What are phobias?

A phobia (from the Greek: meaning "fear" or "morbid fear") is, when used in the context of clinical psychology, a type of anxiety disorder, usually defined as a persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding, typically disproportional to the actual danger posed, often being recognized as irrational. In the event the phobia cannot be avoided entirely the sufferer will endure the situation or object with marked distress and significant interference in social or occupational activities.

Most of the people in the world have a fear of one kind or another. While most people suffer from pathophobia (fear of disease), monophobia (fear of being alone), glossophobia (fear of public speaking),algophobia (fear of pain), taphephobia (fear of being buried alive), and many more, there are also some less popular phobias.

Phobias can deeply impact a person’s life. A person withchronophobia (fear of time) probably won’t make it to their 10:00AM dentist appointment on time. A person with chaetophobia (fear of hair) is most likely bald, has no eyelashes, no eyebrows, etc. A person with cibophobia (fear of food) usually hasn’t eaten in weeks and could easily be anorexic. This proves how serious and destructive phobias can be.