Although the symptoms have already been discussed, here is the specific criteria that professionals should use when diagnosing someone with a specific phobia: 

- Unreasonable, excessive fear
- Immediate anxiety response
- Avoidance or extreme distress
- Interference with life
- At least 6 months duration
- Not caused by another disorder (ex. agoraphobia, OCD, separation anxiety)

Santa Clara University

No matter what specific phobia you have, it's likely to produce these reactions:

- Immediate feelings of intense fear, anxiety, and panic when exposed to or thinking about the source of fear
- Awareness that the fears are unreasonable/exaggerated but feeling powerless to control them
- Worsening anxiety as the situation or object gets closer in time or physical proximity
- Doing everything possible to avoid the object/situation or enduring it with intense anxiety and fear
- Difficulty functioning normally because of fear
- Physical reactions and sensations, such as sweating, rapid heartbeat, tight chest or difficulty breathing
- Feeling nauseated, dizzy, or fainting around blood/ injuries
- For children, can result in tantrums, clinging, crying, or refusing to leave a loved one's side or approach their fear

Symptoms of Specific Phobias

Very Well Mind. Retrieved June 30th, 2023 from https://www.verywellmind.com/

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