A phobia is a persistent, excessive or unreasonable fear of something to the point of impairment.
There are a wide variety of phobias, however they can be divided into: specific/ simple phobias or complex phobias.
DSM-5 (the diagnostic and statistical manual) recognises the following categories: Specific phobias (object or situation), Social phobias (social situation), Agoraphobia (being outside or in a public place).
The characteristics of a phobia (or obsessive compulsive disorder, or depression) fit into 3 categories: Behavioural (things someone does), Emotional (things somebody feels), Cognitive (things somebody thinks).
