Phobias

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What are they?

A phobia is an over-intense fear of a situation or an object that wouldn't generally worry others to the same extent. It can seriously interfere with the way people live their lives. They are a type of anxiety disorder.

How common is it?

Current estimates are that there are 10 million people in the UK with phobias – that’s about 1 in 5 people.

What age range does it affect?

Some people can link their phobias directly to traumatic childhood events, but they can start at any age.

Other information

There are many types of phobia. Many people suffer from claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces) or arachnophobia (fear of spiders), but others include agoraphobia (fear of open/public spaces), of illnesses such as cancer or heart problems, social situations such as eating in public (sometimes associated with eating disorders) and most people at some time or another suffer from scoliophobia – a fear of school (normally this is only mild though, so not a good excuse to not go!).

Symptoms

Panic attacks
Sleep problems
Withdrawing from other people
Feeling breathless, sweaty, or having ‘butterflies’ in your stomach
Extreme fear of the thing around which the phobia is centred

Regular Causes

Prolonged traumatic experiences
Some phobias are related directly to specific life events
Long periods of anxiety, depression or other condition where the person separates themselves from their surrounding environment, whether it be the people or the actual physical surroundings

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