We are all afraid of something (even penguins my friend), but when the fear is carried to the extreme, it becomes a phobia. Fear can or cannot be provoked, it is something inherent in human beings and it is said that there could be as many phobias as there are people in our world (people, not penguins).
A phobia is an irrational, compulsive and disproportionate fear toward something. There are many common phobias; some are well-known as arachnophobia (fear of spiders) and claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces). But in this article we will not discuss about common phobias, but 20 strange phobias and funny ones. “H/T” list25
1. Pentheraphobia (fear of your mother-in-law).
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There are such strange phobias that it is difficult to understand how they originated. Did you know that there is a phobia of the moon (Selenophobia), and of wet dreams (Onirogmophobia)? In this article we will see the causes behind phobias. Despite the fact that a phobia is defined as a disproportionate and irrational fear, understanding its causes and giving a name to what is happening to you is the first step to overcome a phobia. Traumatic events experienced in childhood are the most common causes of phobias. Due to the child’s immaturity, innocence, and inability to deal with the unknown, he is much more likely to “fix” his fear of an object that was present during a high-impact event. At birth, children lack any kind of fear of specific objects, they only possess in themselves the fear response to loud sounds and the lack of support or base to support them. So a child screams or cries when something very loud sounds nearby, or is surprised and his expression changes, when he feels that he can fall. Experiencing either of these two situations in the presence of other objects can cause the child to associate the fear response with the present object; Since you cannot understand the fear you feel, you need to place your emotion on a familiar object. In contrast, in older children, the causes of this disorder occur in different ways. A traumatic event, such as being trapped in a small place, feeling dizzy when riding a roller coaster, or suffering from indigestion after eating vegetables, can cause the fear response to become “fixed” to closed places, roller coasters or the vegetables. Adolescence is a time when we are training as adults and it is easier to generate a phobia. Due to cognitive and emotional maturation, during adolescence you can acquire phobias of another type, compared to the previous ones. During this stage and due to the vulnerability of the psyche and the construction of identity, fears related to the social can develop, such as social phobia, agoraphobia, scopophobia (fear of being observed) or hafephobia (fear of being touched). Although there is normally a conception that adolescents are rebellious and hard to deal with, this is generally only the facade of the difficult process of self-concept formation. There are many jokes that make fun of the relationship with the mothers-in-law, but this is taking it to an extreme level. Although it is a very common joke in western society, having this phobia must be very uncomfortable for personal relationships.
2. Scriptophobia (fear of writing in public).
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3. Omphalophobia (fear of bellybuttons).
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4. Tetraphobia (fear of the number 4).
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5. Hylophobia (fear of wood, forest or trees).
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6. Anthophobia (abnormal and persistent fear of flowers).
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7. Turophobia (fear of cheese).
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8. Myrmecophobia (fear of ants).
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9. Xanthophobia (fear of the color yellow).
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10. Ephebiphobia (fear of youth).
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11. Ancraophobia (fear of wind or drafts).
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12. Nomophobia (fear of being out of mobile phone contact).
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13. Triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13).
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14. Arachibutyrophobia (fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth).
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15. Emetophobia (fear or anxiety pertaining to vomiting).
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16. Ergophobia (fear of work).
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17. Sanguivoriphobia (fear of vampires).
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18. Genuphobia (ear of knees and/or kneeling).
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19. Lipophobia (fear of becoming fat).
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20. Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (fear of long words).
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