What does Phobia mean?

Definitions for Phobia
ˈfoʊ bi əpho·bi·a

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word Phobia.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. phobia, phobic disorder, phobic neurosisnoun

    an anxiety disorder characterized by extreme and irrational fear of simple things or social situations

    "phobic disorder is a general term for all phobias"

GCIDE

  1. phobianoun

    Any irrational and persistent fear, whether of a situation, activity, or object; a phobia typically leads to a strong desire to avoid the object of the phobia.

  2. phobiasuffix

    A combining form used as a suffix to designate specific phobias, such as agoraphobia (fear of public places), acrophobia (fear of heights). The first part of the combining form is usually derived from Greek.

Wiktionary

  1. phobianoun

    An irrational or obsessive fear or anxiety, usually of or about something particular.

    I know someone with a strange phobia of ladders.

  2. Etymology: c 1790, from words ending in -phobia, from φόβος. Compare ism, from -ism, itis, from -itis, and ana, from -ana.

Wikipedia

  1. Phobia

    A phobia is an anxiety disorder defined by a persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation. Phobias typically result in a rapid onset of fear and are usually present for more than six months. Those affected go to great lengths to avoid the situation or object, to a degree greater than the actual danger posed. If the object or situation cannot be avoided, they experience significant distress. Other symptoms can include fainting, which may occur in blood or injury phobia, and panic attacks, often found in agoraphobia and emetophobia. Around 75% of those with phobias have multiple phobias.Phobias can be divided into specific phobias, social anxiety disorder, and agoraphobia. Specific phobias are further divided to include certain animals, natural environment, blood or injury, and particular situations. The most common are fear of spiders, fear of snakes, and fear of heights. Specific phobias may be caused by a negative experience with the object or situation in early childhood. Social phobia is when a person fears a situation due to worries about others judging them. Agoraphobia is a fear of a situation due to perceived difficulty or inability to escape.It is recommended that specific phobias be treated with exposure therapy, in which the person is introduced to the situation or object in question until the fear resolves. Medications are not helpful for specific phobias. Social phobia and agoraphobia may be treated with counseling, medications, or a combination of both. Medications used include antidepressants, benzodiazepines, or beta-blockers.Specific phobias affect about 6–8% of people in the Western world and 2–4% in Asia, Africa, and Latin America in a given year. Social phobia affects about 7% of people in the United States and 0.5–2.5% of people in the rest of the world. Agoraphobia affects about 1.7% of people. Women are affected by phobias about twice as often as men. The typical onset of a phobia is around 10–17, and rates are lower with increasing age. Those with phobias are more likely to attempt suicide.

ChatGPT

  1. phobia

    A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder defined by a persistent, irrational, and excessive fear of a specific object, situation, or activity. This fear often leads to avoidance behavior and causes significant distress and interference in a person's daily life.

Wikidata

  1. Phobia

    A phobia is, when used in the context of clinical psychology, a type of anxiety disorder, usually defined as a persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding, typically disproportional to the actual danger posed, often being recognized as irrational. In the event the phobia cannot be avoided entirely, the sufferer will endure the situation or object with marked distress and significant interference in social or occupational activities. The terms distress and impairment as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition should also take into account the context of the sufferer's environment if attempting a diagnosis. The DSM-IV-TR states that if a phobic stimulus, whether it be an object or a social situation, is absent entirely in an environment — a diagnosis cannot be made. An example of this situation would be an individual who has a fear of mice but lives in an area devoid of mice. Even though the concept of mice causes marked distress and impairment within the individual, because the individual does not encounter mice in the environment no actual distress or impairment is ever experienced. Proximity and the degree to which escape from the phobic stimulus is impossible should also be considered. As the sufferer approaches a phobic stimulus, anxiety levels increase, and the degree to which escape of the phobic stimulus is limited has the effect of varying the intensity of fear in instances such as riding an elevator.

Suggested Resources

  1. phobia

    Song lyrics by phobia -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by phobia on the Lyrics.com website.

How to pronounce Phobia?

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of Phobia in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of Phobia in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of Phobia in a Sentence

  1. Mark Amodei:

    You have to totally detach yourself from any expectations on process since the process is now private meetings, it's déjà vu in that there seems to be an absolute phobia for holding a committee meeting on the record for establishing foundation for what you did, which I don't think is a great start.

  2. Chris Antony:

    I live pretty much right opposite the owners house, i had a hunch that something wasnt right because I was sitting outside and I could see the movement up in the trees and just knew something was wrong. I told my husband about it but he didnt believe me and then I kept an eye out because I have got a phobia of snakes.

  3. Simon Henderson:

    The UAE has a phobia of the Muslim Brotherhood and makes very little distinction of whether people are doing things which most in the United States would view as normal political activity as opposed to support for terrorism.

  4. George Strait:

    We’re just trying to get people to try it, you know, so many people have a little phobia about drinking tequila. [ They think ] it's going to be nasty, you're going to hold your nose and drink it down as fast as you can and suck on a lime and lick some salt — but our tequila certainly isn't that way.

  5. Karen Cassiday:

    My guess is we're going to have people who are sort of coming out of the closet with their bug phobia because this is really unusual.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

Phobia#10000#28595#100000

Translations for Phobia

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"Phobia." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/Phobia>.

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