A phobia is an omnipresent and inconsistent fear of a particular object or situation that imposes little or no actual threat to an individual. The word phobia has been derived from the name of the Greek God Phobos, representing fear and flight. A Phobic Disorder is a psychological condition in which the patient experiences a ‘fight’ or ‘flight’ response when faced with a feared object or situation in order to escape a dreaded event. Most of the individuals with phobias often show intense fear and advanced defense mechanisms even when they see a picture or at the mere mention of the feared object or situation as if they were faced with it in a real-life situation. In most cases the situation is not dangerous at all but these individuals go to great lengths to avoid any stimuli that might trigger off their fears.

Some of the most common phobias are:

• Agoraphobia- fear of open spaces and public places
• Achluophobia-fear of darkness
• Agliophobia- fear of pain
• Claustrophobia-fear of confined places
• Acrophobia-fear of heights
• Mysophobia- fear of contamination
• Contreltophobia- fear of sexual abuse
• Dystychiphobia-fear of accidents
• Emetophobia-fear of vomiting
• Hemaphobia-fear of blood
• Herpetophobia-fear of reptiles and crawling creatures
• Hodophobia-fear of road travel
• Iatrophobia-fear of doctor
• Aquaphobia-fear of water

The anxiety caused by a phobic disorder can disrupt the daily life of an individual as people with this disorder tend to avoid certain activities and situations that can lead them to encountering their fears.

There are three main categories of phobic disorders:

• Specific phobia
• Social phobia
• Agoraphobia

Specific phobias are marked by the fear of other organisms such as snakes, spiders and environmental fears such as water, heights or roads.

Social phobias involve extreme fear of social and performing situations in which the individual may be prone to evaluation of others. Fear of public speaking, writing in public or the fear of interacting socially with others is part of social phobias.

Agoraphobia is the fear of both open and closed spaces and originates from constant worry about having a panic attack in a situation that may be embarrassing or inescapable.

Age of Onset and Gender differences:

Phobic Disorders are more common in women than men. The lifetime prevalence rate is 16 percent for women and 7 percent for men. The sex ratios vary according to the type of phobia. The age of onset of different phobic disorders also tends to vary. Animal phobias and environmental phobias usually begin in early childhood, whereas agoraphobia, claustrophobia and social phobia begin in adolescence and early adulthood.