What is your biggest fear? know the most common types of phobia

Fear is a basic emotion that allows people and animals to avoid dangerous situations. However, when the fear is exaggerated, persistent and irrational, it is considered a phobia, leading the person to escape from the situation that caused it, causing unpleasant feelings such as anxiety, muscle tension, tremor, flushing, pallor, sweating, tachycardia and panic.

There are several types of phobias that can be tackled and treated with psychotherapy sessions or with the help of specific medications.

1. Tripophobia

Trypophobia, also known as fear of holes, happens when you feel uneasy, itchy, tremor, tingling and repulsion in contact with objects or images that have holes or irregular patterns, such as honeycombs, clusters of holes in the skin, wood, plants or sponges, for example. In more severe cases, this contact can cause nausea, an increase in heart rate, and even lead to a panic attack.

According to a recent investigation, this is because people with trypophobia make an unconscious mental association between these patterns and a possible danger situation and fear arises, in most cases, in patterns created by nature. The repulsion felt is due to the similarity of the appearance of the holes with worms that cause diseases in the skin, or with the skin of poisonous animals. See how trypophobia is treated.

2. Agoraphobia

Agoraphobia is characterized by the fear of staying in open or closed spaces, using public transport, standing in line or standing in a crowd, or even leaving the house alone. In these situations, or thinking about them, people with agoraphobia experience anxiety, panic, or have other disabling or embarrassing symptoms.

The person who is afraid of these situations, avoids them or faces them with great fear and anxiety, needing the presence of a company to support them without fear. In these cases, the person has a constant concern to suffer panic attacks, to lose control in public or that something happens to leave him in danger. Learn more about agoraphobia.

This phobia should not be confused with social phobia, in which fear comes from the person's inability to interact with others.

3. Social phobia

Social phobia, or social anxiety disorder, is characterized by an exaggerated fear of interacting with other people, which can greatly condition social life and lead to depressive states. The person who has a social phobia feels very anxious in situations like eating in public places, going into crowded places, going to a party or a job interview, for example.

Generally, these people feel inferior, have low self-esteem, are afraid of being attacked or embarrassed by others, and probably in the past have had traumatic experiences such as bullying, aggression, or have been under great pressure from parents or teachers.

The most frequent symptoms of social phobia are anxiety, increased heart rate, difficulty breathing, sweating, red face, shaking hands, dry mouth, difficulty in speaking, stuttering and insecurity. In addition, the person is also very concerned about their performance or what they might think of them. Social phobia can be cured if treatment is done properly. Learn more about Social Anxiety Disorder.

4. Claustrophobia

Claustrophobia is a type of psychological disorder in which the person is afraid of being in closed places, such as elevators, very crowded buses or small rooms, for example.

The causes of this phobia can be hereditary or be associated with a traumatic episode in childhood, in which the child was locked up in a room or in an elevator, for example.

People with claustrophobia believe that the space where they are getting smaller, thus developing anxiety symptoms such as excessive sweating, dry mouth and increased heart rate. Learn more about this type of phobia.

5. Arachnophobia

Arachnophobia, also known as the fear of spiders, is one of the most common phobias, and it happens when the person has an exaggerated fear of being close to arachnids, causing them to lose control, and may also feel dizzy, increase in heart rate, chest pain, shortness of breath, tremors, excessive sweating, thoughts of death and feeling sick.

It is not known for sure what the causes of arachnophobia are, but it is believed that it could be an evolutionary response, since the most poisonous spiders cause infections and diseases. Thus, the fear of spiders is a kind of unconscious defense mechanism of the organism, so as not to be bitten.

Thus, the causes of arachnophobia can be hereditary, or be associated with fear of being bitten and dying, or seeing other people with the same behavior, or even due to traumatic experiences suffered by spiders in the past.

6. Coulrophobia

Coulrophobia is characterized by an irrational fear of clowns, in which the person feels traumatized by his vision, or just imagining his image.

It is believed that the fear of clowns can begin in childhood, because children are very reactive to strangers, or due to an unpleasant episode that may have happened to clowns. Furthermore, the simple fact of the unknown, of not knowing who is behind the mask, causes fear and insecurity. Another cause of this phobia could be the way that bad clowns are represented on television or in the cinema, for example.

Although seen by many as a harmless game, clowns cause people with coulrophobia symptoms such as excessive sweating, nausea, rapid heartbeat, rapid breathing, crying, shouting and irritation.

7. Acrophobia

Acrophobia, or fear of heights, consists of an exaggerated and irrational fear of high places such as bridges or balconies in tall buildings, for example, especially when there is no protection.

This phobia can be triggered by trauma experienced in the past, by exaggerated reactions by parents or grandparents whenever the child was in places with some height, or simply by survival instinct.

In addition to the symptoms common to other types of phobia such as excessive sweating, tremors, shortness of breath and increased heart rate, the most common of this type of phobia are an inability to trust your own balance, constant attempts to hold on to something, crying and screams.