To gain real insight into the phobic puzzle, we must first discard our traditional classification system, with its confusing Greek and Latin nomenclature. What we need is a simple, scientifically determined system one that classifies phobias according to their underlying mechanisms, not their obvious triggers.
If we can do this, we will no longer have hundreds of labels that lead us to a never-ending series of dead ends. Instead, we will have a system that classifies all phobias according to three key types. The first two types are as follows:
Type 1: REALISTIC PHOBIAS
Type 1 phobias develop after the traumatic exposure to a real and present danger. For example, one night, while walking down the street, a woman is brutally mugged. This incident sticks in her mind and develops into an uncontrollable fear of walking the streets at night. Her phobia would be considered to have a realistic basis.
Here are a few more examples of realistic phobias: a man develops a fear of knives after being stabbed; a woman develops a fear of horses after being thrown from one; a child develops a fear of flying insects after being stung by a swarm of bees, etc.
Type 2: NEUROTIC PHOBIAS
Type 2 phobias develop "all in the mind," through a series of subconscious or unconscious Freudian processes.
These phobias are generally related to some repressed childhood trauma, usually sexual and/or aggressive in origin, and are triggered by some symbolic reminder of that trauma during a current emotional conflict. An example here would be helpful.
A young girl´s parents discover that she is masturbating and scold her severely. They frighten her further by warning her that girls who masturbate become prostitutes. This warning, and the fear associated with it, sticks in the girl's subconscious mind, remaining active and alive for many years to come. As a result, she is now vulnerable to developing phobias.
When this girl grows up, any number of sexual triggers may cause her fear and anxiety to resurface during a period of emotional stress. She may, for example, become afraid of walking the streets alone, since subconsciously or unconsciously she symbolically associates this "street walking" with the behavior of prostitutes. Or she may develop a fear of trains and cars, because subconsciously or unconsciously she sees these objects as phallic or sexual symbols. All of these fears would be considered to have a neurotic Type 2 basis.
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