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10 even weirder phobias
- 1. 10 Even WeirderPhobias You Never Knew Existed Although it is very easy to laugh and say ‘he’s scared of WHAT?’ when you hear of someone with an odd phobia, it is only when you have experienced something similar yourself that you realise how life-changing and debilitating it can be. It is, however, still fascinating to discover the strange and unlikely things our wonderful human brains can take a violent dislike to, seemingly at random. It is even more amazing to realise that these phobias are all medically recognised and there are long, technical names for them all. Many phobias can be traced back to traumatic life events, but often they seem to just appear without warning. Here is a list of ten of perhaps the strangest phobias out there: 1 Ommatrichophobia - Fear of Eyebrows Actually, the fear of eyebrows is very often bound up with the fear of all sorts of things to do with hair. The general fear of hair itself is called chaetophobia and the fear of having it cut is tonsurephobia. People with any or all of these phobias are likely to remove every scrap of hair from themselves, including their eyelashes. Ouch! They will also totally avoid contact with hair in any form, including other humans and also animals. 2 Domatophobia or oikophobia – Fear of Houses How can people with this phobia find a place they feel safe to live in? Domatophobia comes from the Latin word domus meaning ‘house’ and oikophobia has its roots in the Greek word for ‘dwelling’, oikos. 3 Ereuthophobia – Fear of Red Lights This irrational fear of red lights is thought to be linked to a general fear of danger. People with this condition and also with erythrophobia (fear of the colour red itself) may also have haemophobia, the fear of blood, as of course bleeding is a sign of danger and blood is red. The phobia can also extend to anything at all that is coloured red. 4 Chromophobia – Fear of Colours Following on from the particular fear of red is this phobia with its Greek root chromos. The general fear of colours is very rare and usually such phobias are centred on one particular colour as a response to an unpleasant or traumatic experience in the sufferer’s life. All of the colour phobias have their own impressive names however: yellow – xanthophobia; blue – cyanophobia; green – prasinophobia or chlorophobia; purple - porphyrophobia black – melanophobia and white – leucophobia. 5 Linonophobia - Fear of String This phobia sounds like it is an easy one to cope with – just stay away from string, right? But it can involve much more than just the hairy garden stuff or parcel twine. The people who suffer with this one can be terrified of anything string-like and, if you think about that, you will realise how far-reaching it could become – thread, wool, wire, shoe laces and electric cables to name but a few.
- 2. 6 Oryzacustodiaphobia –Fear of Rice Pudding So now you know that disgust of school rice pudding you felt may have been more than just not liking it. Indeed, being forced to eat rice pudding in childhood could very well be what brings on a morbid fear in adult life of that dessert and anything resembling it. 7 Spectrophobia – Fear of Your Own Reflection Everyone has those days when looking in the mirror can be a disheartening exercise, but people with this phobia are literally terrified to see their reflection. The word, which comes from the Latin spectrum meaning ‘image of a thing’ or ‘apparition’, can also mean the fear of mirrors or ghosts. 8 Chorophobia – Fear of Dancing A fear of dancing is often associated with a fear of getting excited or aroused and it most often also extends to being fearful in a situation or place where dancing is happening. For some sufferers, just seeing someone dancing can bring on a panic attack. 9 Scriptophobia – Fear of Writing in Public Huge numbers of us experience anxiety if asked to perform or speak in public (glossophobia). Sometimes this can extend to severe symptoms – many very well-known performers of long-standing in the entertainment world routinely get stage fright before a show (Link 10). However, the fear of writing in public is perhaps less well known. Again, you might think it can be easily avoided, but this fear can make it impossible for people to take office jobs or for students to finish their education. A graphophobe fears writing anything at all. 10 Sesquipedalophobia – Fear of Long Words If you suffer from this phobia, you certainly will not have enjoyed reading this list and probably should not consider a career in the treatment of phobias. It is ironic that the word meaning an irrational fear of long words has 18 letters! (Note: There is one phobia listed which may or may not be a bit tongue-in-cheek, but all of the others are truly proven medical conditions.)