A phobia is an irrational fear, a kind of anxiety disorder in which the individual has a relentless dread of a situation, living creature, place, or thing.
A phobia starts when a person begins organizing their lives around avoiding the object of their fear. A phobia is much more serious than a simple fear. People with a phobia have an overpowering need to steer clear of anything which triggers their anxiety.
To mention the most common simple phobias:
- Dentists (dentophobia)
- Bats (chiroptophobia)
- Dogs (cynophobia)
- Flying (aviophobia)
- Snakes (ophidiophobia)
- Birds (ornithophobia)
- Frogs (ranidaphobia)
There are Specific Phobias as social phobia and agoraphobia (fear of leaving home) are deep rooted fear or anxiety caused by certain situations, incidents which are more disabling the simple phobias.