What are phobias?

Anxiety is a feeling of worry or fear that many of us will experience at some point in our lives when we encounter situations that cause stress or concern. Anxiety is a symptom of several mental health conditions such as social anxiety disorder, generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and panic disorder.

Phobias are an anxiety disorder where a person has an excessive fear of a certain object, circumstance or activity that is disproportionate to the level of danger it poses.

Phobias are categorised as either specific (simple) or complex. Specific phobias are a type of anxiety disorder involving fear of a specific object, animal, situation, or activity.
Whereas complex phobias are often deep-rooted and debilitating such as social phobia (social anxiety disorder) and agoraphobia and can often be very disruptive to daily life.