A phobia is an anxiety that is characterized by an incredibly extreme fear of things that would normally be very easy for an individually to handle. A phobia is an irrational fear towards something. It might be normal to fear dogs, but when an individual is unwilling to go anywhere near dogs and the phobia gets in the way of life, it is considered a series phobia.

When it comes to phobias, researchers don't have a determined cause of phobias. However, after years of research, what clinical psychologists have determined is that there are numerous different potential causes of phobias.

Cultural Factors

There are many cultural factors that can contribute to phobias. One example of a phobia is taijin kyofusho which is a massive fear of offending others. They are so concerned about offending someone because of the self-humiliation that might come if they offend another person. This leads to the person never actually expressing an offense to someone out of fear of retribution.What Causes Phobias?

Genetics

What some modern science has suggested is that there is a big genetics tie in with phobias. Some research has suggested that when twins are born, if they are separated at birth and have never had much contact with each other, they might still develop the same phobia. This would support the hypothesis that phobias are genetic. However, other research has shown that people with particular phobias are the only ones who have them in that family. This would support the hypothesis that genetics isn't there in phobias.

Life Experiences

The final thing that could cause phobias are situations that have happened in ones life. If someone was mauled by a dog, it might be expected that they'd develop some sort of a phobia towards dogs. There are numerous different causes of phobias in the life experiences category that it all depends on each individual phobia. A psychology would be able to help a patient better determine the cause of the phobia and, more importantly, how the individual can get over it so that it no longer controls them.