Phobia is defined as -

Ans. is 'b' i.e., Excessive unreasonable fear about a specific situation o Phobia is persistent and morbid fear of specific situation, object or activity.Phobic disorderso Phobia is persistent and morbid fear of specific situation, object or activity. The fear is morbid because : - a) The fear is irrational: The objects or situations do not produce fear in normal persons.b )The fear is out of proportion to the dangerousness perceived that the affected person avoids the situation permanently.c) Patient is unable to control the fear and is very distressed by it.o The common types of phobia are: -AgoraphobiaThis is an example of irrational fear of situations. It is the commonest type of phobia encountered in clinical practice.It is characterized by an irrational fear of being in places away from familiar setting of home and patient believes that he cannot escape from these places, to a safer place (usually home). This fear results in avoidance of these places which include public places, stores, crowd, travelling alone in bus, train or plane, Theaters, Tunnels, Bridge, standing in line small enclosed rooms or lifts.The patient is afraid of all the places or situations from where escape may be perceived to be difficult if he suddenly develops embrassing or incapaciating symptoms. These embrassing or incapaciating symptoms are the classical symptoms of panic. A full-blown panic attack may occur (agoraphobia with panic disorder) or only a few symptoms (like dizziness or tachycardia) may occur (agoraphobia without panic disorder).Social phobiaIn social phobia there is irrational fear of one or more social or performance situations in which the person is concerned about negative evaluation or scrutiny by others, for example : Public speaking; writing/drinking/ eating in public; using public lavatories.Feared social or performance situations may produce anxiety- symptoms, even a panic attack. Therefore, feared social or performance situations are avoided.Specific (simple) phobiaThese are phobias limited to highly specific situations or objects, for example.i) Claustrophobia : - Fear of closed spacesviii) Mysophobia : - Fear of dirt & germsii) Acro/Aerophobia : - Fear of high placesix) Erythrophobia : - Fear of blushingiii) Zoophobia : - Fear of animalsx) Sitophobia : - Fear of eatingiv) Pyrophobia: - Fear of firexi) Ailurophobia : - Fear of catsv) Xenophobia : - Fear of strangersxii) Sitaphobia Fear of dogsvi) AlgophobiaFears of painxiii) Hydrophobia Fear of watervii) Thanatophobia : - Fear of death