This document defines phobias as irrational fears of specific situations or objects that compel avoidance despite recognizing the feared item is not dangerous. It distinguishes phobias from normal fears by stating fears respond to genuine threats while phobias are extreme or irrational. Statistics show females have higher rates of phobias than males. Common phobias include social phobia involving social interactions, agoraphobia involving outside spaces, and specific phobias of particular items like spiders or heights. The document lists several examples of specific phobias like astraphobia of thunder, acrophobia of heights, and arachnophobia of spiders.