Psychopathology of specific phobias

Almost everyone will claim to have a phobia of some kind. Often these fears are common, such as a fear of spiders. They can sometimes be debilitating and make daily life difficult, such as a fear of riding in a car; or they can just seem unusual or strange, such as a fear of cotton wool or buttons. Phobias are normally defined as an unreasonable fear of a particular situation or object, and they are extraordinarily common, with surveys suggesting that a majority of the general population (60%) experiences 'unreasonable fears'.