Unless you’re an entomology enthusiast, let’s be real—cockroaches are pretty gross. But for people with Katsaridaphobia, an irrational fear of roaches, they’re petrifying. When the weather warms and roaches tend to venture indoors, someone with a roach phobia might scan ceilings before entering a room, avoid dark corners, or be on high alert for dark spots scuttling across floors.
Logically, we know roaches are harmless. But phobias don’t need to make sense for the fear to be real. Spotting one of these unwanted critters could trigger debilitating symptoms and escalate to a panic attack for someone with Katsaridaphobia.
Phobias are a type of anxiety disorder, defined by persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that compels one to avoidance. If you have a phobia, you’re certainly not alone! Over 10 million adults in the United States suffer from some sort of phobia. Thunder, being alone, germs, clowns, you name it. If it exists, there’s probably a phobia of it.
3 Types of Phobias
The DSM categorizes phobias as specific phobias, social phobias, or agoraphobia.
- Specific phobias are fears of specific objects or situations, broken down into four subcategories:
- Animal and insect phobias, like snakes, dogs, roaches, or sharks.
- Natural environment phobias include heights, deep water, and storms.
- Situational phobias are fears triggered by specific situations, such as flying in an airplane; driving on bridges; going through a tunnel; or small, enclosed spaces.
- Blood-Injection-Injury phobias – Alongside needles and blood, this fear type includes injury, illness, or medical procedures.
- Social phobia, more commonly known as social anxiety, is a fear of being judged or embarrassed in front of other people. The fear of public speaking and talking on the phone are specific types of social phobias, but people with social anxiety are likely to fear humiliation in a variety of social settings. Someone with social phobia may avoid attending events where they don’t know anyone, accept the wrong dish at a restaurant, or over analyze an interaction with a coworker.
- Agoraphobia was originally categorized as a fear of open spaces, but it’s deeper than that. People who are prone to panic attacks may fear an attack occurring in public because it could be embarrassing, difficult to escape from, or could worsen the attack. Avoidance of crowded or wide open spaces in severe cases can lead to limitations in a social life and make home feel like the only safe place.
If you’re not sure what to call what makes your skin crawl, peruse this list of Top 100 Common Phobias.
What causes phobias
Science can’t pinpoint a single cause for a phobia to develop, but genetics and situational exposure are the likely culprits. Many phobias develop in childhood due to traumatic experiences. For example, a child who has been chased and bitten by a stray dog may avoid dogs and develop a phobia. Certain types of phobia, such as animal and blood-injection-related phobias, may also be hereditary.
Spiders and snakes are the most common phobias in the United States, yet they don’t pose as proportionally major threats in first-world countries. It’s possible that natural selection plays a role here, since fears of these old world threats may have saved your ancestors, lineage, and YOU!
But just because this phobia could’ve been an evolutionary reward doesn’t make having it any easier. So how do you know if your fear is actually a phobia?
Signs it’s not a “normal” fear
Avoiding danger is totally normal. Live-saving, in fact! But there’s a point when a rational fear becomes irrational: when avoiding your fear takes control of your life. If you’re forced to face your phobia, you may experience an adrenaline rush, flooding your system with adrenaline in order to defend yourself. The closer you get, the worse your symptoms may be. You may experience—
Physical symptoms:
- Light-headedness or nausea
- Heart palpitations
- Trembling or shaking
- Difficulty breathing
- Stomach discomfort
- Chest pressure or pain
- Hot flashes or sweating
- Cold flashes or tingling
Emotional symptoms:
- Overwhelming anxiety or panic
- Feeling intense need to escape
- Disassociation, or a feeling of detachment from yourself or the world
- Feeling or fearing a loss of control
- Feeling like you’re going to die or pass out
Untreated, symptoms could escalate to anxiety or panic attacks. It’s important to be able to recognize the signs of an attack and know when to seek help.
Read: Am I having an anxiety attack?
When approaching your fear, you may even be aware that you’re overreacting, but phobias have a tendency to disarm you, making you feel powerless. But the good news is, you can learn to regain control, even when approaching what you fear the most.
3 Tips for Confronting Your Phobia
By now you’ve identified and named your phobia. Now you’re probably wondering, “Am I stuck with this phobia for life, or can I do something about it?” You can do A LOT, and we’ve got you covered! These three tips can help banish your fears:
Tip #1: Learn calming techniques.
Phobias trigger physical symptoms that can make everything feel worse than it really is. Try reliving an overactive fight or flight response with breathing techniques like soft-belly breathing or box breathing to calm your nerves. If you can’t stop imagining worst case scenarios, try one of these grounding exercises to help curtail ruminating thoughts.
Tip #2: Challenge your negative thoughts.
We can probably all agree that bouldering on a mountainside during a thunderstorm is a pretty reasonable time to feel scared of heights. It’s also normal to feel a little uneasy looking off a high bridge. But a sudden collapse powerful enough to send you plummeting into the water below is highly unlikely. That’s what phobias do: make us overestimate a threat, causing unnecessary anxiety over an unrealistic outcome. These negative thoughts are cognitive distortions, or untrue views of reality.
Jot down specific fears you have about your phobia. What do you think will happen? What’s the worst you fear will happen? What about that outcome scares you? Next, use our guide to challenge cognitive distortions and reprogram your fear response.
Tip #3: Consider Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Learning to regulate your emotions and challenging phobic thoughts can greatly relieve anxiety—especially with the right help. Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is a highly researched treatment which focuses on restructuring the way we think. Therapists may recommend exposure therapy for phobias, a type of CBT that focuses on improving your reaction to the object or situation you are afraid of. Over time, exposure to the fear is slowly increased (emphasis on slowly!) until the phobia decreases or is eliminated.
Don’t try this at home, kids. If you rush exposure, you could reinforce the fear instead of desensitizing yourself to it. A professional trained in CBT with experience in anxiety disorders can safely and effectively guide you through this process.
Your phobia doesn’t need to keep limiting you.
Phobias act like they have the power to control you. But they don’t. Our CBT-trained therapists at Austin Anxiety and Trauma Specialists offer online counseling to all residents of Texas and in-person sessions at our Austin branch. Book a session with us today so you can get back to living a fearless life.
