What Causes Phobias?

What causes phobias varies by person and any mental disorder they may (or may not) have. Phobias are a mental disorder that manifests as an irrational fear of something. Many people have fears, but when that fear becomes irrational, persistent, uncontrollable and impacts daily life, it can be classed as a phobia. This particular anxiety disorder can result in some fairly obscure phobias-cnidophobia, the fear of strings-and more significant ones-agoraphobia, the fear of crowds.

External Events
Many behavior experts in phobia treatment find that phobias can develop partially by external events that are interpreted by someone in a certain way. Many phobias are linked to a significant single event or trauma. For example, someone may develop a fear of flying when a loved one perishes in a small plane crash. Another person could develop a fear of clowns after watching a clown horror movie as a child. In fact, trauma in childhood is a very common beginning to a lifetime phobia.

Internal Factors
When an external event meets with a person exhibiting certain genetic and hereditary characteristics, it's possible for phobias to develop. Depending on someone's coping mechanisms developed over time, as well as their life experience and overall personality, a trauma in early childhood may not make as much of an impact as it does to another person with a different internal makeup.

Biology
Fear creates a certain set of responses in the body, such as rapid heartbeat and breathing. The brain triggers the body to prepare for danger and the physical reaction is to react to threatening situations. When the situation is not a true threat, a non-phobic person won't experience the symptoms of a panic attack, while a phobic person will.

When someone experiences a panic attack due to a phobia trigger, scientists in phobia treatments have observed that something specific happens to the brain. One area of the brain, known as the amygdala, puts out hormones that control fear. When a person encounters a trigger, this area sends signals to flood the body with hormones that cause the typical symptoms and an increased alert state. As the hormones work through the body after some time, the heightened state returns to normal.