Phobia

The term phobia, which comes from the Greek word for fear (φόβος, fobos), denotes a number of psychological and physiological conditions that can range from serious disabilities to common fears to minor quirks.

Related Topics:
Greek - Fear - Psychological - Physiological

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In addition, a number of neologisms have appeared with the suffix -phobia, which are not phobias in clinical sense, but rather describe a negative attitude towards something, see section Non-clinical uses of the term below.

Related Topics:
-phobia - Attitude - Non-clinical uses of the term

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Phobias (in the clinical meaning of the term) are the most common form of anxiety disorder. An American study by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) found that between 5.1% and 21.5% of Americans suffer from phobias. Broken down by age and gender, the study found that phobias were the most common mental illness among women in all age groups and the second most common illness among men older than 25.

Related Topics:
Anxiety disorder - American - National Institute of Mental Health - Mental illness

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The opposite of the suffix -phobia is a -philia or -philie (meaning "love of").

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