Uncontrollable fear of the plane, of the crowd, of spiders, of closed spaces, of driving, of getting sick. There are a large number of phobias in the world. But some are more prevalent than others. Faced with a danger, in fact, our body produces a hormone – the well-known adrenaline – which induces physical and mental changes and which prepares us for action: I flee or remain motionless (flight or fight). If we take a step back to our ancestors we can understand the adaptive value of this emotion: fear protected our ancestors from wild animals or hostile neighbors.
Today the stimuli that frighten us are no longer large lions or nearby invasions, but rather the loss of a job, a change of life or the accumulation of daily problems. However, the bodily changes, thinking and behavioral reactions remain the same as those of our ancestors. The fear has therefore, like all emotions, a utility to man, warning him of the dangers. However, it becomes a problem when it is experienced in an exaggerated way or out of context.
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Fear and phobia: two very different things
There are countless numbers of phobias in the world, the distribution of which varies according to age, gender, experience, culture, and even time: there is no doubt that the fear of contracting a disease (nosophobia) will have taken a few steps ahead in the ranking this year. Let’s start by defining the subject of this article. A phobia is an irrational and sometimes disabling fear of an object or a situation that does not present any direct danger, manifesting itself over a period of more than 6 months. In this, it is to be distinguished from fear, which is most often a natural and necessary survival reflex. It is fear that gives you an extra dose of energy to escape when you come face to face with a viper.
On the other hand, it is the phobia that makes you turn pale and close your eyes when you see the same animal on a screen, or when you are put in your hands an objectively harmless snake. There are three categories of phobias: social phobia, agoraphobia and specific phobias – which focus on a particular object or situation.
An anthology of phobias
Phobias come in many forms, and while there are more than a hundred words to distinguish them, not all have their own names. Some are so specific that they probably only affect a handful of people. You, readers, may have irrational fears that you cannot put into words. For my part, I have two: that of intrusion into my home (which is not exactly villainophobia – fear of burglars or criminals), and that of not being able to take a full breath in some places (which is not exactly pnigophobia – fear of being suffocated – nor of claustrophobia – fear of confined spaces).
Here is an anthology of some little-known phobias, a good opportunity to revise your Latin or Greek lessons: acarophobia (fear of itching), cathisophobia (fear of being seated), genuphobia (fear of the knee or the act of s ‘kneel), koumpounophobia (fear of clothing buttons), ostraconophobia (fear of sea mollusks), pogonophobia (fear of beards), xanthophobia (fear of the color yellow) and more recently, ecophobia, named in 1996 to designate fear (not so unreasonable) and a deep sense of helplessness in the face of climate change.
The most common phobias
The two main reactions to a fearful stimulus are attack or flight: the first allows us to face the obstacle, to fight it; the second leads us to abandon the situation before it becomes excessively threatening for our survival. However, in literature, we find two other reactions of living beings in front of a dangerous situation: freezing and faint. Read below and find out what are the most common fears in the world.
Social Phobia
According to a survey by the Anxiety UK association, social phobia tops the rankings. Also called “social anxiety”, this disorder is characterized by an intense fear of being confronted with situations of social interaction. The individual is particularly distressed at the idea of speaking in public. He fears being watched attentively, being misjudged or even humiliated.
Agoraphobia
In second place, we find agoraphobia, or the irrational fear of public spaces in which it is difficult to escape or to find help in the event of a panic attack or other problem requiring the intervention of emergency services. The places most feared by agoraphobes are shopping malls, public transport, but also enclosed places, such as elevators and airplanes.
Emetophobia
The podium is completed by emetophobia, the fear of vomiting or seeing another person reject their meal by mouth. The people concerned reject many foods for fear of being sick, which can cause significant weight loss. Some are also afraid of becoming pregnant for fear of experiencing nausea during pregnancy.
Ereutophobia
Also on the list of the most common phobias in the world is ereutophobia, which refers to the obsessive fear of blushing in public. The people affected, mostly shy in nature, then take care to avoid any situation that could embarrass them. For most people, having reddened cheeks is a real phobia because this reaction is synonymous with weakness, loss of credibility, or even guilt.
Amaxophobia
Many people are also amaxophobic. In other words, they are very afraid to drive any vehicle. As soon as the key is in the ignition, several symptoms can appear: tremors, increased heart rate, dizziness, etc. Considering that the car is a dangerous object, these people thus make maximum use of public transport.
Hypochondria
The sixth most common phobia is hypochondria. This is an obsessive health concern. More precisely, the subject lives with the idea of having a serious illness. Other people suffer more specifically from nosophobia. Unlike hypochondriacs, they know that they are in good health, but are afraid of contracting a disease (STI, cancer, etc.).
Aerophobia
Aerophobia is the panic fear of the air or the wind, and therefore of taking an airplane, and of traveling on board any other flying object. Affected individuals are convinced that they will die during the journey due to technical problems. Aerophobia is often associated with other phobias such as fear of heights (acrophobia) or fear of closed spaces (claustrophobia).
Arachnophobia
The fear of spiders, or arachnophobia, only comes in eighth place. The mere sight of this beast, whether it is very small, huge, hairy or not, can induce the appearance of many symptoms: an increased heart rate, excessive sweating, dizziness, vomiting, paralysis, or on the contrary, a need to flee. The victim will sometimes overestimate the danger by imagining for example that the spider will jump on him and sneak through his hair, thus aggravating the anxiety attack.
Brontophobia
We can also cite brontophobia. A term little used in everyday language but which designates a well-known fear: that of the storm, thunder and lightning. In the most extreme cases, people consult weather reports obsessively. Quite often, brontophobia is linked to other phobias, such as phonophobia, fear of loud sounds, or ombrophobia, fear of rain.
Claustrophobia
Finally, in the classification of the most frequent fears we find claustrophobia, a disorder involving the fear of confinement. Claustrophobic people can suffer from panic attacks in the elevator, subway, plane, but also in small rooms without ventilation, where the ceiling is too low. When they are in these closed places, they are afraid of running out of air and not being able to get out.
Animal phobias
They are the most frequent (22% of the population would be affected in the form of excessive fear, 5% in the form of phobia). They too are probably written into our genes, because they affect practically the entire animal panel (from reptiles to insects) and, by extension, can turn into a phobia of hair or feathers. Hitchcock portrayed it beautifully in his film The Birds. These fears are sometimes coupled with a feeling of disgust: thus the phobia of rats is explained by a rejection of dirt, while snakes terrorize because of their slimy appearance.
Blood phobia
We sometimes find grouped together in the same family all the fears related to the disease, called nosophobias (phobia of blood, bites, medical procedures and even white coats!). In this category, blood phobia (hematophobia) is specific because it most often causes the person to pass out. There would therefore be a particular transmission of blood phobia, different from other anxiety disorders, with genetic factors possibly carried by female chromosomes and involved in the associated cardiovascular reactions.
Weird phobias
If some fears are well founded, such as the fear of flying, the fear of drowning or the fear of spiders, others are much less obvious to understand. Quickly discover the worst phobias the world knows. You will be really surprised by some of them. Like the strange superstitions around the world there are weirs phobias from which people suffer.
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
The hippopo (something) phobia is the fear of words that are too long… And there, yes, we can laugh! It’s still quite funny to see that such a long word designates the fear of long words. The one who suffers from it will panic when he wants to learn about his phobia.
Phobophobia
Phobophobia is the fear of being afraid. Basically, the subject is afraid of being confronted with a situation that he would scare him, so we avoid offering him a horror film or parachuting. Just this idea could make him scream with fear.
Papetoletophobia
A bit in the same register as the previous one, this phobia is also laughing. Papetoletophobia is the fear of toilet paper. Which is quite annoying… Well yes, toilet paper is still super practical. We still wonder how the papétolétophes do, suddenly cotton, glove, water? Mmmm… we don’t want to know after all.
Ithyphallophobia
Another phobia, to say the least, original. Ithyphallophobia is the fear of… sure you want to know?… Good very good, it is the fear of seeing erect penises. Yes Yes ! So for women, it’s already annoying enough to procreate or to make love, quite simply, but then for men. Imagine a man who panics as soon as he feels the onset of an erection. He must not have an easy wake-up call. This phobia pushes to imagine rather funny scenarios… no?
Geniophobia
Geniophobia is the fear of chins. Bogdanov brothers, please keep your distance! But hey, the problem is, even if it’s a “normal” size, everyone has one. Being afraid to look at everyone and even at your own reflection is special. We’re not laughing, but imagine a person jumping in fear upon meeting their own reflection, it’s pretty funny anyway. “Attention, there, a chin, on your right!” “
Basophobia
Basophobia is the fear of walking. Are we kidding or not? Yes it is rather funny said like that, but it is also very problematic! For the phobic, it is more the fear of falling that makes him panic, more than the simple act of walking. He thus has a panic fear of any displacement. His social life, or even his life in general, should not be very funny. Come on, we have to move forward in life! Sorry, it was stronger than us.
Anatidaephobia
Anatidaephobia is the uncontrollable fear of being watched by a duck. Is this a joke? Not even ! A little paranoid around the edges anyway, as if a duck was going to observe us and invent a diabolical plan to harm us… Well, fears cannot always be explained! And then, this one is still particularly bizarre, but also less disabling than the fear of walking or the fear of chins. You just have to avoid the parks.
Cubiculacetophobia
Cubiculacetophobia is the fear of seeing lizards falling on your bed. ” It’s not possible ! Yet yes, this fear is very real. Well, we agree, we can reassure our friend who suffers from this phobia: this horror scenario will not happen. It’s already quite rare to see a lizard, so seeing it fall from the ceiling to our pillow, we doubt it!
Tetraphobia
Again quite strange, tetraphobia is the fear of the number 4. You would think it was the fear of four-legged animals, which seems more logical but no. This phobia is found more particularly in East Asian countries due to superstition. It’s a bit like the fear of the number 13 with us.
Papetoletophobia
To go with the fear of farting, here is papetoletophobia which is the fear of toilet paper. So there too we have a big problem because to clean your little buttocks, toilet paper is quite useful. Well, otherwise we suggest you go and live in Tunisia or Japan, cleaning with water is quite nice!
Musicophobia
As the name suggests, musicophobia is the fear of music. The musicophobic subject perceives the music as a danger, suddenly he becomes anguished and avoids the music as much as possible. Quite complicated all the same.
Cause, frequency and course
Education as well as the family environment seem to play an important role in the appearance of phobias. Indeed, although the existence of genetic factors has not been demonstrated, a phobic parent can unintentionally transmit a certain emotional vulnerability to his child which can predispose him to phobias.
Simple phobias are most often linked to a traumatic event (real or fantasized) of childhood. It is therefore easy to understand that a child bitten by a dog in his childhood could more easily than another develop a phobia of dogs. This type of phobia is more common in children and usually goes away after the teenage years. When it manifests itself in adulthood, the phobia also subsides over time, often thanks to the avoidance strategies put in place.
Regarding agoraphobia, it is generally linked to the repeated occurrence of panic attacks. However, it can also appear very gradually in the absence of panic disorders. This type of phobia, unlike simple phobias, tends to get worse over time. The patient goes out less and less while his anxiety grows more and more. Thus, many individuals suffering from agoraphobia develop depression or an addiction (to drugs, medication or alcohol) in parallel.
Finally, social phobia can develop following a situation experienced or observing the behavior of other individuals (for example, the humiliation of an individual by a group). In addition, the fact of evolving in a family withdrawn on itself, having few external social links and within which the judgment of others occupies an excessive place, can induce a social phobia. Like agoraphobia, social phobia tends to increase over time. Almost 60% of phobics develop depression. Alcohol dependence is also frequently present in these patients. In addition, other anxiety disorders can add to the phobia.