Specific Phobias

Topic Overview

A specific phobia is an extreme fear of a specific object or situation that is not harmful under usual conditions. People with specific phobias may be afraid of:

• Common objects, such as animals or insects. For example, they may fear dying after being bitten by a spider (arachnophobia).
• Natural events. For example, they may fear thunder and being struck by lightning (astrapophobia), drowning in water (hydrophobia), or falling from high places (acrophobia).
• Common situations. For example, they may fear being closed in (claustrophobia) or they may fear crashing when flying in an airplane.
• Seeing blood (hemophobia). People who have this phobia often faint when they need to give a blood sample, have an operation, or are in pain.