10 of the Most Common Phobias

What Are the Most Common Phobias?

What exactly do people tend to fear the most? The most common phobias include:

• Arachnophobia: an intense fear of spiders and other arachnids
• Ophidiophobia: an intense fear of snakes
• Acrophobia: an intense fear of heights
• Aerophobia: an intense fear of flying
• Cynophobia: an intense fear of dogs
• Astraphobia: an intense fear of thunder and lightning
• Trypanophobia: an intense fear of injections
• Social phobia: an intense fear of social interactions
• Agoraphobia: an intense fear of places that are difficult to escape, sometimes involving a fear of crowded or open spaces
• Mysophobia: an intense fear of germs, dirt, and other contaminants

These phobias lead to marked fear and can result in experiencing symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, and breathlessness. In some cases, they may escalate into a full-blown panic attack.

These common phobias involve an intense or extreme fear of the environment, animals, injections and blood, or certain situations. Here's a more in-depth look at each one.

Arachnophobia

Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders and other arachnids. The sight of a spider can trigger a fear response, but in some cases, simply an image of an arachnid or the thought of a spider can lead to feelings of overwhelming fear and panic.

So why are so many people terrified of arachnids? While there are an estimated 35,000 spider species, only around a dozen pose any real threat to humans.

One of the most common explanations for this and similar animal phobias is that such creatures once posed a considerable threat to our ancestors, who lacked the medical know-how and technological tools to address injuries from animals and insects. As a result, evolution contributed to a predisposition to fear these creatures.

Ophidiophobia

Ophidiophobia is the fear of snakes. This phobia is quite common and often attributed to evolutionary causes, personal experiences, or cultural influences. Some suggest that since snakes are sometimes poisonous, our ancestors who avoided such dangers were more likely to survive and pass down their genes.

Studies have shown that these animals tend to provoke a disgust response, which might explain why snake phobias are so common yet people tend not to exhibit similar phobias of dangerous animals such as lions or bears.

Acrophobia

Acrophobia, or the fear of heights, impacts more than 6% of people. This fear can lead to anxiety attacks and avoidance of high places. People who suffer from this phobia may go to great lengths to avoid high places such as bridges, towers, or tall buildings.

While in some cases this fear of heights may be the result of a traumatic experience, some theories suggest that this fear may have evolved as an adaptation to an environment in which a fall from heights posed a significant danger.

Aerophobia

Aerophobia, or the fear of flying, affects between 2.5% and 40% of U.S. adults despite the fact that airplane accidents are actually very uncommon. Around 1 out of every 3 people have some level of fear of flying. Some of the common symptoms associated with this phobia include trembling, rapid heartbeat, and feeling disoriented.

The fear of flying sometimes causes people to avoid flying altogether. It is often treated using exposure therapy, in which people are gradually and progressively introduced to flying. A person might start by simply imagining themselves on a plane before slowly working up to actually sitting on a plane and finally sitting through a flight.

Cynophobia

Cynophobia, or the fear of dogs, is often associated with specific personal experiences such as being bitten by a dog during childhood. Such events can be quite traumatic and can lead to fear responses that last well into adulthood. This particular phobia can be quite common.

This phobia is not just a normal apprehension of unfamiliar canines; it is an irrational and excessive fear that can have a serious impact on a person's life and functioning.

For example, a person with cynophobia might feel unable to walk down a certain street because they know that a dog lives in that neighborhood. This avoidance can impact the individual's ability to function in their daily life and make it difficult to get to work, school, or other events outside of the home.

Astraphobia

Astraphobia is a fear of thunder and lightning. People with this phobia experience overwhelming feelings of fear when they encounter such weather-related phenomena. Symptoms of astraphobia are often similar to those of other phobias and include shaking, rapid heart rate, and increased respiration.

During a thunder or lightning storm, people with this disorder may go to great lengths to take shelter or hide from the weather event such as hiding in bed under the covers or even ducking inside a closet or bathroom.

They may spend a great deal of time each day tracking the local and national weather in order to know when any type of storm might take place. In some instances, this phobia may even lead to agoraphobia in which people are so afraid of encountering lightning or thunder that they are unable to leave their homes.

Trypanophobia

Trypanophobia is the fear of injections, a condition that can sometimes cause people to avoid medical treatments and doctors. Like many phobias, this fear often goes untreated because people avoid the triggering object and situation.

When people with this phobia do have to have an injection, they may experience feelings of extreme dread and elevated heart rate leading up to the procedure. Some people even pass out during the injection.

Because these symptoms can be so distressing, people with this phobia sometimes avoid doctors, dentists, and other medical professionals even when they have some type of physical or dental ailment that needs attention.

This phobia can lead to vaccine hesitancy. One study found that almost 12% of U.S. adults stated they were hesitant about the COVID-19 vaccine due to a dislike of needles and injections.

Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder)

Social phobia involves the fear of social situations and can be quite debilitating. In many cases, these phobias can become so severe that people avoid events, places, and people who are likely to trigger an anxiety attack.

People with this phobia fear being watched or humiliated in front of others. Even ordinary, everyday tasks such as eating a meal can be anxiety-provoking. Social phobias often develop during puberty and can last throughout life unless they are treated.

The most common form of social phobia is a fear of public speaking. In some cases, social phobias can cause people to avoid social situations, including school and work, which can have a major impact on the individual's well-being and ability to function.

Agoraphobia

Agoraphobia involves a fear of being alone in a situation or place where escape may be difficult. This type of phobia may include the fear of crowded areas, open spaces, or situations likely to trigger a panic attack. People will begin avoiding these trigger events, sometimes to the point that they cease leaving their homes entirely.

The disorder often begins as a spontaneous and unexpected panic attack, which then leads to anxiety over the possibility of another attack happening.

Mysophobia

Mysophobia, or the excessive fear of germs and dirt, can lead people to engage in extreme cleaning, compulsive hand-washing, and even avoidance of things or situations perceived as dirty. In some instances, this phobia may be related to obsessive-compulsive disorder.

People with this phobia may also avoid areas where germs are more likely to be present, such as doctor's offices, airplanes, schools, and pharmacies.