PTSD Central » Phobias

Funny Phobias

Sheila — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 19:06:20 +0000

People often laugh at what they don’t understand. While a list of funny phobias may be hilarious to some, those who suffer from a phobia are truly suffering. A phobia is an irrational fear or panic when confronted with an object or situation that does not cause a threat to the person. Even though the person may logically understand that the feared object cannot hurt them, the emotional response and panic is very real and intense.

Not all fear is a phobia. For example, if a person was being chased by a bear and were extremely scared, that is not a phobia since there is a real threat there. If the bear is behind bars at a zoo and a person is panicked by the sight of the bear even though they are a significant distance from the bear’s cage and the bear cannot escape, that may be a phobia.

Living with a phobia can cause a significant impairment to the person’s life if the object that they fear is one which they would frequently encounter. For example, someone who is afraid of cats may be walking with a coworker, client, or date and panic at the sight of a stray cat. The intensity of the fear of something that is not at all threatening can diminish the witness’ opinion of the person with the phobia. A funny phobia is not amusing to the person who is trying to cope with the fear.

Here is a list of funny phobias. Though the list can be entertaining, I hope readers will take a moment and consider how such fears could affect a person’s life.

ablutophobia: fear of bathing
amaxiohobia: fear of riding in a car
ancraphobia: fear of wind
anthrophobia: fear of flowers
aulophobia: fear of flutes
bibliophobia: fear of books
botanophobia: fear of plants
chromatophobia: fear of color
ergophobia: fear of work
gynophobia: fear of women
heliophobia: fear of the sun
hylophobia: fear of forests
illyngophobia: fear of dizziness
koumpounophobia: fear of buttons
lachanophobia: fear of vegetables
lepidopterophobia: fear of butterflies and moths
logophobia: fear of words
mageirocophobia: fear of cooking
metrophobia: fear of poetry
molluscophobia: fear of slugs or snails
mythophobia: fear of legends, myths, or fairy tales
neophobia: fear of new things or new experiences
papyrophobia: fear of paper
phagophobia: fear of eating
philemaphobia: fear of kissing
phobophobia: fear of fear
phyllophobia: fear of leaves
pittakionophobia: fear of stickers
sciurophobia: fear of squirrels
sitiophobia: fear of bread or grain
soceraphobia: fear of parents in-law
stasibasiphobia: fear of walking
triskaidekaphobia: fear of the number 13
turophobia: fear of cheese

What Causes Phobias?

People often wonder what could cause phobias like these. Phobia causes are often linked to a traumatic event. Someone who was a passenger in a car during a horrific car wreck may develop a fear of riding in cars, amaxophobia.

Phobia Treatment

Phobias are treatable. The psychiatrist, psychologist, or therapist will recommend a phobia treatment based on the type of fear and phobia symptoms. A common form of therapy for treating phobia is called exposure therapy. During exposure therapy, the therapist helps the individual confront the object that causes the fear. Prescription anti-anxiety medication may be part of the treatment for phobias.

What is the Definition of Phobia?

Sheila — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:09:32 +0000

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 from 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 phobia definition 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.

Some people will experience a phobia reaction even if they are not in direct contact of the object triggering the phobia. A person with a phobia of kittens may panic even if the kitten is secured in a cage. There are cases in which the person with a phobia will be fearful of inanimate representations of the object that they fear such as a photograph, toy, or video clip of the feared object.
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.

Weird Phobia

Sheila Wilson — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:14:58 +0000

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 phobia list of strange phobias:

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.

Not all phobias have widely accepted names. A person can technically have a phobia of any object or situation. A person with a weird phobia may have had an experience that was traumatic or fearful in which the person associated with that object.

Therapy is often necessary to treat weird phobias. Though people close to the individual may not understand why the person cannot just stop being afraid of a nonthreatening object, the fear is emotional and not logical. A person with a phobia may recognize that logically speaking, the object will not harm them. However, the fear is overwhelming when the person is confronted with the object.

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