A phobia is a clinical, often debilitating fear. People who have phobias feel extreme anxiety when even contemplating the object they are afraid of. Some are fearful to the extent that they worry unreasonably about coming across their phobia in highly unlikely circumstances. This can lead to extreme avoidant behaviors. For example, a person who is afraid of snakes might refuse to leave the house because of the very slim possibility that he or she will see a snake at some point.
The behaviors people with phobias develop as a result of their fear can be very harmful to their quality of life. Missed opportunities, for instance, are likely to abound in the life of someone who suffers from a strong phobia. People who are fearful are not likely to leave what they consider their “safety zone.”
If a person with a phobia related to flying is offered a good job in another state or country, he or she may not take it because of the fear of flying.
Someone who has social phobia may try to avoid social interaction, thereby missing out on making connections with other people and engaging in fun group activities.
Some phobias are quite uncommon and, consequently, unknown to most. Emetophobia is one such phobia that most people have never heard of. It involves the fear of being physically sick or seeing someone else getting sick.
“Kakorrhaphiophobia,” the fear of failure, is another odd phobia mentioned in an article for the Evening Times. If you would like to read the article for more about strange phobias, visit the link below.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/opinion/columnists/unusual-phobias-132729n.21810715
