A phobia is an irrational fear of specific objects, places or situations, or

activities. Although fear itself is a to some degree adaptive, the fear in

phobias is irrational, excessive, and disproportionate to any actual danger.
Three categories of phobias are important to discuss social phobia, specific
phobia, and agoraphobia.

Social phobia

Social phobia is described as a persistent fear of one or more social or

performance situations in which the person is exposed to possible scrutiny by
others and fears to behave in a way that will be humiliating and
embarrassing. Social phobics are anxious when confronted with the feared
situation, and those situations will generally be avoided or endured only with
some anxiety, if avoidance is impossible. The avoidance behavior with
occupational or social functioning. The fear must be unrelated to panic
disorder or to somatic disorders. As an example, fear of trembling that result
from Parkinson’s disease does not justify a diagnosis of social phobia.

Specific phobias

A specific phobia is a generic term for any kind of anxiety disorder that
amounts to an unreasonable or irrational fear related to exposure to specific
objects or situations. For e.g., fear of certain animals, situations, blood,
injection, height etc. As a result, the affected persons tend to actively avoid
direct contact with the objects or situations and, in severe cases, any
mention or depiction of them. Specific phobias tend to occur with other
specific phobias. One study found that 76% of a sample of 915 individuals
with a lifetime history of specific phobias had at least one or more additional
specific phobias. This finding is consistent with research showing that
individuals with specific phobias often report multiple fears on a fear survey.
In addition, specific phobias often occur with DSM-IV-TR disorders.

Agoraphobia

Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder. Agoraphobia may arise by the fear of

having a panic attack in a setting from which there is no perceived easy
means of escape. Alternatively, social anxiety problems may also be an
underlying cause. As a result, sufferers of agoraphobia avoid public and/or
unfamiliar places, especially large, open spaces such as shopping malls or
airports. In severe cases, the sufferer may become confined to his or her
home, experiencing difficulty traveling from this safe place. Although mostly
thought to be a fear of public places, it is now believed that agoraphobia
develops as a complication of panic attacks.

The Top Ten Most Common Phobias:

Arachnophobia – The Fear of Spiders

Social Phobias – The Fear of being negatively evaluated in social situations

Aerophobia – The Fear of flying

Agoraphobia – The Fear of wide open spaces to which there is no escape

Claustrophobia – The Fear of being trapped in a very confined space

Acrophobia – The Fear of Heights

Emetophobia – The Fear of vomit

Carcinophobia – Fear of Cancer

Brontophobia – The Fear of thunderstorms/lightning

Necrophobia – The Fear of Death (or dead things)

Epidemiology, clinical findings of phobias

Phobias are surprisingly common. In the national comorbity survey, social

phobia was reported in 13% of population. While specific phobias were
reported in 11%. Specific phobias are more prevalent among woman, where
as social phobia affect men and women about equally. Specific phobias begin
in childhood, most starting before age 12. Social phobias begin during
adolescence, and almost always before age 25. Among specific phobias, the
most commonly feared objects or situations are animals, heights, illness,
injury, and death.

Persons with social or specific phobias experience anxiety when exposed to

feared objects or situations and manifest autonomic arousal and avoidance
behavior. Initially exposure leads to an unpleasant subjective state of
anxiety. This state is accompanied by physiological manifestations such as
rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, and jitteriness. Some people with social
phobia fear doing or saying something that would cause humiliation or
embarrassment in social situations; others are afraid that people will
recognize their anxiety through some outward sign (e.g., blushing, sweating,
trembling). In severe cases, the socially anxious person avoids most social
encounters and become isolated. For the person with specific phobia, distress
varies with exposure to the feared object or situation.

Homeopathic Treatment of Phobia

Homeopathy is one of the most popular holistic systems of medicine. The

selection of remedy is based upon the theory of individualization and
symptoms similarity by using holistic approach. This is the only way through
which a state of complete health can be regained by removing all the sign
and symptoms from which the patient is suffering. The aim of homeopathy is
not only to treat phobia but to address its underlying cause and individual
susceptibility. As far as therapeutic medication is concerned, several
medicines are available for homeopathic treatment of phobia that can be
selected on the basis of cause, condition, and modalities of the complaints.
For individualized remedy selection and treatment, the patient should consult
a qualified homeopathic doctor in person. Some important remedies are
given below for homeopathic treatment of phobia:

Aconite – fear or phobia of death, darkness, noisy places, music,. Fear of

death during pregnancy, fear of ghosts. Fear of entering trolley car or railway
trains. Fear with vexation. Fear of crossing streets. Intense fear with awful
anxiety and restlessness

Stramonium- fear in delirium. Phobia of dogs. Fear caused by hallucinations.

Phobia of water, of light, of doing things wrong and being scolded. Fear of
darkness, yet horror of glistering objects; of night, of being injured. Great
thirst but dreads water.

Opium – fear persisting after some traumatic experience. When fear causes
diarrhea, easily frightened. Fear of death, especially when fright causes
timidity.

Nux vom – fear of fantastic dreams, haunted by fear. Phobia of noise, suitable
for nervous and irritable persons.

Cuprum met – when fear causes spasmodic dyspnoea.

Mercurius – phobia with desire to escape, as if she had committed some

crime.

Arsenic album – great phobia and anxiety. Fear of being killed with a knife.
Fear to be alone, wants company. Great restlessness.

Cuprum aceticum – fear of bed clothes and house catching fire.

Silicea – brain-fag. Fixed ideas; thinks only of pains, fears them, searches and
counts them.

Arnica mont. – fear and horror of sudden death, fears some dreadful thing will
happen. Rises up in the night and grasps at the heart. Full of nightmare and
dreadful dreams. Fear of being struck by those coming towards him.

Calcaria Carb – anxiety or fear that something terrible and sad will happen,
fear that people will observe her confusion of mind, fear of insanity.

Belladonna – fear of imaginary things or evils, wants to run away, fear of

animals of dogs.

Hyoscyamus – fear of being poisoned, of being injured, of being scolded, of

water, of people. Fear en by beasts.

Succinum – phobia of trains and closed rooms.

Ignatia – air-raid fear in hysteric person who faint at slightest provocation.

Sadness due to fright.

Bryonia – fear of poverty.

Gelsemium – fear of bombing and air-raid etc. stage fright, palpitation of

heart due to shock from hearing news of anticipated bombing. Tired feeling
and trembling. There is restlessness and anxiety running about in this
remedy. Fear of falling.

Argentum Nitricum – over anxious, frightened, hasty individual, fear that

death is nearing. Fear of going in a crowd, church or cinema or in stuffy room,
where he cannot breathe, such as an elevator or tunnel.

Phosphorous – fear and anxiety about impending disaster, fear of darkness,

of being alone; of suffocation; of thunderstorm; of something bad to happen.

Lyssin – fear of water, the sight of which creates urge for urination. It is
specific when there is fear of water.

Reference:

Donald W. Black, Nancy C. Anderson; Introductory Textbook of psychiatry

2010; 183-184

Michel Hersen, Vincent B. Van Hasselt; advanced abnormal psychology 2001;

292

Michel B. First, Allan Tasman; Clinical Guide to the diagnosis and treatment of
mental Disorders 2009; 335