both your own and that of others.
- Genophobia: irrational fear and repulsion of sex, sexual relations or any aspect related to it.
- Bathophobia: fear of depths, precipices or depths.
- Philophobia: fear of falling in love or of relationships and commitments, sometimes “justified” by painful past relationships, divorces, or a childhood lacking attachment.
- Tetraphobia, octophobia, triskaidekaphobia: fear of the number 4, fear of the number 8 and fear of the number 13.
- Necrophobia: fear of corpses, death or dead things.
Psychological treatment of phobias
After a thorough evaluation, where the main objective focuses on reducing the patient’s anxiety. For this it is necessary that the patient understands What relationship exists between your thoughts, emotions and behaviors since specific training will be carried out so that the person is able to manage the negative thoughts that exist in the face of the phobic stimulus. This way, You can modify them for other more adaptive ones. that will generate less emotional intensity and behaviors more suitable for confronting what is feared.
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Additionally, the person will be trained in relaxation and/or breathing techniques in order to achieve exposure to the phobic stimulus through gradual, progressive and controlled exposure.
and was modified for publication. is a center specialized in cognitive behavioral therapy and EMDR for adults and children in Madrid, Spain
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