Understanding phobias

A phobia is an extreme fear. It's a type of anxiety disorder.

Phobias can have a big impact on our lives, but there are things we can do to cope with them.

What is a phobia?

A phobia is a when you feel extreme fear of:

• An object, place or thing. Like spiders, dark places, flying, or needles.
• A situation. Like going outside. Or being in big crowds.

Some of us only feel this fear around our phobia trigger. But some of us can feel the fear when we think about it. Or see pictures of it.

We can still feel this fear even if we know what triggers our phobia is safe. Or is very unlikely to harm us.

You might have more than 1 phobia. Your phobias might be related to each other, but they don't have to be. 

Are phobias a mental health problem?

Phobias are a type of mental health problem. They're a type of anxiety disorder.

A phobia is different to just feeling afraid or cautious about something.

Everyone feels frightened sometimes. And it's natural to feel afraid of things or situations that could harm us. But a phobia is when the fear we feel doesn't match the risk of what we're afraid of. It makes us very afraid of something that's unlikely to harm us.

A fear becomes a phobia if:

• It's out of proportion to the danger
• It lasts for more than 6 months
• It has a significant impact on how you live your day-to-day life

When should I get help for a phobia?

It can be hard to know when to get help for a phobia.

It can sometimes be hard to tell if you have a phobia. Particularly if you're afraid of something that can cause harm in some situations. For example, snakes.

In some cases, you might not come across the thing that triggers your phobia very often. So it might feel like you don't need to address it.

But phobias are unlikely to go away on their own. Particularly if you've had them for a long time. And even phobias of things you feel are dangerous can have a big impact on your life.

Seeking support for your phobia might be helpful if:

• Avoiding your phobia trigger makes it hard to live your day-to-day life.
• You have to prepare a lot to be around your phobia trigger. Or can only do it if someone else is with you.
• It keeps you from doing things you enjoy.
• It causes intense fear and anxiety. Or makes you feel very overwhelmed.
• It causes panic attacks.
• You find it hard to think about or look at pictures of your phobia trigger.
• You know that your fear doesn't match the real risk of danger.
• You've had the phobia for at least 6 months.
• You need to use recreational drugs or alcohol to cope.
• It stops you getting support for other health problems. Or makes this very hard. For example, a phobia that stops you using the phone, or seeing a doctor. Or having a test or treatment that involves a needle.

For more information, see our page on coping with phobias.

What types of phobia are there?

You can have a phobia of any thing or situation. Some of these phobias have names. For example, arachnophobia is a fear of spiders. But not all of them do.

All phobias are grouped into two categories:

• Specific phobias
• Complex phobias

Specific phobias

Specific phobias are phobias about a specific object or situation. Such as snakes or flying.

Some of the most common specific phobias are:

• Animal phobias. Like dogs, insects or reptiles.
• Body based phobias. Like blood or injuries.
• Medical phobias. Like going to the dentist, or having medical procedures, including those that involve needles.
• Phobias about your environment. Like heights, the darkness, or being in enclosed spaces.

But there are many more. You can have a specific phobia of anything.

Specific phobias impact people in different ways. If you have a phobia of something you have to see or do a lot, this can impact your everyday life. But you might have a phobia of something you don't come into contact with very often. So you might not feel as impacted by it. 

However, some of us feel the symptoms of phobia when thinking of our phobia trigger. Or seeing pictures or videos of it. This might make the phobia harder to manage.

Complex phobias

Complex phobias are phobias that aren't focused on 1 specific thing. They normally relate to the way you interact with other people and the world around you. They tend to have a more disruptive impact on your life.

The 2 common complex phobias are:

• Social phobia. This is also called social anxiety. It's when you experience intense anxiety in social situations, or when you think about them. It's more than just feeling nervous or shy. Our page on social anxiety has more information.
• Agoraphobia. This is a phobia of things that make it difficult for you to be outside. This might be because you're afraid that something could go wrong. Or that you wouldn't be able to escape or get help if something went wrong. The fear can be so intense that you find it hard to leave home. Or can't go out unless someone is with you.

What are the symptoms of phobias?

Phobias can feel different for everyone.

Generally, the symptoms involve experiencing intense fear and anxiety.

Phobias have physical and emotional symptoms. They might vary in how intense they feel at different times in your life. And in different situations. The way you experience your symptoms can impact the way you act around your phobia trigger.

You might have these symptoms when you:

• Encounter your phobia trigger
• Think about your phobia trigger or think about having to encounter it
• See pictures or videos of your phobia trigger

You don't need to feel all of these symptoms to have a phobia. Everyone's experience will be different. 

Physical symptoms of phobias

The physical symptoms of phobias can include:

• Feeling unsteady, dizzy, or lightheaded
• Feeling like you're choking
• Being startled, which might make you jump or twitch
• Screaming or crying
• Changes to your heart rate – it might beat very fast and make you feel panicked or beat slowly and make you lightheaded
• Chest pain or tightness in your chest
• Sweating
• Feeling very hot or very cold
• Changes to your breathing – breathing very fast or feeling like you're being smothered
• Feeling like you're going to be sick or being sick
• Numbness or tingling sensations
• Trembling or shaking
• Feeling like you can't move or freezing
• Having a panic attack
• Fainting – this is most common with phobias of blood and needles

Emotional symptoms of phobias

The emotional symptoms of phobias can include:

• Feeling afraid, terrified and anxious
• Feeling disgusted, uncomfortable or embarrassed
• Feeling like you're losing control or can't think clearly
• Feeling out of touch with reality or detached from your body (called dissociation)
• Feeling like you're going to die
• Overthinking situations and jumping to the worst-case scenario of what could happen

How phobia symptoms might make you act

Your phobia might make you act in certain ways to avoid your phobia trigger. Or to manage how it's making you feel. This can include:

• Trying to get away from the situation as fast as possible. Or hiding.
• Avoiding certain situations completely. This might feel helpful, but avoiding the phobia trigger can make it worse. And have a big impact on your day-to-day life.
• Asking other people to deal with the situation for you. Or only being able to handle your phobia trigger if someone is with you.
• Putting a lot of time and effort into doing things that help you avoid your phobia trigger. Simple tasks might become very complicated. You might ask other people around you to do these things as well.

These acts are sometimes called ‘safety behaviours’. They're things we do that make us feel safe. But they can be unhelpful. This is because they often don't help us deal with our symptoms. Or help us overcome our phobia. And they can make our phobia worse.

See our page on coping with phobias for more information on how you can manage your symptoms.

What causes phobias?

Phobias don't have just 1 cause. Even the same phobia might be caused by different things for different people. Sometimes, you might not know what caused your phobia. Particularly if you've had it since you were a child.

If you have more than 1 phobia, they can be caused by different things. Or the causes might be connected.

You can have a phobia of something even if you haven't had a previous bad experience of it.

The causes of anxiety can also cause phobias. This is because phobias are an anxiety disorder. This can include things like genetic factors and other health problems.

You might find it helpful to try to work out the causes of your phobia. But you might not be able to. You can still get treatment and support for your phobia even if you don't know what caused it.

Some causes that could be behind your phobia include:

Past experiences

You might have a phobia because you had a bad experience with your phobia trigger in the past. This experience might have given you a very strong, unpleasant emotion, such as:

• Fear
• Disgust
• Sadness
• Embarrassment

You might have been harmed or put in danger. Or seen someone else in danger. But you can still develop a phobia even if nothing physically happened to you.

Some of us develop a phobia after we have these experiences a lot. But you can also get a phobia from just 1 bad experience. And not all bad experiences will lead to phobias.

I am disabled and have had medical treatments my entire life. When I was little, I used to fight people trying to take my blood, so I would have to be held down. The people raising me were completely unsympathetic to my feelings. All of this compounded to create the intense fear I experience when I’m getting my blood drawn today.

Learned responses

Growing up, you might have learned to react to things based on how people around you acted. If they had a severe reaction to something they fear, this might have influenced you.

For example, you might been raised by people who are very worried or anxious. This may have made you very worried and anxious about certain things. And contributed to a phobia.

You might develop the same phobia as the person who raised you, or a sibling.