What are phobias?
One theory says that, in our ancient past, it made sense to develop fears of certain things as this would aid survival in a harsh world. So we are prepared to develop fears of things that can harm us - such as snakes or wild dogs - or places, e.g. places away from our homes (this could mean we had left our tribe and could be in danger if we met with strangers who could do us harm). This could help explain agoraphobia - the fear of busy public places. It would explain why people don't develop phobias of sheep (as these never posed any threat to us) but not so good in explaining why people, on the whole, don't develop phobias of tigers even though they still kill large numbers of people in, e.g. India each year.
The main phobias are:
- Agoraphobia - the fear of busy public places, e.g. supermarkets, buses, theatres
- Social phobia - where you fear how badly you will come across to others
- Claustrophobia - the fear of enclosed places, e.g. lifts,
- Height phobia - e.g. high rise flats, bridges
- Animal phobias - e.g. dogs, cats, rats, snakes, spiders
- Blood, illness and injury phobias - e.g. seeing an operation on TV, seeing someone vomit
The way that most people try to cope with a phobia is to avoid going to that place or, if in the place, always have a quick exit planned. This may help in the short term but, in the long term, makes the problem worse.
