Physiological disorders

Many medical researchers see phobias as a physiological disorder whereby physical anxiety responses are triggered inappropriately. Their suggested therapy involves the use of drugs (chemotherapy) to reduce the anxiety and therefore allow the patient to ignore the cause of the phobia. Further investigation resulted in the development of effective drugs such as beta-blockers that block the anxiety pathways and so prevent the experience of anxiety that can be caused by various fears and phobias (Gray1985).

Genetics

This suggested cause is based upon disorders such as agoraphobia being a common problem that was seen to run in families. Slater and Shields (1969) suggested identical twins were more likely to show anxiety than non-identical twins. It was later thought that the phobias shown were more likely to be learned from their social surroundings than due to their genetic build. Therefore the overall thought is that genetics are not the actual cause of phobias but may influence a higher disposition to becoming phobic.

Social conditioning

The clearest example of social factors influencing a phobia is in agoraphobia, which is most common in women with children. Whilst having infants to look after it is thought that many women lack the opportunity to get out of the house other than to go shopping. This lack of opportunity to socialise effectively can lead to mothers viewing their surroundings in a blinkered manner, perhaps identifying their surroundings as safe and secure for them and their offspring. As the child/children grow up then the need to go out more becomes greater and most women make this transition effectively, those that don’t make the transition tend to experience panic attacks that can then develop into full-blown agoraphobia.

Another classic example of social conditioning is mysophobia – the fear of germs. This was an unknown disorder before the advertising profession started marketing disinfectants and bleaches etc. The message contained in the adverts was so strong that in some cases the viewers became irrational about the consequences of invisible germs.