Phobia

An extreme irrational terror that habitually leads to avoidance of an object or circumstances Phobias are common such as fear of spiders, or arachnophobia; fear of heights or acrophobia and generally begin in childhood or teenage years. Psychiatric nomenclature refers to phobias of specific places, objects, or situations as definite phobias. Fear of public speaking, in very stern cases, is considered a form of social phobia. Social phobias also include other kinds of performance fears like playing a musical instrument in front of others; signing a check while observed and social interactional fears such as talking to people in authority; asking someone out for a date; returning items to a store. Persons who experience from social phobia often fear a number of social situations. Although loosely regarded as a fear of open spaces, agoraphobia is really a phobia that results when people experience panic attacks.