Phobia

A phobia is a mainly irrational fear of something. It is not an illness. It is not a mental disorder. Nor is it a lack of will-power, or 'moral fibre', or determination.
A phobia can make one's life miserable, cause embarrassment, and undermine self confidence and self esteem.
However you do not have to 'learn to live with' a phobia - check here for suggestions and tips on dealing with your phobia in a positive and pro-active manner.
Simple Phobias: fear of a single stimulus such as fear of heights, ladders, frogs, enclosed places, etc.
Complex Phobias: a fear of a number of stimuli. In fear of flying, for example, the person may be afraid of crashing, being enclosed in the plane, losing self control etc.
Social Phobias: simply put, this means you are afraid of what might occur when in the company of other people, for example, fear of blushing, losing self control, forgetting what you are about to say, fear of trembling, etc.
Panic attacks: a panic attack can be a quite terrifying ordeal unless you understand what is going on and why it is going on. Panics are very common and appear to mainly affect people who normally give the impression of being confident, reliable and dependable.
Agoraphobia: Literally 'fear of the market place' and, up to a decade or so ago, the term was used to describe people who were afraid of open spaces. 'Agoraphobia' is now used to describe those who experience increasing nervousness the further they travel from their own home. In severe cases they may not venture from home at all.
The distinction generally made is to say that a fear is rational and when fear becomes irrational it is a phobia.
In reality the difference is mainly one of degree and the handiest way to distinguish them is by saying that a phobia is different from a fear by being more irrational. Because, having being fuelled by our imagination, every fear will have a degree of irrationality to it