Essentially, a phobia is a form of anxiety disorder. Up and down the country, children and adults suffer from phobias. When a person has a phobia, they experience an overwhelming feeling of dread towards something. Having a phobia can be an extremely difficult thing to navigate and it can almost feel like there is no way out. Fortunately, individuals can receive counselling to help them combat this phobia. Often, people find it difficult to distinguish between a fear and a phobia. Phobias tend to develop when a person has an unrealistic sense of danger about a situation or an object, whereas fears tend to be more realistic. For instance, being scared of sharks is classed as a fear because of the danger they pose, whereas being scared of clowns is more of a phobia.
So what are the most common types of phobias?
Arachnophobia
When it comes to phobias, there’s nothing more prevalent than having a deep disliking towards spiders. Despite there being no poisonous spiders in the UK, it’s still something that many people have huge issues with. In fact, a study conducted in 2010 found that spiders were among the most common sources of phobias in the UK. Arachnophobias don’t just reference spiders, but it can include scorpions and daddy longlegs too!
Claustrophobia
When we’re talking about phobias, it’s hard to forget about claustrophobia. This phobia relates to the idea of being caught in tight spaces where it’s difficult to get out. To illustrate this further, a 2020 study found that between 7% to 13% of people experience claustrophobia at some point in their life. The thought of being in a confined space can really disrupt people’s ability to be in social spaces, whether that be events with big crowds such as concerts or sporting events. It can be difficult finding a way around this and some people need counselling just to find a solution to this anxiety.
Acrophobia
Another common phobia is related to heights. This fear of heights not only leads to people avoiding high places, but it can also cause anxiety attacks too. In order for people to not experience this phobia, it’s not uncommon for them to go out of their way to avoid bridges, tall buildings and towers. Whilst this phobia may develop in some because of past experiences, it can also stem from people seeing things on television and film too.
An effective way to combat a phobia is to receive counselling. At Key Counselling Training, we take pride in offering a range of psychology and counselling courses so that you can become a trained counsellor. We don’t just specialise in counselling, but we also offer cpd workshops and cpd training too. Based in Birmingham and Devon, get in touch with our team today to find out more about the services we offer.