1) Arachnophobia – fear of spiders
Arachnophobia is the most common phobia – sometimes even a picture can induce feelings of panic. And lots of people who aren't phobic as such still avoid spiders if they can.
The most common phobias include claustrophobia, social phobia, and arachnophobia. Rare phobias include ablutophobia, alektrophobia, and phobophobia. Effective phobia treatment can involve therapy, medication, or both, which help the individual better cope with their phobia.
Each list explores around 20-40 types of phobias.
Fear of blood (hemophobia), injections (trypanophobia), needles or other sharp objects (belonephobia), or injury (traumatophobia) occurs to some degree in at least 5% of the population.
More than 60 per cent of Australians fear public spaces or large crowds.
The Hierarchy of Fears
In a 2022 poll, similar findings emerged. A fear of snakes, heights, spiders, and public speaking rounded out the top four. I suspect many readers know the terror of unwanted, directed attention.
Simple phobias are fears about specific objects, animals, situations or activities. Some common examples include: dogs. spiders.
If fear of heights is left untreated it can become worse and even chronic. For many people getting regular treatment is difficult due to its high costs or time constraints. For this reason we have developed ZeroPhobia – Fear of Heights.
2. Trypophobia: Fear of Circle Clusters. Although this common phobia could come off silly at first, many people have a very real struggle with trypophobia. There are many theories of what causes trypophobia, most of which point toward human evolution.
We are born with only two innate fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud sounds. A 1960 study evaluated depth perception among 6- to14-month-old infants, as well as young animals.
What is nyctophobia? Nyctophobia is an extreme fear of the dark. The name comes from the Greek word for night. Children and adults with nyctophobia may fear being alone in the dark.
As we age, we produce much less adrenaline, which can cause racing hearts and dizziness. This means the intense fears we may have experienced in youth no longer trouble us as much. However, older people often experience a greater sense of vulnerability, so things like heights or big crowds become more of an issue.
A person may develop a phobia of any type of situation or thing. Because of this, there are hundreds of different phobias that people may experience.
An estimated 5 per cent of Australians have arachnophobia, but there are plenty of others happy to get close to the creepy crawlies.
Social phobias are the most common type of fear. They are considered an anxiety disorder and include excessive self-consciousness in social situations. Some people can fear being judged so much they avoid specific situations, like eating in front of others. Up to one in 20 people have a social phobia.
Trypophobia refers to disgust or fear of a pattern of holes. Seeing clusters of holes in foods, flowers and everyday items like sponges can trigger feelings of revulsion.
How common is thanatophobia? Research suggests that death anxiety is common, though people tend not to report their feelings. One study shows that between 3% and 10% of people feel they're more nervous than others about the thought of dying.
This fear often includes their own blood, another person or animal's, or even an image of blood. Experts in a 2014 analysis estimate that hemophobia has a prevalence of 3–4% in the general population, meaning that it is relatively common.
If you avoid playing sports because you're deathly afraid of hurting yourself, you might suffer from traumatophobia, or a fear of being physically hurt. A psychiatrist might diagnose a patient with traumatophobia, also known as "injury phobia," if her fear of getting injured keeps her from living a normal life.
Fear of loss is most likely one of the most prominent and powerful fears that is holding you back. The biggest fear of loss often stimulates negative emotions like anger that stop you from being the person you can be. Think of the last time you were angry and search for the fear behind it.