Final answer:
A fear becomes a phobia when it is persistent, irrational, and leads to avoidance behaviors. This intense fear or phobia can significantly impair an individual's daily functioning and often lasts for more than six months, despite recognition of its excessiveness.
Step-by-step explanation:
A fear becomes a phobia when an individual will go to any length to avoid the situation that he or she fears. This intense, irrational fear can cause significant distress and hinder daily functioning. Unlike general feelings of fear which might be related to situational anxiety or a momentarily elevated stress response, a phobia is persistent and can last for more than six months. Phobias are a type of anxiety disorder that can develop in individuals regardless of age, and often, the person with the phobia recognizes that their fear is excessive and unreasonable. This recognition does not, however, alleviate the intensity of the emotional and physiological response.
One hypothesis for why individuals develop phobias suggests that if a person is unaware of the physiological arousal that certain stimuli elicit, they may not feel fear. Over time, this can lead to the development of a phobia as the fear response becomes conditioned to the stimulus. The works of researchers like Cook, Mineka, and Freud have shed light on the complexity and varying contributing factors to the development of phobias in both humans and animals.
Understanding phobias is critical in devising appropriate therapeutic approaches to help those affected by such fears. Treatments often involve exposure therapy, cognitive-behavioral techniques, and sometimes medication, aiming to reduce the impact of the phobia on the individual's life.