What is the name of the phobia of dams? I have a friend who has a terrible fear of dams, water reservoirs, jetties or bridges with big blocks on water; in general, a fear of large buildings on water.

He often tells me that he imagines a dam near the gates and has "anxiety attacks" and becomes very afraid. However, he is not afraid of swimming, or common places with water, like the ocean, pools and so on. On the contrary, he loves to swim.

While he is not afraid of pools, he is very afraid of the wells of the pools where the water enters or where is filtered.




His psychologist doesn't know the name of such a phobia and, after a while, his diagnosis was hydrophobia. The problem is that he is not afraid of water, only these large structures over the water, whose purpose is to control water flow.

How can I get information about this phobia; is there a specific name?
And how can be treated?
As far as I know, there is no specific definition for this phobia. No search reveals anything similar. It is important to recognise that simply defining phobias is not medically useful and does not provide further insight into human cognition. It would not be efficient to provide a label for all the phobias which exist. Generally labels are created when the population of people with the disorder reaches some threshold that specific treatments are developed. Your friend simply has a "specific phobia" of the situational type (also see Wikipedia entry).

I imagine treatment would be the same as for most specific phobias. Generally this involves a form of CBT known as exposure therapy or graded exposure.

If you desperately require a definition, I like hydrostructuraphobia - taken from latin word for structure.