There are a lot of phobias in the world. A phobia can be developed for everything in the world. There is no name yet for most of them, because they rarely occur or are not even known yet. Almost everyone has a fear of something, some worse than others. When this brings limitations into your life you can call it a phobia. What are the most common phobias?
Phobias
- Arachnophobia
- Social phobia
- Aerophobia
- Agoraphobia
- Claustrophobia
- Acrophobia
- Emetophobia
Arachnophobia
The best known and most common phobia is that of spiders and arachnids. Half of women suffer from it and this is 10% of men. It’s less about how dangerous the spider is, and more about what it looks like. People who are very affected by this will avoid tropical places, but also attics and other dark corners. They will constantly look all around them and plastic fake spiders can also cause panic attacks.
Social phobia
People with this phobia are very insecure, shy and anxious about social occasions and interactions. Everyone has a mild form of this. For example, many people have difficulty giving presentations and everyone sometimes wonders how others see and judge you.
Aerophobia
Fear of flying. This is usually caused by a bad experience flying. This can be your own experience, but also a film on TV. This phobia is seen as several phobias together, such as fear of darkness, loss of control, heights, water, no confidence in the technology and skills of the pilots and cabin crew, fear of scars, social anxiety, etc. Flying is easy to avoid for many, yet it has 30% of people who fly have this fear.
Agoraphobia
This is fear of unfamiliar environments in which there is little to no control. It is a kind of fear of anxiety attacks. It is also called agoraphobia. Drinking caffeine is said to make anxiety attacks worse. Men who suffer from this are more likely to drink alcohol, which means they are classified as alcoholics and no longer as agoraphobics.
Claustrophobia
Fear of being stuck in a small space. On average, 6% of the world’s population suffers from this phobia. Not only a small space plays a role, when a space is difficult to leave, this also arouses fear. A car and a lift can cause problems, but so can a large warehouse when it is completely full of people.
Acrophobia
This is the well-known fear of heights. Everyone suffers from this to some extent. When this is extreme, this fear falls under acrophobia. This phobia is accompanied by bathophobia, the fear of depth. Both involve the fear of falling. It seems harmless, but it can be fatal. There are people who feel out of control due to the panic attack, which causes them to fall down.
Emetophobia
Emetophobia is a phobia of vomiting. In the Netherlands and Belgium there are at least 115,000 people who suffer from this phobia. Everything an emetophobe does makes them wonder ‘could this make me throw up?’. All confrontation will avoid this.
It can express itself in different forms. Fear of contamination, fear of the street and panic attacks can arise. Some pay very close attention to the expiration date of food and will never eat out. Emetophobes also often avoid cafes and discos so that they do not come into contact with drunk people.