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