Specific Phobia - Categories of Specific Phobias

Categories of Specific Phobias

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

  • Animal type – Fear of dogs, cats, rats and/or mice, pigs, cows, birds, spiders, or snakes.
  • Natural environment type – Fear of heights (acrophobia), lightning and thunderstorms (astraphobia), or aging (gerascophobia).
  • Situational type – Fear of small confined spaces (claustrophobia), or the dark (nyctophobia).
  • Blood/injection/injury type – Fear of medical procedures, including needles and injections (Trypanophobia).
  • Other – Fear of the number 13 (triskaidekaphobia), or clowns (coulrophobia).


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