Top 10 Phobias: Symptoms and Conquering Your Fears

Friday the 13^th is one of those dates that some people are superstitious about because they associate this date with bad luck. Fear is part of our everyday life and most people, whether they want to admit it or not have a fear of something. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they have a phobia, even though having a phobia is more common than you think.

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A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder, it’s a strong and sometimes irrational fear of something that poses little or no real danger to most. Not all phobias are serious, but if a phobia affects your everyday life, there are therapies to overcome those specific fears. The National Institute of Mental health estimates that 8.1% of adults have a phobia.

Top 10 Phobias

1. Arachnophobia: Fear of spiders
2. Social phobia: Fear of social or public situations
3. Acrophobia: Fear of flying
4. Agoraphobia: Fear of open or public spaces
5. Claustrophobia: Fear of enclosed spaces
6. Emetophobia: Fear of vomiting or choking
7. Acrophobia: Fear of heights
8. Cancerphobia: Fear of developing cancer
9. Brontophobia: Fear of thunderstorms
10. Necrophobia: Fear of death

What can you do?

Having a phobia can be a difficult thing to live with. Many people show both physical and emotional signs of a phobia, such as

• Difficulty breathing
• Racing heart
• Chest pain or tightness
• Shaking
• Feeling dizzy
• Queasy stomach
• Hot or cold flashes
• Feeling the need to run
• Losing control of themselves
• Feeling powerless
• Unable to control their fear

The first thing you can do when you face your fear is try to relax. It’s not an easy thing to do, but it’s worth a try. When you experience panic attacks or any of the symptoms above, the first thing you can do is breathe in and out and see if that calms you down. Walk away, but only temporarily.

It’s important to face your fears, one step at a time because it’s the only way you’ll learn more about your phobia. Many people find that the thing that scared them the most is not as frightening or overwhelming as they thought it would be.  Talk to your doctor, he can help give you tips and even refer you to someone who could help you get to the bottom of your phobia.

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