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30 Surprisingly Strange and Unusual Phobias
Phobias: What do we really fear?
The word Phobia comes from a Greek word "Phobos" which means "Fear". This is a type of anxiety disorder defined as persistent fear of an object or situation. People who have phobias suffer a great length in avoiding these situations and things and are really extremely afraid of it.
We might find some phobias really crazy or funny but these are serious things for people who might happen to have that certain phobia.
Phobias vary on people. There are things that only you are afraid of but others may see it as a simple thing.
For example, I have Eleutherophobia, that is, fear of freedom. I've searched throughout the net and find that this phobia is really strange and rare to people. Who doesn't want freedom anyway?
Some of the most unusual and strange phobias:
- Pantophobia – Fear of everything
- Philophobia – Fear of falling in love or being in love
- Bibliophobia - Fear of books
- Cacophobia - Fear of ugliness (i know some!)
- Styrophobia - Fear of Styrofoams
- Alektorophobia – Fear of chickens or other feathered creatures or flying animals.
- Koumpounophobia – Fear of buttons
- Estiophobia – Fear of clothes
- Eleutherophobia – Fear of freedom
- Euphobia – Fear of hearing good news (how bad can it be?)
- Gnosiophobia – Fear of knowledge
- Kathisophobia – Fear of sitting down
- Dendrophobia – Fear of trees
- Metrophobia – Fear or hatred of poetry
- Nomatophobia – Fear of names
- Optophobia – Fear of opening one's eyes
- Papyrophobia – Fear of paper
- Plutophobia – Fear of wealth (wow, can i just have your wealth?)
- Venustraphobia – Fear of beautiful women
- Koniophobia – Fear of dust
- Anthrophobia – Fear of flowers
- Barophobia – Fear of gravity
- Chrematophobia – Fear of money (really? seriously?)
- Dipsophobia – Fear of drinking
- Graphophobia – Fear of writing or handwriting
- Ambulophobia – Fear of walking
- Ereuthrophobia – Fear of blushing
- Hypertrichophobia – Fear of hair
- Ancraophobia – Fear of wind
- Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia – Fear of long words
These are only the few of the hundred types of phobias lurking around in the dark. There are hundreds of phobias because every man has its unique perspective and outlook towards everything and may develop fear out of it.
People who knew someone who has phobia should be aware of his own actions and avoid doing things that could trigger someone's fear.
The main cause of these phobias is a traumatic event that happened way back and we developed this fear. It may not easy to overcome and some people have to go under treatment or therapy.
When we were still young, my younger sister used to scare me with chickens to get what she wants. I really don’t know where and what started this fear but it can really cause me fever when exposed too much! If she's mad, she would get the chickens and would run after me. I would scream until the end of the street, running as fast as I could while screaming, the heart palpitating above normal. Then she would laugh.
It was really a messy childish thing to do but it works for her. Now that we're old enough, she outgrew those little 'blackmails' on me... but sad to say, I'm still stuck with that phobia.
This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
