Phobias A Presentation by Mr Allah Dad Khan Former DG Agri Extension /Visiting Professor the University of Agriculture Peshawar Pakistan

Phobias
A Report
By Mr. Allah Dad Khan

Achluophobia ( Fear of Darkness)
• The fear of the dark is a
common fear or phobia a
mong children and, to a
varying degree, of adults.
Fear of the dark is usually
not fear of darkness itself,
but fear of possible or
imagined dangers
concealed by darkness

Acrophobia (Fear of Height)
• Acrophobia (from
the Greek: ἄκρον, ákron ,
meaning "peak, summit, edge"
and φόβος, phóbos, "fear") is
an extreme or
irrationalfear or phobia of
heights, especially when one is
not particularly high up. It
belongs to a category
of specific phobias, called
space and motion discomfort,
that share both similar
etiology and options for
treatment

Acousticophobia
“The morbid fear of sounds,
including your own voice.”
We are now moving into the territory of even
more bizarrely limiting phobias. How does one
live a normal life as an acousticophobe? Do you
live in a sound-proof room? Do you walk
around with ear plugs? Do you convince a
doctor to surgically make you deaf? These all
sound like rather drastic decisions, and
dangerous ones, to boot, but the other
alternative is not very promising: go through life
and be horrified by any random noise, whether
it’s the slight buzzing of a nearby housefly or the
distant rumbling of thunder or the roar of a
passing vehicle, or even your own voice. And
even if you tried to shield yourself from the
terror by covering your ears with your hands,
that wouldn’t work; you’d still hear the blood
rushing through your head. Scary.

Agoraphobia( Fear of Market Place)

Agliophobia (Fear of Pain)
• In most cases, agliophobia
is caused by a traumatic
event. When the event
occurred, the person
suffered a great deal of
pain. As a result, her brain
remembers the pain
associated with that event
and does not want to
experience such pain
again

Ailurophobia(Fear of Cat)
• If you have the extreme or
irrational fear of cats, then you
are not alone. In the United States
alone, nearly 22.2% of individuals
are known to fear animals of
different kinds. The fear of cats is
known by many several names. A
common one is Ailurophobia ,
which has its origins in Greek (
ailouros (cats) and phobos (dread
or fear)). Another name for this
phobia is Gatophobia (which is
etymologically Spanish Gato for
cats). It is also called Galeophobia
(again Greek for cats-galemacr

Anthrophobia (literally "fear of
people",
Anthropophobia is an
extreme, pathological form
of shyness and timidity.
Being a form of social
phobia, it may manifest as
fears ofblushing or meeting
others' gaze, awkwardness
and uneasiness when
appearing in society, etc. A
specific Japanese cultural
form is known as taijin
kyofusho.

Androphobia
(Fear of Men)
Androphobia is the
abnormal and persistent fear
of men (Greek: Andras-man
and phobos-fear). Like with
all fears, the fear of men is
also ingrained or pre-
programmed as an
‘instinctual response to
potential danger’. Such a
phobia can afflict men and
women, but is typically seen
in younger females.

Anablephobia- Fear of looking up
Anablephobia is an unusual
persistent fear of looking up. The
fear is related with looking up
and not necessarily looking in the
sky and up can also mean ceiling
or so. The people suffering from
this phobia feel nausea at the
thought of tilting their heads to
ninety degrees. People with
anablephobia complain of
spinning of head, nausea and
dizziness whenever they try to
look up and thus avoid it.

Aphenphosmphobia(Fear of
Intimacy)
• The fear of intimacy phobia is known
by several other names such as
Aphenphosmphobia (which is the fear
of being touched) as well as
Philophobia (which is the fear of
love). As the name indicates, the
person suffering from the fear of
intimacy phobia dreads intimacy
(shared between lovers or other close
relationships with parents, siblings and
friends). Since most close relationships
are based on deep emotional bonds,
the person suffering from this fear is
unable to share a meaningful
association with any person.

Apiphobia
(Fear of Bees)
Apiphobia or the fear of
bees is a common
zoophobia affecting a
sizeable part of the
population. The word is
derived from Latin
‘api’ which means bees
and Greek ‘phobos’meaning
deep dread or fea

Arachnophobia ( Fear of Spiders)
• Arachnophobia or ara
chnephobia(from Gree
k ἀράχνη (aráchnē),
meaning "spider", and
φόβος (phóbos), meaning
"fear") is a specific
phobia, the fear
of spiders and
otherarachnids such
as scorpions.

Arsonphobia(Fear of Fire)
• Arsonphobia is principally
a persistent and
unwarranted fear of
fireplace or flames. Other
names for this condition
are pyrophobia, fear of
fireside and worry of
flames. Whatever the
identity one calls this
concern by, its symptoms
during panic assaults are
the same.

Astraphobia(Fear of thunderstorm)
Astraphobia has been derived
from Greek word “Astrape”
which means lightning. Both
human beings and animals
might have this kind of
unreasonable and
overwhelming anxiety of
thunder and lightning. Several
other names such as
astrapophobia, brontophobia,
tonitrophobia and
keraunophobia also are used to
denote this kind of fear.

Atychiphobia(Fear of Failure)
Atychiphobia: the fear of failure.
Yes, that's a real thing. There are
some people in this world
who are so afraid they are going
to fail that they refuse to even
attempt to succeed.
The fear of failure is so
debilitating that the person never
attempts to achieve anything at
all. This isn't to say that he or she
doesn't have dreams or
aspirations — he or she just will
never try to achieve them.

Aviophobia(Fear of Flying)
The fear of flying is called
aviophobia and according to
an article “Flying Phobia”
on the website Phobia-
Help.com, as many as 20%
of people have some degree
of fear when flying. Other
reports place this as high as
40% to 50% of all people
flying feel some fear

Ambulophobia“The fear of walking
or standing.”
Imagine the implications of such a
fear: the mere thought of standing or
walking around fills you with utter
terror. How in the world do you live
a normal life? You certainly can’t
travel around in a motorized chair all
the time. Unfortunately for
ambulophobes, human flying has not
yet been achieved, either. It would
seem that an individual suffering
from this devastating phobia would
be forced to confront their fear
many, many times, every single day
of their life. That doesn’t sound like
fun.

Aquaphobia
(Fear of Water
)
• Hydrophobia and
Aquaphobia. Both these
conditions are not the
same: Hydrophobia is the
term used to represent the
fear of water developed in
later stage of Rabies.
Aquaphobia, on the other
hand, is a social phobia
that is defined as the
persistent, unwarranted
and irrational fear of wate

Autophobia(Fear of being alone)
• Autophobia: An abnormal
and persistent fear of
loneliness, of being alone. A
fear of solitude. Sufferers
from autophobia may
experience anxiety even
though they realize that being
alone does not threaten their
well-being. They may worry
about being ignored and
unloved, or they may worry
about intruders, strange noises
or the possibility of
developing a medical problem.

Bacillophobia(Fear of microbes)
• Bacillophobia: An abnormal and
persistent fear of bacilli (bacteria).
A phobia is an unreasonable sort
of fear that can cause avoidance
and panic. Phobiasare a relatively
common type of anxiety disorder.
Phobias can be treated with
cognitive behavioral therapy using
exposure and fear reduction
techniques. In many cases, anti-
anxiety or anti-depressant
medication proves helpful,
especially during the early stages
of therapy.

Bananaphobia
(Fear of Bananas
)
• t is very rare and uncommon, but
the fear of bananas or
bananaphobia does exist. A very
famous case about such a phobia
has been reported in the Daily
Mail. According to this news
report, a woman had been scared
of bananas all her life, so much so
that she could not stand being in
the same room as them without
feeling nauseated each time.
Thankfully, her story ends on a
happy note as she was able to
completely conquer her fear of
bananas.

Basiphobia (Fear of Falling )
• The fear of falling or
Basiphobia is known by
different names like
Basophobia, falling phobia,
walking phobia, standing
phobia etc.
• Basiphobia is closely related to
other phobias such as
Ambulophobia or
Stasibasiphobia or Stasiphobia
which is the fear of walking or
standing,

Bathophobia(Fear of deep water)
• Bathophobia: An abnormal
and persistent fear of depths.
Sufferers from bathophobia
experience anxiety even
though they realize they are
safe from falling into or being
consumed by depths. The
feared object may be a long,
dark hallway, a well or a deep
pool or lake.
• "Bathophobia" is derived
from the Greek "bathos"
(depth) and "phobos" (fear)

Brontophobia: Fear of Thunder
• Phobia
The Greek word bronte means thunder and
brontophobia means fear of thunder. Even
though people with brontophobia may realize
thunder won't hurt them, they may refuse to go
outside during a thunderstorm. They may even
hide indoors by crouching behind a couch or
waiting out the storm in a closet. An abnormal
fear of both thunder and lightning is called

Barophobia(Fear of Gravity)
Barophobia is defined as an
irrational and overwhelming
fear of gravity. There are 2
types: one where they fear
that they will be crushed by
the gravitational pull when it
becomes too great; and
two,they fear that gravity will
simply disappear and they
will simply float away

Carcinophobia (Fear of Cancer )
• People with carcinophobia or
cancerophobia live with an
irrational dread of developing
cancer. Every bodily
discomfort becomes a sign for
them that they have a
malignant growth somewhere
inside. A headache, for
instance, is a sign for them
that they have a brain tumor.
Cognitive therapy can help
someone with carcinophobia
regain control of their life

Chaetophobia
Although some people
with chaetophobia only
fear loose or detached
hair, others can be
terrified by the hairs on
their very own bodies.

Chronophobia
The fear of the passing of time, or
more generally of time itself.
• Stretching this fear to its logical conclusion,
one would assume that the fear of time also
entails the fear of concepts pertaining to
time, such as the past, the present, the
future, and words like “later,” “early,” etc.
What a horrible existence that would be, eh?
Even if chronophobes aren’t afraid of
words or ideas pertaining to time, they ARE
afraid of time itself and of its passage, and
as human beings we are well aware that time
is constantly ticking away. Just imagine being
a chronophobe, and staring at a watch or
one of those old analog clocks with loudly-
ticking second hands. Tick. Tock. Tick.
Tock. Every passing second reverberates like
an earthquake of shock and terror through
your soul.

Catoptrophobia(Fear of mirrors)
This is a specific phobia that is
characterized by an overwhelming
persistent fear of mirrors. A person
suffering from this abnormal fear of
mirrors or one’s own reflection may have
underlying self-apprehensions.
The fear may be the product of a
traumatic event or experience involving
mirrors in the past, often during early
childhood. Or it can possibly be a result
of a person’s superstition of being
watched by someone through the mirror.
In some cases, the sufferers have low self
esteem associated with personal physical
looks or appearance. This makes one to
shun mirrors so as to avoid looking at
one’s own reflection

Cenophobia(Fear of new things or
ideas)
Cenophobia or Centophobia is the
fear of newness or novelty. This
phobia can be a reaction to changes
in society, special relationship or even
financial conditions.
At times life gets tough and changes
in the form of newness or novelty
can be very demanding and some of
the people may or will react to this
change by shutting down and turning
away from newness thus a phobia
may begin to develop.

Chirophobia: Fear of Hands
Chirophobia is one the rarest
phobia which is regarded by the
major fear of hands, either by
own hands or others. Like
other phobias this generally
occurs in response to some
traumatic experiences in the
past like injury of the hands or
a severe attack of arthritis. Pain
and suffering in the hands will
cause negative attitude towards
hands.

Chiroptophobia( Fear of Bats)
• Chiroptophobia is the fear of
bats. Those who have this phobia
experience intense fear and panic
at the thought or sight of bats.
Those with this phobia often go
to extreme lengths to avoid any
possibility of encountering bats
or entering a situation where they
may be exposed to bats. If they
are put in a situation where there
is a bat present, they are often
unable to cope with the situation
thus they feel extreme anxiety,
fear and immediate danger.

Claustrophobia(Fear of Closed
Spaces)

Cibophobia“The fear of food.”
• Let’s perform a quick analysis of this
situation: food is required to live.
Cibophobes are frightened by food. This
means such people have two options: (1)
avoid food altogether, thereby killing
themselves through malnutrition and
dehydration, which is clearly not a viable (or
attractive) prospect, or (2) stay alive by
eating food and dealing with bone-chilling
tremors every time a spoonful of cereal
approaches their mouth. Imagine being a
cibophobe; maybe you really enjoy
macaroni-and-cheese, or bacon-and-cheddar
cheeseburgers, or some other delectable
dish. Well, now all the enjoyment you get out
of those meals is wiped away because you’d
be eating them with a touch of pepper, a
dash of salt and a dollop of dread.

Counterphobia
The preference by a phobic for
fearful
• “situations.”Re-read that definition. This is an
arcane, mind-bending phobia if there ever was one.
So, we have a phobic, and this person actually
SEEKS OUT those situations or objects that cause
them intense discomfort and fear. This may sound
like some sort of strange, twisted masochistic
syndrome, but it’s thought that counterphobes
engage in these activities in an effort to combat their
phobia. I’m sure you’ve heard the old maxim
advising you to “face your fears.” Well, for a person
suffering from a phobia, that advice is a lot easier
said than practiced. So counterphobes try to
conquer their intense fears by placing themselves in
their peculiarly fearful situations, which evidently
does not work, so the counterphobe is in a constant
oscillating existence of fight-or-flight. Thus,
counterphobia takes the standard mental devastation
caused by phobias and, just to make things worse,
adds in a whole new level of psychological problems.
Yeah, not a very nice phobia at all.

Cynophobia(fear of Dog)
• Cynophobia, or fear of dogs,
is an extremely common
specific phobia.
Although snake and spider ph
obias are even more prevalent,
the average person is far more
likely to encounter dogs in his
daily life. A phobia of dogs
can be devastating, limiting
the sufferer's contact with
dog-owning relatives and
curtailing her normal activities

Decidophobia (Fear of Making
Decisions)
• Life is full of options and choices, each
changing the way we decide to live our lives.
Making these decisions requires an internal
thought process that weighs out the positive
and negative aspects of each choice. For
some, this process can be absolutely
terrifying and the fear of making the wrong
choice will ultimately cause them to avoid
making any choice at all. This fear of
decision-making is called Decidophobia and
could ultimately lead to an unhealthy
dependence on others or unpractical
methods of guidance and, subsequently, a
total lack of control over the direction that
their life will take.

Demophobia(Fear of Crowds)
Demophobia is an anxiety disorder that
manifests itself as a fear of crowds. This
fear is often exaggerated or unfounded,
though the sufferer can become paralyzed
by just the thought of being in a crowd.
Also known as ochlophobia or
enochlophobia, demophobia is often
experienced by shy or introverted people,
though it may occur in anyone for a
variety of reasons. People who suffer
from demophobia may avoid crowds
altogether, and if they happen to find
themselves in a crowd, they may flee the
situation, become incapacitated, cry, sweat,
shake, or exhibit other symptoms of
severe anxiety.

Dentophobia(Fear of Dentist)
Dentophobia, or fear of
dentists, is a common
phobia among people of all
ages. It is sometimes related
to iatrophobia, or fear of
doctors, as well
as trypanophobia, or fear of
needles. Dentophobia may
be mild or severe, and can
eventually lead to devastating
consequences.

Didaskaleinophobia (Fear of Going
to school)
• Didaskaleinophobia is the fear of
school or fear of going to school.
Nearly 2 to 5% of school going
children is known to be inflicted
with such phobia. The word
Didaskaleinophobia is derived
from GreekDidasko meaning to
teach and phobos meaning aversion or
fear. Another common term for
the fear of school is
Scholionophobia which is derived
from Latin scius for ‘knowing’.

Dystychiphobia(Fear of accident)
Dystychiphobia is a fear of
accidents and is most often
caused by a traumatic event in
the past experienced by a person
involving an accident, be it minor
or something major, that has
made him highly frightened. As
in other fears or phobias, past
traumatic experience can create a
protective mechanism in your
subconscious mind as a form of
defense in related anxiety
situations.

Emetophobia(Fear of vomiting)
Emetophobia is a fear of
vomiting. Most people
don't know that this fear
is common enough to
have its own name. Yet
vomit phobia can be a
disabling condition which
severely limits the lives of
those who struggle with it

Entomophobia( Fear of Insects)
Entomophobia: An abnormal
and persistent fear of insects.
Sufferers experience anxiety even
though they realize that most
insects pose no threat. To avoid
insects, they may frequently clean
rooms and carpets, sweep
hallways, spray insect-killer or
seal off doors and windows.
Entophobia (insect phobia)
includes acarophobia
(mites: scabies) and
arachnophobia (spiders)

Epistemophobia (Gnosiophobia)
“The fear of knowledge.”
What? The fear of knowledge?
Indeed. No school. No
education. No introduction to
any new facts of any sort.
Developing epistemophobia is
akin to placing a cognitive cap on
your development. You can’t
learn anymore, unless you’re
willing to withstand unrelenting
terror throughout the entire
process, which would obviously
impair your ability to even
comprehend the new material in
the first place.

Ergophobia (Fear of work)
In what is probably one of
the most convenient phobias
on this list ergophobia is the
fear of work or the
workplace environment. On
a serious note however,
psychologists believe it is a
combination of various fears
such as failing at assigned
tasks, social anxiety, and
public speaking.

Gamophobia( Fear of Marriage)
Marriage is a scared bond that
binds two individuals together.
While many people wait their
whole life to be together
forever with the person they
love, the story may be different
for some others. For some
people however, the
boundations of marriage are
scary as hell. Any such
irrational fear of getting
married or committed is known
as gamophobia

Gerascophobia (Fear of Getting
Old)
The word Gerascophobia
is derived from Greek ‘tha
geraso’ which is a phrase
that means ‘I am getting
old’ and phobos meaning
dread or deep fear.

Geletophobia( Fear being Laughed)
• Gelotophobia is a fear of being
laughed at, a type of social
phobia. While most people do not
like being laughed at,[1] there is a
sub-group of people that
exceedingly fear being laughed at.
Without obvious reasons, they
relate laughter they hear, such as
in a restaurant, to themselves and
are uneasy. Since 2008, this
phenomenon has attracted
attention from scholars
in psychology, sociology,
and psychiatry, and has been
studied intensively.

Gephyrophobia (Fear of Bridges)
Gephyrophobia (pronounced
as Jeff-ee-ro-pho-bia) is a
common specific phobia
affecting many individuals.
People with this phobia are
afraid of crossing bridges or
tunnels: driving over a bridge or
even seeing one from afar or
seeing photos/movies
involving bridges can set off an
anxiety attack in the sufferer.

Glossophobia (Fear of Public
Speaking)
• Glossophobia, or the fear of
public speaking, is remarkably
common. In fact, some experts
estimate that as much as 75% of
the population has some level
of anxiety regarding public
speaking. Of course, many people
are able to manage and control
the fear. If your fear is significant
enough to cause problems in
work, school or social settings,
then it is possible that you suffer
from a full-blown phobia.

Haphephobia ( Fear of Being
Touched)
One of the strangest
phobias that can occur with
anyone is haphephobia. It is
a weird, and a rare type of
fear of being touched by
someone else. The person
has a persistent and
unexplainable fear that
anyone would touch
him/her. This is known
as haphephobia

Heliophobia(Fear from sun)
Heliophobia is
the fear of
the sun, sunlight, or any
bright light. It is a type
of specific phobia

Hematophobia ( Fear of Blood0
An abnormal and persistent
fear of blood is called
hematophobia. Sufferers of this
very common phobia dread the
sight of their own blood, the
sight of the blood of another
person or an animal, and
sometimes printed or filmed
images of blood or even
thoughts of blood. Blood may
remind them of their own
vulnerability to injury and of
the eventuality of death.

Herpetophobia(Fear of reptiles)
• Herpetophobia is a
common specific phobia, which
consists of fear or aversion
to reptiles,
commonly lizards and snaks, and
similar vertebrates as amphibians.
It is one of the most
diffused animal phobias, very
similar and related
to ophidiophobia. This condition
causes a slight to severe emotional
reaction, as for
example anxiety, panic attackor
most commonly nausea

Hylophobia(Fear of Forest)
• Hylophobia, also
known
as xylophobia, ylopho
bia,
and dendrophobia, is a
psychological disorder
defined by an irrational
fear of wood, forest
or trees. It is a type
of specific phobia.

Hyelophobia (Fear from Glass)
Hyelophobia is the fear of
glass. The origin of the word
hyel (a.k.a. hyal) is Greek
(meaning glass) and phobia is
Greek (meaning fear).
Hyelophobia is considered to
be a specific phobia, which is
discussed on the home page.
Hyelophobia is also called
Hyalophobia and Nelophobia
and related to Crystallophobia
(fear of crystal or glass).

Ichthyophobia
(Fear of Fish
)
It is quite common to be
afraid of sharks
(Galeophobia), but many
times, individuals are even
afraid of small and
seemingly harmless fish.
Such an irrational or
persistent fear of fish is
called Ichthyophobia. The
word originates from Greek
“ichthys” which means fish
and phobos which means fear

Katsaridaphobia( fear from
cockroaches)
• Katsaridaphobia is the
morbid and irrational
fear of cockroaches.
Now, most people do
find roaches to be
disgusting and creepy.
However, people with
the phobia of roaches
take this fear to the
extreme

Latrophobia(Fear of Doctor)
• Latrophobia is defined
as the morbid and
irrational fear of
doctors or hospitals.
Again, this does not
refer to those who
simply do not like these
places, but rather those
who are deathly afraid
of them.

Lepidopterophobia(Fear of Butterflies)
• Lepidopterophobia, the word
for fear of butterflies,
originates from the Greek
word Lepidoptera (the group
or class of insects including
butterflies, moths, skippers
and other winged insects).
This phobia is closely linked
with Entomophobia (which is
the fear of insects) or
Mottephobia – the fear of
moths. It is believed that
actress Nicole Kidman suffers
from Lepidopterophobia.

Ligyrophobia( Fear of loud noises)
• Ligyrophobia, sometimes known
as phonophobia, is the fear of
loud noises. The fear is most
common in young children, but
may occur in adults as well. Some
people are afraid only of
very sudden loud noises, while
others fear ongoing noise. This
can affect your ability to feel
comfortable in social settings
such as those that involve being in
a crowd such as at parties,
concerts and other events.

Mastigophobia( Fear of punishment)
An abnormal fear of bein
g beaten. Also called rhab
dophobia.

Mysophobia: Fear of Germs
The excessive fear of germs is a
common anxiety disorder in
America. The medical term for
this phobia is mysophobia.
Mysophobia may be related
to obsessive-compulsive
disorder (OCD) and
hypochondria. Symptoms include
obsessive washing and fear of
public spaces. In the television
show Monk, actor Tony Shaloub
played a detective with OCD and
numerous phobias, including
mysophobia.

Necrophobia(Fear of Death)
• Necrophobia is a specific
phobia which is the irrational fear
of dead things (e.g., corpses) as
well as things associated with
death
(e.g., coffins, tombstones, funerals
,cemeteries). With all types of
emotions, obsession with death
becomes evident in both
fascination and objectification. In
a cultural sense, necrophobia may
also be used to mean a fear of the
dead by a cultural group, e.g., a
belief that the spirits of the dead
will return to haunt the living

Necrophobia: Fear of Death
• The actor and director Woody
Allen is famously quoted as
saying: “I’m not afraid of death
— I just don’t want to be there
when it happens.” In fact, death is
the great unknown and a fear that
most people share. But some
people have an abnormal fear of
death or of dead things, a
condition known as necrophobia.
Fear of death may be at the root
of many other phobias such as
acrophobia or claustrophobia.

Nomophobia ( Fear of Mobile0
• - (short for no-mobile-
phone phobia), and
psychologists say that
it's affecting more and
more young peopleas
well as professionals

Nosocomephobia(Fear of Hospital)
Marc Siegel, a doctor and
associate professor at
the New York University
Medical Center says, "It's
perfectly understandable
why many people feel the
way they do about a hospital
stay," and continues, "You
have control of your life ...
up until you're admitted to a
hospital

Ornithophobia (Fear of birds)
• is a type of specific phobia,
which is an abnormal and
irrational fear of birds. The
origin of the word ornitho is
Greek (meaning bird) and
phobia is Greek (meaning
fear). The fear of birds is not
uncommon, and it stems from
the menacing, darker image of
some birds of prey. Sufferers
of this phobia might fear that
they will be attacked by a bird
or may simply be
uncomfortable around them.

Paruresis: Shy-Bladder Phobia
A phobia that many people have
never heard of is paruresis. This
phobia has also been called shy-
bladder syndrome and is considered
one of the social anxiety disorders.
People with this phobia are afraid of
urinating in public bathrooms. The
fear may be so great that it interferes
with their ability to go to school, to
work, or to travel, and can result in
dangerous retention of urine. The
fear may start with a traumatic event
in childhood. Some studies suggest
that this phobia may affect as many
as 17 million Americans.

Pantophobia“The fear of
everything.”
At first, you almost want to laugh at this phobia. “The
fear of everything? Really? That’s just absurd.” But then
the realization sinks in and you finally understand the
gravity of this phobia. Think about it: the fear of
EVERYTHING. One source describes this phobia as “a
vague and persistent dread of some unknown evil.” So, in
a theoretical sense, a pantophobe can go through life in a
completely normal way, enjoying themselves, except for
the fact that they are haunted by an incessant,
unwavering, relentless fear that some universal, esoteric
sinister force is out there somewhere. Whereas all the
other phobias in this list refer specifically to some cause,
this one has been placed in the number one position
because it entails a ubiquitous dread: no matter where a
pantophobe goes, no matter what he does, every aspect
of his life, every thought, every object, every relationship,
interaction, environment, and moment is plagued by a
nagging thought that an evil force is hovering above his
head, following him from behind, closing in on all sides.
All the time. Until the day he dies.
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Pedophobia(Fear of Chldern)
• Fear of children, fear
of infants or fear
of childhood is alternatively
called pedophobia (America
n
English), paedophobia orp
ediaphobia. Other age-
focused fears
are ephebiphobia and geront
ophobia. Recognised
outcomes of pedophobia
includepaternalism, adultism,
and by extension, ageism

Placophobia( Fear of tombstones)
Placophobia is an intense,
irrational worry of cemeteries
and of tombstones or grave
markers. The placophobic person
may be intensely frightened of
death. This person may
additionally fear anything related
to death, akin to caskets or a
hearse. The individual coping
with this phobia may avoid going
to the cemetery service of a liked
one or could avoid ever visiting
the grave

Photophobia(Fear of Light)
Photophobia is common.
For many people, the
problem is not due to any
disease. Severe photophobia
may occur with eye
problems. It can cause bad
eye pain, even in low light.

Phobophobia(Fear of Phobia)
• Phobophobia is the fear of phobia(s),
and more specifically, of the internal
sensations associated with that phobia
and anxiety,[1] which binds it closely to
other anxiety disorders, especially
with generalized anxiet disorders (free
floating fears) and panic attacks. It is a
condition in which anxiety disorders
are maintained in an extended way,
which combined with the
psychological fear generated by
phobophobia of encountering the
feared phobia would ultimately lead to
the intensifying of the effects of the
feared phobia that the patient might
have developed, such as agoraphobia,
and specially with it

Ranidaphobia (Fear of Frogs)
Across the world there are
varied opinions about frogs
and toads: some people find
them cute, others find them
ugly and disgusting. Then
there are others who have
developed an outright fear
or phobia of frogs. The
term used to describe this
phobia/fear of frogs is
called Ranidaphobia.

Sciophobia(Fear of shadows)
Sciophobia is the fear of
shadows. The origin of the
word scio is Greek (meaning
shadow) and phobia is
Sciophobia is considered to
be a specific phobia, which
is discussed on the home
page. Sciophobia is also
known as Sciaphobia.

Somniphobia (Hypnophobia)
“The fear of sleep.”
Just like the aforementioned phobia, this
one involves something that we all need to
stay alive: precious shut-eye. But whereas
one might be able to go a few days
without food, and thereby dampen the
effects of cibophobia, it is much harder to
remain functional even after a single day
of sleepless activity. I can’t even imagine
the overall physical and mental fatigue that
this phobia causes; if you stay awake, you
harm your body physiologically and
undermine your brain’s capabilities, but if
you try to go to sleep, you’re overwhelmed
by fear which may, plausibly, make it
impossible to fall asleep, anyway. Certainly
a horrible fear for anyone to have to deal
with.

Tomophobia( Fear of surgical
operation)
Tomophobia refers to fear
or anxiety caused by
forthcoming surgical
procedures and/or
medical interventions

Sophophobia( Fear of Learning)
Every teacher can pinpoint
children who struggle with
learning, but not every child
who struggles
hasSophophobia. This fear of
learning can make compulsory
educational classes
exceptionally difficult. Yes, it
may be difficult for the teacher,
but it may feel closer to torture
for the individuals who possess
this fear.

Selenophobia(Fear of moon)
Selenophobia is the fear of the
moon. The symptoms can be
extreme anxiety, dread and
anything associated with panic
such as shortness of breath,
rapid breathing, irregular
heartbeat, sweating, excessive
sweating, nausea, dry mouth,
nausea, inability to articulate
words or sentences, dry mouth
and shaking.

Musophobia( Fear of rat)
Musophobia is a fear of mice
or rats. The origin of the word
Muso is Latin (mus meaning
mouse). Musophobia is one of
the most common specific
phobias, which is discussed on
the home page. Musophobia is
also known as Suriphobia and
Murophobia (murine stems
from the Muridae family that
encompasses mice and rats) .

Myrmecophobia
(Fear of Ants )
Myrmecophobia is an
intense fear of ants. This
fear belongs to the more
general category of
Entomophobias (the fear of
insects). But the fear of bees
and fear of ants are more
specific as the sufferers only
fear those respective classes
of insects

Numerophobia( Fear of numbers)
Numerophobia, also known
as arithmophobia, is the fear of
numbers. There are few different triggers
for number phobia. It is more commonly
suffered by children, especially after
beginning to take math classes in school.
So they would try to avoid doing math at
all costs. Adult sufferers of numerophobia
often have different triggers than by
children, due to mystical associations of
numbers that is believe to influence events
or outcomes, like unlucky number 13
(triskaidekaphobia). Both children and
adults may fear large numbers
(meganumerophobia).

Ophidiophobia (Fear of Snakes)
• Humans have many
fears. The fear of
snakes or
Ophidiophobia is the
second most common
phobia in the world.
Nearly 1/3rd of adult
humans are believed to
have an intense fear of
snakes

Obesophobia(Fear of gaining
weight)
Obesophobia (from Greek obeso,
"fat") or pocrescophobia is the fear
of becoming fat. The phobia is
usually triggered when learning that
being fat can have negative effects on
their health. Sufferers would limit eat
foods, while more severe sufferers
would not eat food unless if there is
an emergency. As a result,
obesophobia is linked
with cibophobia (fear of food). It is
important for these people to treat
the phobia using medications and
therapy; the most helpful method
is support groups.

Omphalophobia
Is it an innie or an outie?
If you suffer from
omphalophobia you
probably don’t know and
you don’t care because
belly buttons terrify you.

Ortographobia – Fear of Spelling
Mistakes
Ortographobia is a fear in which
people are afraid of making spelling
mistakes. Also called spellphobia,
ortographobia hinders a person’s
capabilities in reading and writing as
they fear spelling every word wrong.
Ortographobia can be controlled by
practicing spellings and dictations on
a regular basis. Students with this
phobia are most affected as it effect
their written communication
capabilities and bad language paper
scores and making it impossible for
them to enter any spell bee
competitions.

Pharmacophobia(Fear of taking
Medicine)
Pharmacophobia is the fear of
drugs or medicine or becoming a
drug addict. The origin of the
word pharmaco is Greek
(meaning medicine) and phobia is
Pharmacophobia is considered to
Pharmacophobia is also related
to Neopharmaphobia (fear of
new drugs or medicines) and
Hydrargyophobia (fear of
mercurial medicines).

Phasmophobia ( Fear of Ghosts)
The fear of ghosts in many
human cultures is based on
beliefs that some ghosts may
be malevolent towards
people and dangerous
(within the range of all
possible attitudes, including
mischievous, benign,
indifferent, etc.). It is related
to fear of the dark.

Pediophobia ( Fear of doll)
• Pediophobia, or the fear of
dolls, is relatively common.
It is believed to be a type of
automatonophobia, or fear
of humanoid figures. Some
people are afraid of all dolls
and stuffed toys, while
others fear only a specific
type. Dolls that talk or move
and old-fashioned china
dolls are especially common
targets of fear.

Philophobia( Fear of falling in Love)
Philophobia: The fear of falling
in love or emotional
attachment. The risk is usually
when a person has confronted
any emotional turmoil relating to
love in the past but also can be
chronic phobia. This affects the
quality of life and pushes a
person away from commitment.
The worst aspect of fear of being
in love and falling in love is that
it keeps a person in solitude. It
can also evolve out of religious
and cultural beliefs that prohibit
love

Phobophobia
It’s hard to believe but this
is literally a phobia of
phobias. If you managed
to get through this list
though, you’re probably in
the clear on this one.

Pathophobia(Fear of Disease)
Pathophobia is the fear of
suffering and disease. The
origin of the word patho is
Greek (meaning suffering) and
phobia is Greek (meaning fear).
Pathophobia is considered to
Pathophobia is called
Panthophobia and related to
Monopathophobia (fear of
definite disease).

Scoleciphobia
(Fear of Worms )
Scoleciphobia (So-leh-kee-pho-
be-ah) is also known by other
names like Vermiphobia and
Helminthophobia. They all mean
the persistent and irrational fear
of worms. The word
Scoleciphobia originates from
GreekScoleci meaning parasitic
worms andphobos meaning deep
dread or aversion. Helminthophobia
is the secondary fear of one’s
body being infested or attacked
by worms (Helmintho is another
Greek word for worms).

Trypanophobia(Fear of injection)
• Trypanophobia, or fear of
needles, affects an estimated
10% of Americans. Yet it
was only recognized as a
specific phobia by the DSM
(Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual) in the 1994 4th
Edition. The disorder is
generally referred to simply
as “needle phobia” by the
general population, but is
specific to medical needles

Spectrophobia
• (from Latin: spectrum, n.
specio, an appearance, form,
image of a thing; an
apparition, spectre)
or catoptrophobia (from
Greek κάτοπτρον kátoptron,
"mirror") is a kind
of specific phobia involving
a morbid fear of mirrors.
This phobia is distinct
from eisoptrophobia, which
is the fear of one's own
reflection.

Technophobia( Fear of Technology)
• Technophobia (from Greek τέχνη tec
hnē, "art, skill, craft" and φόβος phobos,
"fear") is the fear or dislike of
advanced technology or complex
devices, especiallycomputers.Although
there are numerous interpretations of
technophobia, they seem to become
more complex as technology
continues to evolve. The term is
generally used in the sense of an
irrational fear, but others contend
fears are justified. It is related
to cyberphobia and is the opposite
of technophilia Dr. Larry Rosen,
research psychologist

Traumatophobia( Fear of wounds)
Traumatophobia is a severe and
irrational fear of injury. While it
is normal for anyone to fear
injury when getting into
situations in which there may be
rough physical contact with other
people, or which may simply
have some degree of physical
threat, the traumatophobic fears
injury to such a degree that he or
she loses the ability to lead a
normally functioning life

Thalassophobia ( fear of sea)
• Thalassophobia Greek: thal
assa, "sea" and φόβος, phobos,
"fear") is an intense and
persistent fear of
the sea. Thalassophobia is
a clinical phobia generally
classified underspecific
phobias, fear of a single
specific panic
trigger. Symptoms for
thalassophobia are the same
as for most specific phobias

Theophobia (Fear Of God)
• Theophobia is the
condition where the Fear
of God or deities results
in extreme anxiety over
the possibility of Divine
Retribution as a result of
perceived acts of sin, a
religiously defined act of
violating God's will. Like
other phobias, theophobia
negatively impacts the life
of the sufferer.

Tachophobia(Fear of Speed)
• Tachophobia refers to
the condition of having
an abnormal, extreme,
and persistent fear of
speed (that is, the
experience of travelling
quickly rather than the
drug that is sometimes
referred to as "speed").

Taphophobia (Fear of Being
Buried Alive)
Taphophobia (or Taphephobia)
is the irrational fear of being
buried alive. It is closely related
to other phobias such as: fear of
death (Thanatophobia), fear of
tombstones (Placophobia), fear
of cemeteries (coimetrophobia),
fear of tight and enclosed spaces
(Claustrophobia) etc. The word
Taphophobia originates from
Greek taphos meaning “tombs or
graves” and phobos which stands
for “deep dread or fear”.

Tokophobia (
Tokophobia is the fear of
pregnancy or childbirth and
the word is derived from
Greek tokos meaning
childbirth and phobos which
is intense fear or dread of a
situation/object. Other
names for this fear are
Tocophobia, Enfantaphobia,
Maieusiophobia or
Parturiphobia

Venustraphobia or
caligynephobia, The Fear of
beautiful women
• The Venustraphobia I will talk
about is not the famous album
by Casbah Club but it’s the
fear of beautiful women.
• Some guys or men feel intense
fear when a beautiful woman
is around them. This results in
poor social performance with
women which leads to further
intensifying of the
Venustraphobia

Xenophobia ( fear of stranger)
Xenophobia is the fear of that
which is perceived to be foreign or
strange.Xenophobia can manifest
itself in many ways involving the
relations and perceptions of
an ingroup towards an outgroup,
including a fear of losing identity,
suspicion of its activities, aggression,
and desire to eliminate its presence to
secure a presumed
purity.[3] Xenophobia can also be
exhibited in the form of an
"uncritical exaltation of another
culture" in which a culture is ascribed
"an unreal, stereotyped and exotic
quality

Zoophobia( Fear of animal)
Zoophobia or animal phobia is a class
of specific phobias to
particular animals or an irrational fear or
even simply dislike of any non-human
animals.
Examples of specific zoophobias would
be entomophobias, such as that of bees
(apiphobia). Fears of spiders
(arachnophobia), birds (ornithophobia
) and snakes (ophidiophobia) are also
common. See the article at -phobia for the
list of various phobias. Sigmund
Freud mentioned that an animal phobia is
one of the most frequent psychoneurotic
diseases among children

Zemmiphobia:
• An exaggerated or
irrational fear of the
great mole rat. More
detailed information
about
the symptoms, causes,
and treatments of
Zemmiphobia is
available below.

Phobias A Presentation by Mr Allah Dad Khan Former DG Agri Extension /Visiting Professor the University of Agriculture Peshawar Pakistan

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