Is having a phobia a mental illness? (Trigger Warning)

I was discussing phobias with a very close friend recently. She’s been in therapy for a few months who told her she has social anxiety and social phobia. Social phobia is how it sounds, fear of social situations and interactions. I can relate a bit to her because when I was a pre-teen I was diagnosed with agoraphobia. Agoraphobia is, essentially, fear of places; basically I was “afraid” of everywhere except home, so until my parents medicated me I was even unable to attend to school. This luckily only lasted for a year with me, and therapy and medication helped me tremendously and I was able to resume school normally.

Obviously, these two phobias in particular could be considered mental illnesses. They impair the individual’s ability to navigate through life “normally”, whether it’s preventing them from social interaction or preventing them from leaving their home.

I was thinking about other phobias, some very common ones are:

Claustrophobia- fear of enclosed spaces or an inability to escape

Acrophobia- fear of heights or falling

Arachnophobia- fear of spiders

Trypanophobia- fear of needles or injections

There are literally thousands!

However I’ve realized that no one has ever suggested someone with an intense spider phobia is mentally ill, but someone who might have an intense fear of social interactions is, and needs therapy and medication to overcome it.

Is this because one impacts someone’s life more severely, and spiders can mostly be avoided? Does it depend on HOW it impacts your life? Do you think all phobias could be considered a mental illness? Should they be treated more, even ones that may not often impact the person’s life, like fear of needles? Lastly, do you or have you ever had a phobia?

**Just to be clear, being scared of something doesn’t equate to a clinical phobia. A phobia typically induces a panic/anxiety attack and is dwelled upon almost daily by the individual.**