The epidemiology of common fears and phobia
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TL;DR
The most frequent reason for consulting a physician is for him to minimize a severe fear or phobia of a medical procedure, and Psychiatrists tend to see only the more severe phobics, although only a quarter of this group were found to be in treatment.
Abstract
Incidence and prevalence data for common fears and phobia based on a probability sample of the general population show the frequency of mild phobia to be 76:9/1000 and of severe phobia to be 2.2/1000. Clinical samples are not representative of the distribution of phobia in the general population, agoraphobia being over-represented. The most frequent reason for consulting a physician is for him to minimize a severe fear or phobia of a medical procedure. Psychiatrists tend to see only the more severe phobics, although only a quarter of this group were found to be in treatment.