Phobia is a type of anxiety disorder. It is also defined as a persistent fear of an order or any situation. It cannot be avoided entirely – the person only reacts to the situation with some distress.
We all are familiar with common phobias like fear of height (acrophobia) and specific phobia (fear of specific things such as snakes). But some phobias are too strange and weird. Let’s have a look at the list of Most Bizarre Phobias that people actually have.
Table of Contents
26. Coimetrophobia – Fear of Cemeteries
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It is a common fear because cemeteries are the place where dead bodies are buried and most of the people even don’t want to talk about it. The cause of this phobia is watching horror movies and a phobic person would refuse to attend funerals.
25. Tetraphobia – Fear of Number 4
A sufferer always gets afraid of the number four. It is also considered a superstition, believed in East Asian countries. These countries never use the number four in any governmental work, e.g. they diffused the use of number 4 in assigning any aircraft name.
24. Xanthophobia – Fear of the Yellow Color
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This name derives from a Greek word, Xanthous which means yellow. This phobia develops with the unconscious thoughts and when we interrelate yellow color with any trauma condition. This phobia arises when the sufferer feels bad.
23. Geniophobia – Fear of Chins
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The origin of this word is Greek which means jaw. It is considered to be a specific phobia that arises from several types of traumatic events. Its symptoms vary with the level of the fear and some common symptoms are excessive sweating, shortness of breath and shaking body.
22. Bibliophobia – Fear of Books
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Such phobia often arises from fear of the effects that books have on culture and society. There is no evidence of the cause and symptoms. But some people believe that this arose when literate people terrify illiterate people using any document.
21. Pogonophobia – Fear of Beards
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This term is derived from the Greek word and has been in use since 1951. A history lecturer at Ohio University believed that all working men can risk their reputation if they leave the use of a razor. In 2013, Jeremy Paxman accused his pogonophobic employees after he was criticized by newspapers for presenting a program supporting long beards.
20. Ombrophobia – Fear of Rain
Sufferers have symptoms of anxiety, dry mouth, difficulty in breathing and inability to think. It is mostly developed in children as they are often told not to go out in the rain because it will make them ill. This phobia is also related to the fear of drowning and fear of flooding.
19. Coulrophobia – Fear of Clowns
Clowns make people happy then why some people get afraid of a clown? Some people might get phobia after seeing the criminal joker of Batman Movie who puts smiles on the faces of other people with a knife. Researchers believe that this phobia has been increased with the movies on clowns.
18. Atelophobia – Fear of Imperfection
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It is the fear of not being good enough and categorized as an anxiety disorder. Its symptoms can be mental, physical or emotional. This phobia can also lead to a serious mental problem that could be treated by exposure and behavior therapy.
17. Paruresis – Fear of Urinate in Public Place
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It is also known by several other names such as the shy bladder, pee fright, and public piss syndrome. The person suffering from paruresis is unable to urinate even in a public toilet and the common cause of this phobia is considered as shyness. According to a survey report of 1500 college students, over 14% of students had Paruresis.
16. Automatonophobia – Fear of Animatronic Creatures
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It is similar to pediophobia (fear of dolls) and pupaphobia (fear of puppets). Its cause is currently unknown but some sources say that this fear derives from the aggressive behavior of other human beings. Like other phobias, it can also be treated using psychotherapy.
15. Demonophobia – Fear of Demons and Supernatural Power
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This is very a common phobia as it comes while watching a horror movie. The sufferers get phobic, they can’t even listen to screaming voice and they stop believing in religion. Sufferers can be treated with the help of priests who talk about mythical creatures or by panic therapy.
14. Pediophobia – Fear of Dolls
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Pediophobia is an anxiety disorder with all kinds of dolls. There are many causes of this phobia and many psychological theories connected with it. The most common reason of pediophobia would be the fear of humanoid figures or disturbing experience in the past.
13. Agyrophobia – Fear of Street Crossing
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Agyrophobic persons have a fear of crossing roads and streets full of pedestrians. Along with children, adults also suffer from this phobia. This fear developed with the difficulty to move in crowded and busy streets. It is different from the fear of cars.
12. Taphophobia – Fear of Being Buried Alive
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In ancient times, it was a popular punishment for executing prisoners. But many people now have a fear of being buried alive under the ground. Throughout history, there have been more than 250 cases of live burial and 10 cases of live dissection.
11. Ergophobia – Fear of Manual Labor
This is a very common phobia and all lazy persons have it. This fear is indirectly related to many other phobias including fear of failing at tasks and socializing with other people. A person with Ergophobia may also suffer from mental health problems such as depression.
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10. Paraskavedekatriaphobia – Fear of Friday the 13th
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A Friday on the 13th of any month is considered to as bad luck in English, German, polish and many other countries. The fear of Friday the 13th is known as Paraskavedatriaphobia (derived from the Greek word). Similar to this, the fear of number 13th is called Triskaidekaphobia. Do you know that Adolf Hitler was a Tikaidekaphobic person?
9. Panphobia – Fear of everything
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Panphobia is known as a non-specific fear or fear of everything. It is also called Omniphobia and Panophobia. In this case, the sufferer finds himself in a state of fear without any known reason. Panphobia has not been registered as a type of phobia in medical references yet.
8. Ablutophobia – Fear of bathing and washing
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Ablutophobia is an abnormal and unwarranted fear of bathing and cleaning. This is a situational specific phobia and more common in women and children. Skipping the occasional shower is helpful because it preserves the natural oil that protects your skin. But regular habit is not good for you. Its symptoms and treatment are the same as the most specific phobia.
7. Phagophobia – Fear of being swallow
Phagophobia is a fear of swallowing. It is expressed in various swallow complaints without any apparent physical reason. It is classified as specific phobia and also known as Choking phobia. Phagophobic person eats soft and liquid foods only.
6. Scopophobia – Fear of being looked
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Scopophobia is an anxiety disorder of being seen or stared at by others. It is a unique phobia that is considered as both social and specific phobia. Scopophobia generally arises from the event of the person’s life. More than 7% of people are affected by social phobia in the United States. The social anxiety is the third largest mental health care problem in the world.
5. Chorophobia – Fear of dancing
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Chorophobia is an irrational fear of dancing. The symptoms of chorophobia come up when the person is forced to dance. If a person is directly asked to join and dance then the condition becomes even worse. The symptoms of chorophobia are excessive sweating, irregular heartbeat and shortness of breath. Most of the time, the person can’t think properly and losses control.
Read: Even 16th-Century Mummies Had Heart Disease
4. Neophobia – Fear of new things
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Neophobia is the fear of new experiences and things, also known as cainotophobia. The term also describes the anger and frustration toward change. Neophobia can impact happiness as sufferers miss out on many life-enhancing experiences. Research has shown that the stress of neophobia shortens life expectancy. Technophobe can be seen as an advanced form of neophobia-fear of new technology.
3. Spectrophobia – Fear of mirrors
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Spectrophobia is a specific phobia of fear of mirrors. Eisoptrophobia is slightly different, which is the fear of your own reflection. The person could become traumatized by horror movies or nightmares. This could be the result of a person’s superstitious fear of being watched through the mirror.
2. Arachibutyrophobia – Fear of peanut butter sticks in the mouth
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Eating peanut butter is a challenge for people with Arachibutyrophobia and they usually freak out when butter in their mouth. This word is used by Charles M Schulz in a 1982 installment of his ‘Peanut’ comic strip. It is a generalized phobia of choking or sticky textures.
1. Ephebophobia – Fear of youth
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Ephebophobia is a psychological and social fear of youth. The effects of Ephebophobia appear to cause damage throughout society. It is an abnormal, irrational, persistent fear and loathing of teenagers or adolescence. Fear of youth and their rejection is often disguised in a permissive attitude toward them.
i think I got some phobias just from reading this stuff!
Haha, I got all of them while writing this stuff 🙂