There are two different kinds of phobias, specific phobia and social phobia (also known as social anxiety disorder).
A specific phobia is an intense fear of something identifiable, like an object, animal, situation, or place. This fear is much different and more intense than normal worrying, and when people have a specific phobia, they usually recognize that their fear is excessive. For example, many people are afraid of animals such as snakes and do their best to avoid them in everyday life.
However, a person with a specific phobia of snakes becomes extremely anxious when other people talk about snakes or when looking at pictures of snakes. This feeling of terror can quickly overwhelm the person and make him or her feel paralyzed and helpless. The person might even think that he or she is going to die, despite the fact that other people don’t react to the situation in the same terrified way.
The person might even experience a panic attack when this type of fear occurs and therefore attempt to avoid feared situations or objects, no matter how extreme that avoidance might be. For example, a person with a phobia of elevators will choose to walk up twenty flights of stairs instead of using an elevator. Similarly, some people might drive miles out of their way to avoid going through a tunnel or continually postpone family vacations in order to avoid flying.
Let’s think for a moment of Veronica, who is deeply afraid of spiders. When Veronica sees a spider, or something that “looks like a spider” her body goes into survival mode, with her heart racing, her stomach fills with energy and her brain screams “get away from it!.” If she finds a spider in her shower, she avoids going into the shower until someone else has removed the spider. Veronica will also often ask her partner to check for spiders in the shower to avoid an encounter. If she finds a spider in her bedroom, she will not sleep there until the spider has been found and removed for fear of it biting her and causing her pain and harm.
