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Various Types of Phobias

A phobia refers to an intense feeling of fear toward a particular object or situation which is often unreasonable in nature and which have a negative effect on a person's life. The impact of this fear is what determines whether or not it is mild or severe enough to be considered a form of mental illness.
Phobia directly and negatively affects a person's life, his well-being and ability to perform his regular duties. For instance, a person who is suffering from an intense fear of water would affect his ability to wash or bathe, go out while it's raining, or even drink a glass of water.
There are various types of phobias. The social phobia is one such type, and it refers to an intense fear for other people or social situations. Often it is manifested in specific or generalized forms. The specific form is a fear for a particular kind of social interaction that causes a panic response, while the generalized form is fear for meeting new people or other social situations.
Agoraphobia is another type of phobia that involves various triggers leading to panic and anxiety. These triggers produce a compound fear of going outside or leaving the home. This may also involve certain features of social phobia and fear resulting from other stimuli, but the ultimate outcome is that a person becomes incompetent to leave his home or any place where he feels safe.
There are other phobias which individuals have acquired through a traumatic experience. Hydrophobia, for instance, is an intense fear of water, which is often associated to a shocking or traumatic experience such as nearly drowning when the sufferer was still a child. Arachnophobia on the other hand, is a severe fear of spiders. When left untreated, phobias may become worse to such an extent that an individual's life is very much affected, both by the illness itself and by his efforts to conceal or avoid it. For this reason, it is important to seek professional help as soon as you experience fear, which you think is beyond the normal range.