Definition

Is being frightened of spiders a phobia or a normal fear? Is being afraid of taking the subway or a bus a phobia? Is a child who refuses to go to school suffering from a phobia? How can we distinguish phobias from normal fears? There are many questions and many different fears, which is why it is important to clarify the various fears that may sometimes considerably impair the quality of daily life.

The term phobia refers to an excessive fear, either of a situation, a specific object, or even a particular circumstance. Fear and phobia can be differentiated somewhat by the intensity of the reaction. (I am afraid of cats but I can remain in a room where there is a cat, versus fleeing from the room and avoiding all places where I might risk meeting a cat!).

People who suffer from a phobia recognize their fears, without, however, being able to explain their origin, which is not rational. Their fears control them totally, unlike most people who, while they experience fear of, for example, a job interview or sleeping at home alone, do find strategies for ‘getting through it’. It is thus the severity of a person’s inability to adapt to their environment that differentiates phobias from ‘normal fears’.

There are several kinds of phobias, which are classified as agoraphobia, social phobia, and specific phobias.

• Agoraphobia is the fear of being in situations where it might be difficult to escape quickly or to get help, such as being alone away from home, for example, in a crowd. By far the most handicapping of all phobias, agoraphobia restricts the movements of those affected, or they need to be accompanied when away from home. Several health professionals believe that agoraphobia is almost always accompanied by panic attacks. Various teams of researchers are trying to find answers to this question. 

• Social phobia is a profound, persistent fear of different social situations or events. Those affected worry about social interactions and fear being in embarrassing situations where they might be judged, watched, humiliated. They are suffering from a generalized social phobia when they avoid some social situations. The most common social phobias are speaking in front of a group, having a conversation, particularly with a stranger, or even speaking to a person in authority. Others suffering from social phobia are more likely to experience problems speaking on the telephone, eating or drinking in front of people who are watching them or participating in activities where there might be an audience, such as sports activities or concerts. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between a generalized social phobia and an avoidant personality, which often manifests itself as early as childhood.
  
  

• Specific phobia is a profound and persistent fear of an object or a specific situation such as heights, animals, germs, flying, elevators, injections, or blood. While those suffering from a specific phobia adopt avoidance behaviours, they do accept that they have to live with certain unavoidable situations, albeit in intense fear. The onset of most specific phobias is at the end of adolescence or in early adulthood, except for the fear of heights, which is discernable from infancy.