List of phobias

Jai Ganesh · 2021-12-12 20:04:53

List of phobias

Phobia is an extreme, irrational fear of a specific object or situation. A phobia is classified as a type of anxiety disorder, since anxiety is the chief symptom experienced by the sufferer. Phobias are thought to be learned emotional responses. It is generally held that phobias occur when fear produced by an original threatening situation is transferred to other similar situations, with the original fear often repressed or forgotten. An excessive, unreasoning fear of water, for example, may be based on a forgotten childhood experience of almost drowning. The person accordingly tries to avoid that situation in the future, a response that, while reducing anxiety in the short term, reinforces the person’s association of the situation with the onset of anxiety.

Behaviour therapy is often successful in overcoming phobias. In such therapy, the phobic person is gradually exposed to the anxiety-provoking object or situation in a controlled manner until he eventually ceases to feel anxiety, having realized that his fearful expectations of the situation remain unfulfilled. In this way, the strong associative links between the feared situation, the person’s experience of anxiety, and his subsequent avoidance of that situation are broken and are replaced by a less-maladaptive set of responses. Psychotherapy may also be useful in the treatment of phobias.

Although psychiatrists classify phobias as a single type of anxiety disorder, hundreds of words have been coined to specify the nature of the fear by prefixing “phobia” with the Greek word for the object feared. Among the more common examples are acrophobia, fear of high places; claustrophobia, fear of closed places; nyctophobia, fear of the dark; ochlophobia, fear of crowds; xenophobia, fear of strangers; and zoophobia, fear of animals. Agoraphobia, the fear of being in open or public places, is a particularly crippling illness that may prevent its victims from even leaving home. School phobia may afflict schoolchildren who are overly attached to a parent. See also anxiety.

We define a phobia as ‘an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something’. You are probably aware of the more common phobias, such as arachnophobia (fear of spiders), claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces), and agoraphobia (fear of open places), but did you know there are also words which describe the fear of idleness, worms, and even body odour? Explore the table below to discover the terms for some of the more interesting phobias you may come across.

Object : Phobia

air travel : aerophobia
American people and things : Americophobia
animals : zoophobia
bacteria : bacteriophobia
beards : pogonophobia
beating : mastigophobia
bed : clinophobia
bees : apiphobia
birds : ornithophobia
blood : haemophobia
blushing : erythrophobia
body odour : bromidrosiphobia
bridges : gephyrophobia
bullets : ballistophobia
burial alive : taphephobia
cancer : carcinophobia
cats : ailurophobia
childbirth : tocophobia
children : paedophobia
clouds : nephophobia
cold : cheimaphobia
colour : chromophobia
comets : cometophobia
computers : cyberphobia
constipation : coprostasophobia
corpses : necrophobia
correspondence : epistolophobia
crowds : demophobia/ochlophobia
dampness : hygrophobia
darkness : scotophobia
dawn : eosophobia
death : thanatophobia
depth : bathophobia
dirt : mysophobia
disease : pathophobia/nosophobia
dogs : cynophobia
dreams : oneirophobia
drink : potophobia
drugs : pharmacophobia
dust : koniophobia
electricity : electrophobia
enclosed places : claustrophobia
English people and things : Anglophobia
everything : panophobia/pantophobia
eyes : ommetaphobia
faeces : coprophobia
failure : kakorrhaphiaphobia
fatigue : kopophobia
fear : phobophobia
feathers : pteronophobia
fever : febriphobia
fire : pyrophobia
fish : ichthyophobia
flesh : selaphobia
floods : antlophobia
flowers : anthophobia
fog : homichlophobia
food : cibophobia/sitophobia
foreigners : xenophobia
freedom : eleutherophobia
French people and things : Francophobia/Gallophobia
fur : doraphobia
German people and things : Germanophobia/Teutophobia
germs : bacteriophobia
ghosts : phasmophobia
glass : nelophobia
God : theophobia
gold : chrysophobia/aurophobia
hair : trichophobia
heart disease : cardiophobia
heat : thermophobia
heaven : uranophobia
hell : hadephobia/stygiophobia
heredity : patroiophobia
high buildings : batophobia
high places : acrophobia/hypsophobia
home : oikophobia
horses : hippophobia
ice : cryophobia
ideas : ideophobia
idleness : thassophobia
illness : nosophobia
imperfection : atelophobia
infinity : apeirophobia
injury : traumatophobia
inoculation : trypanophobia/vaccinophobia
insanity : lyssophobia/maniphobia
insects : entomophobia
insect stings : cnidophobia
Italian people and things : Italophobia
itching : acarophobia
jealousy : zelotypophobia
justice : dikephobia
lakes : limnophobia
leprosy : leprophobia
light : photophobia
lightning : astrapophobia
lists : pinaciphobia/katastichophobia
loneliness : autophobia/ermitophobia
machinery : mechanophobia
magic : rhabdophobia
marriage : gamophobia
men : androphobia
metal : metallophobia
mice : musophobia
microbes : bacillophobia/microbiophobia
mirrors : eisoptrophobia
mites : acarophobia
mobs : ochlophobia
money : chrematophobia
monsters, giving birth to : teratophobia
motion : kinetophobia
music : musicophobia
names : onomatophobia
narrowness : anginophobia
needles : belonephobia
new things : neophobia
night : nyctophobia
open places : agoraphobia
pain : algophobia
parasites : parasitophobia
people : anthropophobia
philosophy : philosophobia
pins : enetophobia
places : topophobia
pleasure : hedonophobia
poison : toxiphobia
politics : politicophobia
poverty : peniaphobia
precipices : cremnophobia
punishment : poinephobia
rabies : hydrophobophobia
rail travel : siderodromophobia
religious works of art : iconophobia
reptiles : batrachophobia
responsibility : hypegiaphobia
ridicule : katagelophobia
rivers : potamophobia
robbers : harpaxophobia
ruin : atephobia
Russian people and things : Russophobia
saints : hagiophobia
Satan : Satanophobia
scabies : scabiophobia
Scottish people and things : Scotophobia
sea : thalassophobia
shadows : sciophobia
sharpness : acrophobia
shock : hormephobia
sin : hamartophobia
skin disease : dermatosiophobia/dermatopathophobia
sleep : hypnophobia
slime : blennophobia
small things : microphobia
smell : olfactophobia/osmophobia
smothering : pnigerophobia
snakes : ophidiophobia
snow : chionophobia
solitude : eremophobia
sound : acousticophobia
sourness : acerophobia
speech : lalophobia/laliophobia/glossophobia/phonophobia
speed : tachophobia
spiders : arachnophobia
standing : stasophobia
stars : siderophobia
stealing : kleptophobia
string : linonophobia
stuttering : lalophobia/laliophobia
sun : heliophobia
swallowing : phagophobia
symmetry : symmetrophobia
taste : geumatophobia
technology : technophobia
teeth : odontophobia
telephone : telephonophobia
thinking : phronemophobia
thirteen : triskaidekaphobia
thunder : brontophobia/tonitrophobia/keraunophobia
time : chronophobia
touch : haptophobia
travel : hodophobia
tuberculosis : phthisiophobia
tyrants : tyrannophobia
vehicles : ochophobia
venereal disease : syphilophobia
voids : kenophobia
vomiting : emetophobia
water : hydrophobia
waves : cyrnophobia
weakness : asthenophobia
wind : anemophobia
women : gynophobia
words : logophobia
work : ergophobia
worms : helminthophobia
writing : graphophobia

CurlyBracket · 2022-01-06 16:36:05

Fear of long words: Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
Fear of Math: Arithmophobia
Fear of Newspapers: Chloephobia

Last edited by CurlyBracket (2022-01-06 16:43:53)

Jai Ganesh · 2022-01-06 17:05:33

Nomophobia : Fear of being without your mobile phone
Plutophobia : Fear of money
Xanthophobia : Fear of the color yellow
Globophobia : Fear of balloons
Pogonophobia : Fear of beards
Vestiphobia : Fear of clothing
Eisoptrophobia : Fear of mirrors
Deipnophobia : Fear of dining with others.

Math Is Fun Forum

#1 2021-12-12 20:04:53

List of phobias

#2 2022-01-06 16:36:05

Re: List of phobias

#3 2022-01-06 17:05:33

Re: List of phobias

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