Fear of spiders, snakes, or the dark is relatively widespread. In fact, it’s estimated that 10 million people in the United Kingdom suffer from a phobia. And lesser-known phobias, such as fear of rooms or dogs, affect more people than you might think.
Cynophobia (the fear of dogs), frigophobia (the fear of being cold) and iatrophobia (the fear of going to the doctor) are just three examples of some of the UK’s most common phobias.
There are two types of phobias, according to Scotland’s national health information service. Simple phobias can involve animals, objects or well-defined activities, such as a fear of spiders, snakes, enclosed spaces or the fear of flying.
These fears often appear in childhood, between the ages of five and nine, and tend to be born out of a bad encounter or irrationality.
Complex phobias, on the other hand, “tend to be more disabling than simple phobias because they are often associated with a deep-rooted fear or anxiety about a particular circumstance or situation”, explains NHS Inform.
They are most often situational phobias, such as agoraphobia, which tend to develop after adolescence.
Among the best-known disorders in the UK is agoraphobia, which is “a fear of being in situations where escape might be difficult or that help wouldn’t be available if things go wrong”, according to the NHS, though it is more often generalised as “a fear of open spaces”.
In fact, the letter “A” is a real breeding ground for phobias, with achluophobia, the fear of darkness; aerophobia, the fear of flying; and arachnophobia, the fear of spiders.
Lesser-known phobias include catoptrophobia, the fear of mirrors; dentophobia, the fear of going to the dentist; and the irrational fear of teenagers, known as ephebiphobia.
There’s also frigophobia, the fear of being too cold; zoophobia, the fear of animals; and koinoniphobia, the fear of rooms.
Combating fears
If you want to fight one of your irrational fears, it is recommended you seek professional help.
“Cognitive behavioral therapy allows a patient to confront and get over his or her fears,” explains psychotherapist and CBT practitioner Stephany Pelissolo.
“Phobias are often the result of learning and conditioning. It is, therefore, necessary to decondition the fear through progressive exposure.”
Pelissolo gives the example of ailurophobia, a fear of cats. “We ask the patient to look at the written word to begin with. Then we show them pictures, followed by films, before finally confronting them with reality.
“The key is to accustom the patient to what they are afraid of in order to extinguish the fear, with support from the therapist at every step.”
Which beats the heck out of trying to overcome it by going on an episode of “Fear Factor”.
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