I get unreasonably frightened when I am driving through a neighborhood I consider to be unsafe (although it probably isn’t). Is there a name for this type of phobia? Thanks in advance.
Common sense?
The closest I can find is Scelerophibia, fear of bad people.
Assuming that your anxiety 1) manifests specifically as an unreasonably heightened fear of crime, and 2) is not a post-traumatic stress reaction to any specific personal experience, this would be classified in the DSM-IV as a situational ‘specific phobia’, a category of anxiety disorder.
Racist! At least that’s what I’m called when I admit that I prefer not to shop, or even drive through bad (read: black) neighborhoods. Go figure.
Umm, if your assumption is that he meant black neighborhoods, then, yeah, ‘racist’ would be the term to apply to you… As far as the OP goes, it could just as easily have been poor neighborhoods, badly-lit ones, ones with lots of kids roaming the streets in packs at night (which has nothing to do with race or their parents’ income, btw), or neighborhoods prone to zombie infestation.
I’m going to go with ‘common sense,’ too. The way not to be a victim is to start by not feeling like one. If you feel like a victim in that neighborhood, don’t go there.
How frightened is “unreasonably frightened”? The reason I ask is that phobic-level fears keep people from living normal lives, from taking part in everyday activities. If your fear of driving through that neighborhood isn’t enough to keep you from driving that route, then it’s likely you are just more frightened than your normally experience. Therefore, it feels abnormal and unreasonable to you. You don’t necessarily have a phobia; you may just be unusually (relative to you) apprehensive about that situation.
If the neighborhood is shady enough, then as other posters have said, feeling that way is common sense. You might want to consider asking others if the neighborhood makes them uneasy too. You may discover that there’s nothing unreasonable about your fear after all.
Nevertheless, your unease in this neighborhood continues or is disturbing enough, find an alterante route, if possible. If you really want to get to the bottom of it and find out if you have a true phobia, it’s a diagnosis best left to a professional. See a professional psychologist.