Does your worst nightmare make the list? 30 Spine-tingling Human Phobias -- in Pictures
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Acrophobia
Acrophobia is, quite simply, the fear of heights. "But hold on a second," you might say, "isn't the fear of a long drop a perfectly rational thing? You know, what with the terminal velocity, and the thought of smashing into the firm ground like a sack of cantaloupes?" And you'd be correct. Fear of falling from a great height is perfectly normal when one is faced with the real threat of danger. So what distinguishes a normal fear from a pathological phobia? Check out the next page to find out!
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Trypanophobia
In clinical psychology, a phobia is the kind of fear that merits descriptive terms like "irrational" and "unreasonable." For example, a strong fear of needles, known as trypanophobia, could be rational under some circumstances -- say, for instance, you're in an empty parking lot at night and a crazed-looking stranger is approaching you with a hypodermic needle in his hand. After all, a needle can be a weapon -- it's designed to puncture the skin. But what if, for example, you are so terrified of needles that you avoid going to the doctor all together, just for the fear of being pricked? Would you forgo a vital blood test or transfusion for the sheer horror of a tiny silver spike? It's cases like the latter that qualify as actual phobias, where the fear is incongruent to the actual danger posed, and the sufferer performs extreme avoidance behaviors to keep away from the object of his or her fear.
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Arachnophobia
Here's a classic. If you see one of these eight-legged critters crawling around in your house at night, the chances are pretty good that you will temporarily morph into a veritable neutron star of panic. But why do so many of us fear spiders? Sure, they can inflict a painful bite, but only a fractional percent of them are poisonous enough to cause serious injury or death to humans. In fact, our fear of spiders may be more learned than innate. A 2011 study featured in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science showed that babies were no more threatened by images of spiders and snakes than by images of non-threatening animals. However, it also suggested that babies could very easily be conditioned to fear such creatures based on auditory cues from adults.
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Monophobia
Many children experience separation anxiety when not in the presence of their primary caregivers. Monophobia, in some instances, mirrors this childhood distress. It is the fear of being alone, or the fear of being without the company of a specific person, such as a parent, spouse or other loved one. Obviously, monophobia can make it incredibly difficult to live a normal life, since in most cases it's not feasible for an adult to be accompanied by another person wherever he or she goes. Fortunately, phobias like this can usually be treated with therapy and sometimes medication. Next, learn why some of us fear the inevitable.
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Necrophobia
As Freud said in Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1922), "The goal of all life is death." There's no avoiding the fact that, for all of us, at some time or another, death is coming. But cheer up! Humans, as advanced megafauna with a grasp of germ theory and some totally decent medical technology, are able to live relatively long lives, compared to most animals. Still, few people want to be reminded of the impending finality of death. For some of us, this aversion becomes hyperactive. People with necrophobia have an intense and unreasonable dread of things that remind them of death, including graveyards, corpses, funerals, and the like. Next, you'll learn about a candidate for the mantle of Most Common Fear in the World.
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Glossophobia
Demosthenes, the man depicted in the sculpture above, was known as one of history's most captivating orators, inveighing against Greek submission to the Macedonian ruler King Philip II. Public speaking is an important asset for those who wish to enter a career in business or politics, but for people with glossophobia, the proposition of speaking in front of a group is a non-starter. If you're one of these people, you're not alone. In fact, you might not even be in the minority. Public speaking is one of the most commonly reported fears in the world. For example, just one University of Manitoba study from 1996 found that a full one-third of respondents had "excessive anxiety" when speaking before an audience. Next … do you hear that buzzing sound?
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Apiphobia
Bees have co-evolved in a mutualistic relationship with the flowers they pollinate. For this reason, bees are crucial to the reproduction of many plant species, and some ecosystems simply could not survive without them. People with severe apiphobia may recognize the important role bees play in the circle of life, but they still harbor an extreme fear of bees in their presence. To someone who has a severe bee allergy, it's reasonable to take caution in dealing with these yellow-striped cultivators, but for most of us, the fear of bees is unfounded. Except in rare cases -- when a hive is threatened, for example -- bees do not wantonly sting and pose no serious threats to non-allergic people.
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Xenophobia
The word "xenophobia" is much more often used to refer to a social prejudice that manifests as a fear or hatred of people from countries or cultures other than one's own. As a literally applied term, however, xenophobia could also refer to a fear of strangers -- the unfamiliar people you pass on the street every day. This is reported as a common problem in toddlers that often goes away as children reach maturity. Next, can you fear something that might not even exist?
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Phasmophobia
Here's an interesting distinction: Every other object of fear on this list has been a demonstrable reality. Nobody's going to debate the existence of heights, bees or death. But ghosts -- how is it possible that so many people fear something we can't even prove exists? The fear of ghosts -- known as phasmophobia when it reaches pathological intensity -- can be found across nearly all cultures and religions. In fact, in many cases, a person's concept of what a "ghost" is has little or nothing to do with what that person believes about the afterlife. It may be that the notion of a ghost plays upon primordial fears that are common to all cultures, such as death, dark and the unknown.
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Dentophobia
"Just open your mouth a liiiittle wider. That's right. OK, now you're going to feel some cold, sharp steel tugging on your flesh. Good, yes. All right, now don't mind that sound -- that's just the drill bit kicking up its RPMs." In all seriousness, dentists are great! Teeth are a real nice thing to have, and anybody who can help you keep them healthy for as long as possible is a good ally, even if that alliance costs a pretty penny. At the same time, it's not hard to see why dentists can inspire a paralyzing terror. On the dentist's chair, with your mouth opened to all those sharp metal instruments, you are in a state of complete vulnerability, which requires serious trust.
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Mysophobia
The infamous mysophobia is a crippling fear of germs and contamination. Perhaps the most famous victim of mysophobia was the billionaire aviator and business mogul Howard Hughes (1905-1976), who, despite his enormous wealth and success, spent much of his life hiding in terror from unseen enemies like Staphylococcus and rhinovirus. Hughes attempted to create germ-free zones in his living quarters, training his kitchen staff to sanitize cans of food before opening them and to cover their multiply-washed hands with paper towels before serving his meals. Next up -- have you ever had that dream about the final exam you just plain forgot to study for?
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Atychiphobia
As a noun, "failure" seems to have lost a lot of ground to the truncated derivative "fail," which of course owes its success to the Internet. Thanks, Internet. Whether you're hung up on the failures of the past or the epic fails of the future, atychiphobia can be a devastating obsession. A person who has a clinical fear of failure is likely to build his or her life around this phobia, avoiding risks at all costs and conducting self-sabotage. Next up: Everyone has it, but some people literally faint upon seeing it. Can you guess what it is?
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Hemophobia
For some reason, we're rigged to see blood as important -- so much so that we use it as a metonym for all kinds of deep concepts of identity: Our "blood" can refer to our genes, or it can refer to our family and heritage. This may be for the rather obvious reason that there's an evolutionary advantage for creatures that value blood and work hard to prevent it from coming out of their bodies all too quickly. In some people, however, this instinct seems to work overtime. The pathological fear of blood is classified along with trypanophobia (fear of needles) within the class of "blood-injection-injury" phobia subtypes, which have been regarded as formally separate from fears such as animals and social situations. Hemophobia is known for being especially prone to cause fainting as a primary symptom.
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Ophidiophobia
"Snakes … Why did it have to be snakes?" grumbles Indiana Jones, peering into an ancient chamber filled with knots of legless reptiles. Plenty of otherwise-heroic stalwarts freeze in panic at the sight of serpents, and it's clear that our fear and distrust of snakes, known as ophidiophobia, is nothing new. In the Genesis account of the Garden of Eden, a serpent (implied to be Satan) tempts humanity with knowledge and causes Adam and Eve's banishment from the Garden. And again, our language tells us much: An untrustworthy person is "a snake." Next up, take a look at a phobia that can be doubly crippling when you're in a tight spot.
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Claustrophobia
Everybody knows this one. Caves. Closets. Crowded elevators. If you break a sweat at the mere thought of being confined in a small space, you may have claustrophobia -- one of the most common fears on Earth. Next, can you guess which frequently reported fear makes it really hard to get to Tahiti?
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Aviophobia
If you suffer from aviophobia, you've heard the statistics before, and there's no denying that the statistics are good: Only one in 1.2 million flights is involved in an accident, and of those flights that do encounter accidents, more than 95 percent of passengers actually survive! Unfortunately, people who suffer from clinically recognized phobias have irrational bases for their fears that usually cannot be dissuaded by information. Fear of flying is a complex and quite common phobia. It's not hard to understand why -- air travel combines many circumstances that are apt to trigger fear reactions of their own: heights, tight spaces, inescapability, the potential for motion sickness, the potential for injury and death, etc. People with severe aviophobia may find the fear a great impediment, as it prevents them from traveling efficiently for business, pleasure or family obligations.
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Emetophobia
Speaking of the compound fear of air travel, one common component is emetophobia -- the fear of vomiting. And yet again, we've come up against something that almost nobody really likes -- it's normal to want to avoid vomiting. However, some people are so terrified of vomiting or of seeing others vomit that they will go to enormous lengths to avoid perceived risks. For example, they may avoid coming into contact with drunken people (who they fear may vomit in their presence) or sick people (who they fear may transmit germs that could cause the emetophobe to vomit). In fact, vomiting is a beneficial adaptation that helps the body survive illness, poisoning or stressful conditions.
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Nyctophobia
Nyctophobia may be one of the oldest fears there is. And of course fearing the dark makes sense in certain circumstances. As diurnal creatures with limited eyesight, humans are more vulnerable to nocturnal predators when exposed in the dark. Fear of the dark becomes irrational, however, when it extends to your own bedroom or basement, where the chance of encountering a hungry pack of hyenas in the night is exceedingly small. Nyctophobia is considered most common in children, though some have been known to retain the phobia into adulthood.
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Agoraphobia
In ancient Greece, the agora was a central space used to hold events like markets and public discussions. It is from this concept that agoraphobia gets its name. Agoraphobia is a broadly understood umbrella phobia, containing many manifestations, usually described as an intense and irrational fear of being without a safe or private space, or a fear of open, public spaces and crowds. The underlying principle is that the agoraphobe fears situations which might lead to the onset of panic -- especially public situations, from which it is difficult to escape, and the embarrassment risk is high.
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Coulrophobia
Coulrophobia: Don't you just love it when you come home after a nice evening out with friends, you unlock your front door, and just inside the doorway, half-revealed by the moonlight, a wide-eyed clown stands waiting?
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Cynophobia
They're perfect for human companionship. Why? Because they have been co-evolving with humans for thousands of years! Domestic dogs have adapted over many generations to adore human company and pick up on the subtlest of our social cues. But despite the fact that each individual dog has a very low chance of hurting someone, dog-bites-man attacks are somewhat common, owing probably to the number of dogs out there and to the close proximity with which humans and dogs live. The CDC estimates that in the United States alone, about 4.5 million people suffer dog bites each year. And a dog bite is not necessarily something to shrug off: Around 20 percent of those who are bitten require medical attention for their wounds. So a certain level of caution around unfamiliar dogs is perfectly warranted. People with cynophobia, however, may panic at the mere sight of a dog, or in the presence of a friendly and unthreatening canine.
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Iatrophobia
There are all kinds of reasons people fear going to the doctor. Iatrophobia could be a secondary form of trypanophobia (needles), hemophobia (blood), or any number of other things or situations one might encounter at a visit to the doctor's office. It could also be a unique social phobia based on the combination of experiences one goes through with a doctor: questions about one's body, feelings and personal habits, lifestyle recommendations, etc. There's also a persistent and irrational concern that once a person visits a doctor, vaguely suspected maladies might become real through the process of being identified and confirmed by an expert. This is really a phobia that's worth the hard work it takes to overcome, since regular medical checkups are crucial in preventing chronic conditions or catching them before they become serious.
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Aquaphobia
Remember R. L. Stine, the author of the Goosebumps books of the 1990s? Despite his love for weaving tales of horror for kids, Stine himself has a self-described phobia that prevents him from taking a simple dive into a swimming pool. This may be a mild or derivative form of aquaphobia (not to be confused with hydrophobia, which is usually used to refer to a rabies complication). Humans are landlubbers by nature, and standing water does represent several age-old threats, such as drowning, hypothermia, and unseen predators in the deep -- though specific phobias of sharks or crocodilians could be diagnosed separately.
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Gerontophobia
Gerontophobia is a powerful fear of old people and sometimes of growing old oneself. The complications of such a fear are obvious, as it can make it difficult for sufferers to spend time with elderly loved ones and care for aging parents or other relatives. Like "xenophobia," the word "gerontophobia" can refer as much to a form of social prejudice as to a pathological fear. Click ahead to learn about people who fear the wrath of Zeus.
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Astraphobia
Among the general public, astraphobia -- the unreasonable fear of thunder or lightning -- is extremely common. And if you were out in the open, you'd have good reason to hide from lightning. The U.S. National Weather Service reports that an average of 58 people each year are killed by lightning strikes, and lightning-related injuries are closer to 300 a year. Sheltered within a modern building, however, your chances of being harmed by lightning are very low. Next, what creepy crawlies make your spine tingle?
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Entomophobia
More general than the highly prevalent arachnophobia, entomophobia is a fear of insects and bugs in general. In a roundabout way, the fear of bugs makes more sense than one might think. In fact, harmless insects have probably done more damage to human civilization than nightmarish creatures like tarantulas and scorpions. While a single grasshopper can't attack a person with fangs or stinging barbs, a swarm of grasshoppers can easily destroy crops, leading to loss of livelihood, or even famine. Whether or not this kind of logic has anything to do with the origins of entomophobia is uncertain, but perhaps it's at least a reason to give spiders, which keep insect populations in check, another chance.
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Nosophobia
It's certainly rational to take reasonable steps to avoid contracting diseases, and there's no reason one shouldn't be highly motivated to eat right, exercise and seek regular medical checkups. Nosophobia -- the irrational fear of contracting disease -- occurs when the fear of illness becomes a persistent fixation or interferes with day-to-day life. The line is somewhat blurry between nosophobia and hypochondria -- an unhealthy and unrelenting hunch that one has a serious disease.
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Phonophobia
No, don't worry! It's just a starter pistol -- no bullets. Still worried? Then you might suffer from phonophobia. Phonophobia is the fear of sound -- usually sudden or loud sounds. In some cases, the incidence of a loud noise like a balloon popping is enough to illicit tears, shivering and heart palpitations. Next, do you know which ultimate animal kingdom cliché about fear just might be true?
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Musophobia
You know the old yarn about elephants being afraid of mice? Turns out, it might actually be true! Didn't you see that episode of Mythbusters? If not, the results were astounding: When confronted with mice in the wild, the elephants featured on the show exhibited genuine fright, fleeing from the mouse as if it were a much bigger predator. Since even elephants apparently turn tail at the sight of scampering mice on some occasions, people with musophobia should take comfort that, though their fear is still mostly irrational (as mice really don't pose much of a threat), they're not alone in the great class Mammalia.
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Pnigophobia
Again, a perfectly reasonable thing to be afraid of: choking or smothering. A person with pnigophobia, of course, takes this natural caution to extreme levels, building his or her life around hyper-avoidance of situations that might cause choking or smothering.
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