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Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffPhobias are the most common mental disorder in the United States. Although some phobias seem to have a genetic component, it's often impossible to know who will develop them. These factors, however, may increase your risk:
- Your age. Social phobia usually develops early in life, most often between the ages of 11 and 15, and almost never after age 25. Specific phobias having to do with the environment or personal injury also first appear in childhood — as early as age 5. Fear of tunnels, elevators, bridges, flying, driving and other situational phobias usually develop by the mid-20s.
- Your sex. Phobias affect both sexes, but women and girls are twice as likely to have social phobia as are men and boys. Women are also more likely to be diagnosed with agoraphobia, but this may be because men tend to hide anxiety or mask it with alcohol. Men are also less likely to seek help for emotional problems than women are.
- Your family. If someone in your immediate family has a specific phobia, such as a fear of spiders or snakes, you're more likely to develop it, too.
References
- Let's talk facts about phobias. American Psychiatric Association. http://healthyminds.org/multimedia/phobias.pdf. Accessed Oct. 31, 2008.
- Kendler KS, et al. A longitudinal twin study of fears from middle childhood to early adulthood: Evidence for a developmentally dynamic genome. Archives of General Psychiatry. 2008;65(4):421-429.
- Ciechanowski P, et al. Overview of phobic disorders in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Oct. 31, 2008.
- Social phobia (Social anxiety disorder). National Institute of Mental Health. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/social-phobia/index.shtml. Accessed Oct. 31, 2008.
- Anxiety disorders. National Institute of Mental Health. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/anxiety-disorders/complete-publication.shtml. Accessed Oct. 31, 2008.
- Fava GA, et al. Long-term outcome of social phobia treated by exposure. Psychological Medicine. 2001;31:899-905.
- Agoraphobia. In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR. 4th ed. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association, 1994. http://www.psychiatryonline.com. Accessed Oct. 31, 2008.
- Specific phobias. In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR. 4th ed. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association, 1994. http://www.psychiatryonline.com. Accessed Oct. 31, 2008.
- Social phobia. In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR. 4th ed. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association, 1994. http://www.psychiatryonline.com. Accessed Oct. 31, 2008.
- Mancini C. Social phobia in children and adolescents. Canadian Psychiatric Association. http://ww1.cpa-apc.org:8080/Publications/Archives/Bulletin/2001/May/Social.asp. Accessed Oct. 31, 2008.
- Bruce TJ, et al. Social anxiety disorder: A common unrecognized social disorder. American Family Physician. 1999;60(8):2311-2322.
