A phobia is an intense fear associated with an object or situation that does not pose the degree of danger that the intensity of the fear would suggest. For example, a person with a phobia of clowns may cry or scream from fear at the sight of a clown. However, a clown does not pose any real danger.

People with phobias tend to avoid the object or situation that they fear. This is counterproductive. Many treatments for phobias use exposure therapy. A phobia treatment involves exposing the person with the phobia to the feared object repeatedly to show that no danger exists. This is a process that is done repeatedly with a gradual increase in intensity.

A psychological process called extinction is reducing a fear response to an object by repeated exposure that does not have negative consequences. After repeated exposure to the object of the specific phobia without danger, the mind learns that the object is not dangerous after all. This gradually reduces the fear that the phobia generated.

Recent research has been done on increasing the effectiveness of extinction therapy as phobia treatment. The study showed that extinction is most effective if the person is exposed to the feared object to trigger the memory of the phobia three minutes to six hours before extinction treatment for phobias begins. This elicits the phobia memory and causes it to be rewritten during the exposure therapy. If the memory is not provoked first, the exposure therapy for phobias forms a new memory instead of rewriting the memory or learned response that is causing the phobia.

The three minute to six hour period of time in which the repeated exposure to the feared object is most effective for rewriting the memory and reducing the fear response is called the consolidation period. The study suggested that if the extinction training occurs after the consolidation period and forms a new memory, the person does not have the same relief from phobias. Instead, when the person is presented with the feared object, the phobia memory and the harmless memory formed during the extinction training are in competition. The person may react in a phobic response, especially if the person is experiencing high levels of stress.

Research like this on the ability to rewrite memories so that they are less traumatic provides hope that the anxiety disorders such as phobias and PTSD can be treated effectively without medication.

A fear of flying is a common phobia in the United States. Aerophobia, aviatophobia, aviophobia, and pteromerhanophobia are some of the names given to the phobia of flying. Some resources say that this phobia affects over ten percent of Americans.

People who do not have the fear of flying may assume that the fear resulted from a bad experience during a flight. In many cases, a traumatic flying experience is the root of the fear. Especially since 9/11, the phobia of flying has been associated with a fear of terrorism by many people.

The fear from past experiences and fear of terrorism are only two possible causes of the fear of flying. The individual may be completely aware of why they have this phobia. For some people, the phobia of flying is a complex problem with multiple causes that the individual may have difficulty identifying.

The fear of flying may involve two other common fears, claustrophobia and the fear of heights. Claustrophobia is the fear of enclosed places. During a flight, the person is forced to remain in the often crowded enclosure of the plane which can be a trigger for those with claustrophobia.

A fear of heights, known as acrophobia, obviously can impact a person’s comfort level during the flight. Even those who do not have a fear of heights may have some fear associated with the height and potential fall of an airplane in flight.

Some people experience heightened anxiety and fear when they cannot be in control of their circumstances. While in an airplane, the passenger has no control over the destiny of the flight. This fear over a lack of control can be further antagonize by the rigid expectations of their behavior during the flight. For example, when the passengers must be seated, the passengers have no other choice. Therefore not only are they not in control of the success of the flight, but they have little control over such things as when they are allowed to stand or who is seated in close proximity to them.

Other stressors related to the flight can make the person susceptible to fear or panic associated with the flight. If the purpose of the flight is an emotional one or if the person already has anxiety about the destination, this heightened anxiety or emotional response can diminish the person’s ability to combat the fear of flying.

There are many methods of fear of flying treatment. Hypnosis and cognitive behavioral therapy are two forms of treatment for fear of flying. Understanding the cause of this phobia may help the treatment be as effective as possible.

A phobia is an irrational fear. For people suffering from a phobia, the object that triggers the fear produces an intense feeling of being threatened. Though a phobia can be a very serious matter, many people want to know about weird phobias. It is important to remember that even though it may be difficult to imagine being afraid of these objects, it is a very real and distressful experience for the individual who has the weird phobia.

Here is a weird phobia list:

Animals:
Chickens- alektorophobia
Fish – ichthyophobia
Fog- homichlophobia
Frogs- ranidaphobia
Moths- mottephobia

Atmosphere and Weather Phobias:
Clouds- nephophobia
Gravity- barophobia
Ice or frost- pagophobia
Rain- pluviophobia
Snow- chionophobia
Sun- heliophobia

Body Parts and Bodily Function Phobias:
Belly button phobia- omphalophobia
Blood – hemophobia
Blushing- ereuthrophobia
Chins- geniophobia
Knees- genuphobia
Memories- mnemophobia
Menstruation- menophobia
Painful bowel movements- defecaloesiophobia
Sitting down- kathisophobia
Sleep- somniphobia
Urinating- urophobia
Walking- ambulophobia

Colors:
Fear of colors- chromophobia
Black- melanophobia
Purple- porphyrophobia
White- leukophobia
Yellow- xanthophobia

Other Weird Phobias:
Bald people- peladophobia
Button phobia- koumpounophobia
Clown phobia- coulrophobia
Dust- amathophobia
Feeling pleasure- hedonophobia
Ferns- pteridophobia
Garlic- alliumphobia
Light- photophobia
Metal- metallophobia
Mirror phobia- eisoptrophobia
Mushrooms- Mycophobia
Paper- papyrophobia
Peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth — arachibutyrophobia
String — linonophobia
Tickled by feathers or feathers — pteronophobia
Vegetables – lachanophobia

Answers to Common Phobia Name Questions:

What is a phobia of toilet seats or public bathrooms? A toilet seat phobia may be called mysophobia if the fear is of being contaminated by germs.

What is the name for a phobia of sponges? Trypophobia may be used as the name of the phobia of sponges. Trypophobia is a phobia of holes. People with trypophobia often have phobias of many objects with holes. Some also have phobias of clusters or clustered objects.

What phobia or fear of turkeys? I do not know the name of a phobia for turkeys specifically, but the phobia of birds is ornithophobia. This could be used to describe a phobia of any or all birds.

If you have a question about phobia names, leave a comment with your question and I will try to find the answer for you.

A phobia is a fear of an object or situation that poses no real danger. In some cases, the feared object could potentially cause injury, but the fear reaction of the phobia is excessive compared to the chances of injury.

Many people struggle with a fear of surfaces textures phobia. Some people have phobias related to cracks such as cracks in sidewalks or asphalt.

Another type of fear of surfaces is a phobia of the underside of mushrooms or similar surface textures. This could be related to the fear of holes, trypophobia. Trypophobia may be restricted to holes in nature such as holes in wood, ground, beehives, or fruit. Holes on a manufactured product may not bother someone with trypophobia.

A phobia often causes an extreme physical and emotional response to the object. It may trigger the fight or flight response due to fear and the perceived threat. The interesting thing about fear of surfaces textures phobia is that many people experience itchiness as a symptom.

When doing research on trypophobia and surface phobias, it was the first time I had heard of itchiness as being a phobia symptom. I began to think about how itchiness might be included in the original trauma that caused the phobia.

Many phobias develop from an emotionally traumatic event. In many cases, I believe the fear could be a displaced fear. For example, I heard of a case in which a man who suffered from a phobia of chopsticks attributed his phobia to being spanked with chopsticks as a child. His father spanked him, so why wasn’t he afraid of his father? Chopsticks may have been a safer target for fear and anger than his father.

Psychological and Physical Causes of Itchiness with Phobias

How could itchiness become a symptom of a phobia? I would think that the traumatic event could have included itchiness. What types of trauma can include itchiness? If a scab heals, it can be itchy. A sickness or allergy attack can include itchiness as a symptom. If the traumatic event included itchiness, the fear for the event and itchiness could be emotionally linked.

Another reason why itchiness may be a symptom of a phobia of surfaces is that the person may fear touching the surface texture. Since the fear is based on a tactile sensation, the person may become subconsciously more aware of their skin. The itchiness felt could be from an increased awareness of the skin. Itchiness is a very subconsciously influenced sensation. Have you scratched more than usual just reading this blog entry?

There is another explanation of how phobias cause itchiness. A phobia causes the person to have a fight or flight response. When the body kicks into overdrive to prepare to fight or run from danger, the brain cells, neurons, release excess serotonin, a neurotransmitter. Serotonin can also cause generalized itchiness.

If a person with eczema develops a rash after a phobia fight or flight experience or anxiety, these seemingly unrelated conditions could be related. Stress has been known to activate the immune system affecting the skin. This immune system response can trigger an episode of eczema.

What is the definition of phobia? A phobia is an irrational fear of an object or situation. Fears are common. Many people have some level of fear about certain situations as one might experience while walking in a dark alley or getting ready to take a final exam.

Phobias are different than normal fear or anxiety. It is the level of fear and the presence of a true threat that is part of what is the definition of phobia that separates a phobia from a common, normal fear. To say that a phobia is an extreme fear is not enough to define phobia. A person being chased by a tiger is likely to have an extreme fear of that tiger, but that does not mean that person has a tiger phobia.

Therefore, a definition of phobia must include that there is no real danger or that the fear caused by the phobia far exceeds a normal response to the possible danger. A person can have a phobia of an object that has the potential to cause harm like a phobia of snakes, but the person’s fear is so extreme that it is not justified by the real threat.

For example, someone with a phobia of elevators may have extreme anxiety when confronted with having to use an elevator. They may cry, scream, and panic if they feel forced to use the elevator. Is there a real danger of an elevator plummeting and killing those onboard? Perhaps there is the tiniest, miniscule chance that something like that could happen. But in the mind of the person with the phobia, if they get on that elevator, they will die.

What causes phobias? A traumatic event, especially occurring at a young age, can be one of the causes of phobias. For example, many people who survived a trip in a ferry that sank developed a phobia of water, called hydrophobia.

Other causes of phobias can be described as learned behavior. A young child who gets stung by a bee may develop a fear of bees. There are some cases when a child was rewarded for a fear, such as a child or parent who is afraid of thunderstorms making the periods during thunderstorms special to the child by huddling close and spending time together even though the general mood of the interaction was fear. The child feels close to the parent and the fear becomes psychologically rewarding.