Specific phobia facts for kids

A specific phobia is a very strong, unreasonable fear of a particular thing, place, or situation. This fear is much bigger than any real danger. For example, someone might be terrified of spiders, even if the spider is tiny and harmless. This kind of fear is an anxiety disorder. It can make people avoid what they fear, which can cause problems in their daily life.

Everyone feels scared sometimes, and that's normal. But a phobia is different. It's an extreme fear that makes people go to great lengths to stay away from what they're afraid of. Specific phobias are quite common. About 10% of adults in the US experience them. For kids, it's about 5%, and for teenagers, it's around 16%. Many people who have one specific phobia actually have more than one.

When someone has a specific phobia, they feel very anxious about certain situations. This can make everyday life really hard. Their strong fears can stop them from doing normal things like going to school, hanging out with friends, or even doing hobbies. This happens because they try very hard to avoid the scary feelings linked to their phobia.

Girls and women are about twice as likely as boys and men to be diagnosed with a specific phobia. Kids and teens with a specific phobia might be more likely to face other emotional challenges later in life. This is why getting help early is so important.

What Are the Signs of a Phobia?

People with a specific phobia feel scared or anxious just by thinking about or seeing the thing they fear. The biggest sign is that they try to avoid it completely. This fear can also cause physical reactions. Their heart might beat faster, they might feel short of breath, their muscles could tense up, or they might start sweating. They often feel a strong urge to get away from the situation.

Why Do Phobias Happen?

Scientists don't know the exact reason why specific phobias develop. It seems to be a mix of things we are born with (like our genes) and things we learn from our experiences.

Some ideas suggest that certain parts of our brain, like the amygdala, might react too strongly to things we fear. This could make the fear last longer. Also, some studies suggest that fears of things like blood, injections, injuries, and animals might be passed down in families through genes.

Sometimes, phobias can be learned. For example, if a child has a scary experience with a dog, like being bitten, they might develop a phobia of dogs. This is called "classical conditioning." Another way to learn a phobia is by watching others. If you see someone else react with extreme fear to something, you might start to feel that fear yourself. This is called "observational learning."

How Are Phobias Diagnosed?

To diagnose a specific phobia, doctors look for a strong fear or anxiety that lasts for more than six months. This fear must happen every time the person is near the feared object or situation. The fear also needs to be much bigger than any real danger.

Doctors often group specific phobias into different types:

• Animal type: This includes fears of animals like spiders (arachnophobia), insects (entomophobia), dogs (cynophobia), or snakes (ophidiophobia).
• Natural environment type: This covers fears related to nature, such as water (aquaphobia), heights (acrophobia), lightning and thunderstorms (astraphobia), or even aging (gerascophobia).
• Situational type: These are fears linked to specific situations, like being in small, enclosed spaces (claustrophobia) or being in the dark (nyctophobia).
• Blood/injection/injury type: This involves fears of medical procedures, needles (trypanophobia), blood (hemophobia), or getting hurt (traumatophobia).
• Other types: This category includes fears of things like choking, vomiting, loud noises, or even costumed characters for children.

It's important for doctors to figure out if the fear is a specific phobia or another type of anxiety. For example, agoraphobia (fear of open or crowded spaces) is different from a specific phobia. Also, having panic attacks on their own is usually a sign of a different condition called panic disorder.

How Are Phobias Treated?

Good news! There are many ways to treat specific phobias. Most treatments involve working with a therapist to understand and change how you react to your fears. Different treatments work better for different types of phobias.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a popular and very effective treatment. It's a short-term therapy that teaches you skills to manage your fears. CBT helps you change the way you think about your phobia and how you behave when you face it. It's often the first choice for treating specific phobias. You can get CBT through a therapist, computer programs, or even self-help guides. Sometimes, just one session can make a big difference!

Exposure Therapy

Exposure therapy is a special type of CBT that works very well for many phobias. It involves slowly and safely facing the thing you fear. This helps you get used to it and realize it's not as dangerous as you thought. For example, virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) can help with fears of spiders or heights. Many people (up to 90%) feel much better after exposure therapy, and the benefits often last for a long time.

Exposure can happen in real life or in your imagination. Here are some ways it's done:

• Systematic desensitization: You slowly get used to your fear. You start with something mildly scary and gradually move to more intense situations, all while learning to relax.
• Flooding: This method involves facing your biggest fear right away. It can be very intense, so it's important to have a therapist guide you.
• Modeling: In this method, you watch a therapist or another person interact calmly with the feared object. Then, you try to do it yourself.

For fears of heights (acrophobia), facing real-world height situations has helped people feel less anxious in the short term. Virtual reality exposure has also shown good results for some people.

Medication

Sometimes, doctors might suggest medication to help with the anxiety that comes with a phobia. These medicines are usually used along with therapy, not by themselves. They can help calm you down so you can work better with your therapist. However, medicines are not usually a long-term solution for phobias on their own.

What Is the Outlook for Phobias?

Most people who develop a specific phobia first notice symptoms when they are children. Often, these fears might come and go. However, if a specific phobia continues into adulthood, it's more likely to be a long-lasting problem. Having a specific phobia can make life very difficult and affect a person's well-being. It's especially challenging for those who have more than one phobia.

Many people get better with treatment, but some don't seek help. This might be because they can avoid what they fear, or they are not ready to face it in therapy.

How Common Are Phobias?

It's estimated that about 6–12% of people will experience a specific phobia at some point in their lives. Many people don't seek treatment, so the actual number might be even higher. Some surveys in the US have found that up to 70% of people report having at least one unreasonable fear.

Specific phobias often start in childhood or during teenage years. During these times, girls are more likely to develop new specific phobias than boys. There's also a slight increase in new phobias in older adults, possibly due to new health issues or life changes. Animal and blood-injection phobias usually begin in childhood (ages 5–12). Situational phobias, like fear of flying, often start in late adolescence or early adulthood.

In the US, about 12.5% of adults experience a specific phobia at some point. This rate is about twice as high for females compared to males. For teenagers, about 19.3% experience a specific phobia, and the difference between boys and girls is not as big.

See also

• List of phobias
• Phobia