Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety is something that everyone feels from time to time. It can relate to immediate concerns, such as attending an interview or sitting an exam, or to longer-term concerns about the future. When anxiety becomes so intense that it interferes with a person’s ability to function, then it can be regarded as an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent of all adult mental disorders. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition, DSM-IV, has classified anxiety disorders into a number of different categories according to symptomatology. One example is phobias.

Phobias (can be grouped into 3 categories)

Specific (simple) phobias are, as the term implies, fears relating to something specific and, although they are often referred to as simple phobias, they are far from simple. Almost everyone has aversions to certain things, the most common being spiders, snakes, rodents or fear of heights. This is quite normal and it is only when the fear becomes an excessive and unreasonable fear that it is classified as a phobia. The list below has some specific phobias:

Specific (simple) phobias

Fear of / fear of
Arachnophobia / Spiders / Phasmophobia / Ghosts
Ophidiophobia / Snakes / Xenophobia / Strangers
Helminthophobia / Worms / Pediophobia / Children
Ailurophobia / Cats / Androphobia / Men
Cynophobia / Dogs / Gynophobia / Women
Hippophobia / Horses / Oneirophobia / Dreams
Musophobia / Mice / Sciophobia / Shadows
Apiphobia / Bees / Achluophobia / Darkness
Acrophobia / Heights / Phengophobia / Daylight
Aerophobia / Flying / Tachophobia / Speed
Claustrophobia / Enclosed spaces / Keraunophobia / Thunder
Ochlophobia / Crowds / Astraphobia / Lightning
Autophobia / Being alone / Hydrophobia / Water
Kenophobia / Empty rooms / Pyrophobia / Fire
Ergasiophobia / Work / Homichlophobia / Fog
Scholionophobia / School / Algophobia / Pain
Bibliophobia / Books / Spermophobia / Germs
Graphophobia / Writing / Necrophobia / death

Source: extracted from Melville 1978

Social Phobia is an excessive fear of social situations. Most people are nervous about public speaking, but someone with a social phobia is afraid of any activity performed in public, such as eating in public or using a public lavatory. Social phobias are more common in women than men, with about 70% of sufferers being female.

Agoraphobia, a fear of public places, is especially debilitating because it can result in people being afraid to go out of their own home, which means unable to go to work or even to shop for provisions. Many people with agoraphobia are also prone to panic attacks when they are in public places. With the increase in air travel, fear of flying is becoming one of the most common phobias and many airlines now offer therapy programmes based on systematic desensitisation.

Panic Attacks

According to DSM-IV, a panic attack involves intense fear or discomfort, with four or more physiological symptoms suddenly appearing. These symptoms include palpitations, shortness of breath, accelerated heart rate, nausea, sweating, chest pain, feeling dizzy and fear of dying.

Social and Psychological Explanations of Phobias