"Specific phobia" is a generic term for any kind of anxiety disorder that amounts to an unreasonable or irrational fear related to exposure to specific objects or situations. As a result, the affected persons tend to actively avoid direct contact with the objects or situations, and in severe cases any mention or depiction of them.

The fear or anxiety may be triggered both by the presence and the anticipation of the specific object or situation. A person who encounters that of which they are phobic will often show signs of fear or express discomfort. In some cases it can result in a panic attack. In most cases of adults, this kind of phobia is consciously recognized by the person; still, anxiety and avoidance are difficult to control and may significantly impair person's functioning and even physical health.

The diagnostic criteria for Specific Phobia listed below excludes rational fears that are reasonable and pass in the short term as these types of fears are not a phobia.

a) Marked and persistent fear that is excessive or unreasonable, cued by the presence or anticipation of a specific object or situation (e.g., flying, heights, animals, receiving an injection, seeing blood).

b) Exposure to the phobic stimulus almost invariably provokes an immediate anxiety response, which may take the form of a situationally bound or situationally predisposed panic attack. Note: In children, the anxiety may be expressed by crying, tantrums, freezing, or clinging.

c) The person recognizes that the fear is excessive or unreasonable.

d) The phobic situation(s) is avoided or else is endured with intense anxiety or distress.

e) The avoidance, anxious anticipation, or distress in the feared situation(s) interferes significantly with the person's normal routine, occupational (or academic) functioning, or social activities or relationships, or there is marked distress about having the phobia.

f) In individuals under age 18 years, the duration is at least 6 months.

g) The anxiety, Panic Attacks, or phobic avoidance associated with the specific object or situation are not better accounted for by another mental disorder, such as

(i) Social Phobia (avoidance of social situations because of fear of embarrassment)

(ii) Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia, or Agoraphobia without a history of Panic Disorder.

(iii) Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (fear of dirt in someone with an obsession about contamination)

(iv) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (avoidance of stimuli associated with a severe stressor)

(v) Separation Anxiety Disorder (avoidance of situations that require separation from home/relatives)

Symptoms of Specific Phobia include the anxiety, panic attacks and avoidance of certain situations, places, and careers in order to avoid their fear. A panic-type reaction can be triggered by the sight, image or even thought of trigger object or situation. Generally, phobias cause distress, impairment, and generate an excessive response to a particular situation. There is nothing physically wrong with a person with specific phobia, it is only their perception of the object or situation that causes the body to express a physical response.

Direct Experience
This is where the object that a person is afraid of is experienced directly. For example if a person is afraid of snakes and they get bitten by that snake.

Experiencing a False Alarm
This is where a person experiences a false alarm such as a snake striking at them from inside a glass enclosure. They develop a phobia of actually being bitten and experiences a panic attack when in the presence of snakes.

Observing Someone
This is where a person observed another person getting attacked by a snake. Therefore, they are afraid of the snake this way. That person is then afraid that what happened to the other person could also happen to them.

Being Told
This is where a person is told about the dangers of a snake. The warning is so great and frightening to the person, that they develop a phobia because of it.

According to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders phobias can be classified under the following five general categories:

(i) Animal type
Phobias relating to animals, such as the fear of spiders (arachnophobia) and the fear of snakes (ophidiophobia), are considered animal type.

(ii) Natural environment type
A phobia falls into this category if the fear is cued by objects in the natural environment, such as storms, heights (acrophobia), or water (aquaphobia) or even thunderstorms (astraphobia). If the fear is just a passing fear, such as being worried or cautious in dangerous or risky areas, it is not a phobia. These fears have to be persistent and cause distress or impairment. For example, avoiding a boat ride or a trip for fear of a storm without any such prior indications.

(iii) Situational type
This kind of phobia includes those like the fear of small confined spaces (claustrophobia) and being "afraid of the dark," (nyctophobia).

(iv) Blood/injection/injury type
This situational phobia consists of a persistent, debilitating fear of blood (seeing it or expelling it), bodily injury of any type, and injection of one’s own body with a needle. Many people may have mild fears of these types of situations, but those with a blood/injection/injury type situational phobia are seriously impaired when even a thought of these situations occur.

(v) Other
Like the fear of the number 13 (triskaidekaphobia), and the fear of clowns (coulrophobia).

Approximately 6.3 million American adults ages 18 to 54, or about 4.40 percent of people in this age group in a given year, have some type of specific phobia. Specific phobias usually arise in childhood or early adult life and can persist for decades if they remain untreated.

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