Originally Posted by sbhikes
A true phobia interferes with the normal functioning in some part of your daily life.
Diane, phobias do not necessarily have to interfere with normal functioning for them to be "true" phobias.
For example, if someone with fear of flying is sent to jail for life, his fear of flying is not cured simply because his fear will no longer interfere with his "normal functioning" in daily prison life. People with equinophobia can function normally without ever getting near a horse, much less on one. People with severe forms of cyclist inferiority phobia can function normally without ever getting on a bike. People with cyclist inferiority can also function normally, even on bikes, by driving their bikes out of the city on weekends, or just staying on bikeways when they ride.
Frankly, I don't understand why there is so much resistance to the theory that the cyclist-inferiority phobia exists. It seems pretty obvious to me. I wish we could just accept it, and move on to talk about what to do about it.
Edit: the only relevance of interference with normal daily life to phobias is to determine how necessary treatment for the phobia may be.