Phobias

A phobia is an anxiety disorder, defined by an irrational, unrealistic, persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation. Phobias typically result in a rapid onset of fear and are usually present for more than six months. Those affected go to great lengths to avoid the situation or object, to a degree greater than the actual danger posed. If the object or situation cannot be avoided, they experience significant distress. Other symptoms can include fainting, which may occur in blood or injury phobia, and panic attacks, often found in agoraphobia and emetophobia. Around 75% of those with

Claustrophobia is a fear or anxiety of confined spaces. It is triggered by many situations or stimuli, including elevators, especially when crowded to capacity, windowless rooms, and hotel rooms with closed doors and sealed windows. Even bedrooms with a lock on the outside, small cars, and tight-necked clothing can induce a response in those with claustrophobia. It is typically classified as an anxiety disorder, which often results in panic attacks. The onset of claustrophobia has been attributed to many factors, including a reduction in the size of the amygdala, classical conditioning, or a g

anxiety disorder associated with social situations

Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders and other arachnids, such as scorpions and ticks. The word "arachnophobia" comes from the Greek words arachne and phobia.

thumb|upright|An elevator control panel in a residential apartment building in Shanghai with no floor numbered as the 4th thumb|The number 4 missing in a parking lot in Japan Tetraphobia () is the practice of avoiding instances of the digit number . It is a superstition most common in East Asian nations and is associated with death.

200px|thumb|alt=Lotus seed head|The holes in Nelumbo nucifera|lotus seed heads elicit feelings of discomfort or repulsion in some people.

Wikimedia list article

Photophobia is a medical symptom of abnormal intolerance to visual perception of light. As a medical symptom, photophobia is not a morbid fear or phobia, but an experience of discomfort or pain to the eyes due to light exposure or by presence of actual physical sensitivity of the eyes, though the term is sometimes additionally applied to abnormal or irrational fear of light, such as heliophobia. The term photophobia comes .

irrational fear of blood

Mysophobia (from Ancient Greek μύσος (músos), meaning "pollution", and φόβος (phóbos), meaning "fear"), also known as verminophobia, germophobia, germaphobia, bacillophobia and bacteriophobia, is a pathological fear of contamination and germs. It is classified as a type of specific phobia, meaning it is evaluated and diagnosed based on the experience of high levels of fear and anxiety beyond what is reasonable when exposed to or in anticipation of exposure to stimuli related to the particular concept (in this case germs or contamination). William A. Hammond first coined the term in 1879 when d

Aquaphobia (from Latin aqua, meaning "water", and Ancient Greek φόβος (phóbos), meaning "fear") is an irrational fear of water.

thumb|An illustration of two people being frightened by a cat, 1808 Ailurophobia () is the persistent and excessive fear of cats and felines in general. Like other specific phobias, the exact cause of ailurophobia is unknown, and potential treatment generally involves therapy. The name comes from the Greek words (), 'cat', and (), 'fear'. Other names for ailurophobia include: felinophobia, elurophobia, gatophobia, and cat phobia. A person with this phobia is known as an ailurophobe.

Algophobia or algiophobia is a phobia of painan abnormal and persistent fear of pain that is far more powerful than that of a normal person. It can be treated with behavioral therapy and anti-anxiety medication. The term comes .

REDIRECT Number of the beast#Fear and superstition

anxiety caused by thoughts of death

phobia of medical procedures involving injections or needles

Autophobia is the specific phobia or a morbid fear or dread of oneself or of being alone, isolated, abandoned, and ignored. This condition is associated with the idea of being alone, often causing severe anxiety.

phobic disorder that is characterized by an unreasonable or irrational fear related to exposure to specific objects or situations

Gynophobia or gynephobia (/ˌɡaɪnəˈfoʊbiə/) is a morbid and irrational fear of women, a type of specific social phobia. It is found in ancient mythology as well as modern cases. A small number of researchers and authors have attempted to pin down possible causes of gynophobia.

Phonophobia, also called ligyrophobia or sonophobia, is a fear of or aversion to specific sounds—a type of specific phobia as well as a form of auditory hypersensitivity. Occasionally it is called acousticophobia. Although some sounds could be feared by most people, such as certain loud sounds or sounds that signal threats, fears of these sounds would not be considered phonophobia unless the amount of fear and anxiety was disproportionate. In phonophobia, the feared sounds may be ones that are soft and non-damaging, such as kitchen sounds or a door closing. Another example is watching someone

Necrophobia is a specific phobia, the irrational fear of dead organisms (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.

REDIRECT Evil clown#Interpretations

Japanese culture-bound syndrome

Tokophobia is a significant fear of childbirth. It is a common reason why some women request an elective cesarean section. Factors often include a fear of pain, death, unexpected problems, injury to the baby, sexual problems and a lack of self-belief of the capacity to birth a child. Treatment may occur via counselling.

thumb|A safety pin Aichmophobia () is a kind of specific phobia, the morbid fear of sharp things. It is derived from the Greek aichmē (point) and phobos (fear). This fear may also be referred to as belonephobia or enetophobia.

fear of being in love and falling in love

Genophobia or coitophobia is the physical or psychological fear of sexual relations or sexual intercourse. The term erotophobia can also be used when describing genophobia; the word "erotophobia" comes from the name of the Greek god of erotic love, Eros. Genophobia can induce panic and fear in individuals, much like panic attacks. People who suffer from the phobia can be intensely affected by attempted sexual contact or just the thought of it. The extreme fear can lead to trouble in romantic relationships. Those afflicted by genophobia may stay away from getting involved in relationships to av

Neophobia is the fear of anything new. In its milder form, it can manifest as the unwillingness to try new things or break from routine. In the context of human children, the term is generally used to indicate a tendency to reject unknown or novel foods. Food neophobia, as it may be referred to, is an important concern in pediatric psychology.

Chemophobia (or chemphobia or chemonoia) is an aversion to or prejudice against chemicals or chemistry. The phenomenon has been ascribed both to a reasonable concern over the potential adverse effects of synthetic chemicals, and to an irrational fear of these substances because of misconceptions about their potential for harm, particularly the possibility of certain exposures to some synthetic chemicals elevating an individual's risk of cancer. Consumer products with labels such as "natural" and "chemical free" (the latter being impossible if taken literally, since all consumer products consis

Fear of children

thumb|A woman diagnosed with panphobia, from Alexander Morison's 1843 book The Physiognomy of Mental Diseases Panphobia, omniphobia, pantophobia, or panophobia is a vague and persistent dread of some unknown evil. Panphobia is not registered as a type of phobia in medical references.

Osmophobia or olfactophobia refers to a fear, aversion, or psychological hypersensitivity to odors. Osmophobia seems to be a consistent part of the patient’s migraine history, but additional criteria are needed to differentiate it from episodic tension-type headache (ETTH). The phobia generally occurs in chronic migraine sufferers who may have odor triggered migraines.

fear of making or taking phone calls

Phobophobia is a phobia defined as the fear of phobias, or the fear of fear, including intense anxiety and unrealistic and persistent fear of the somatic sensations and the feared phobia ensuing. Phobophobia can also be defined as the fear of phobias or fear of developing a phobia. Phobophobia is related to anxiety disorders and panic attacks directly linked to other types of phobias, such as agoraphobia. When a patient has developed phobophobia, their condition must be diagnosed and treated as part of anxiety disorders.

Gerontophobia is the hatred or fear of older adults, or a fear of age-related self-degeneration (similar to gerascophobia). The term comes from the Greek γέρων – gerōn, "old man" and φόβος – phobos, "fear". Gerontophobia that stems from a fear of aging has been linked to thanatophobia, as fear of old age can be a precursor to fear of death. Gerontophobia can be caused by stereotypes of older adults displayed in the media.

People wanting to deliberately avoid positive emotions and / or happiness

Erotophobia is a term to describe a fear or aversion to sex or related matters. It was coined by a number of researchers in the late 1970s and early 1980s to describe one pole on a continuum of attitudes and beliefs about sexuality. The word is derived from the name of Eros, the Greek god of erotic love, and Phobos (), the god of fear. The model of the continuum is a basic polarized line, with erotophobia (fear of sex or negative attitudes about sex) at one end and erotophilia (positive feelings or attitudes about sex) at the other end.

thumb|right|upright|Qin Shi Huang, the first Chinese emperor, ordered a mass destruction of books for fear of the Confucian ideas that they contained. Bibliophobia is the fear or hatred of books. Such fear often arises from fear of the effect books can have on society or culture. Bibliophobia is a common cause of censorship and book burning. Bibliophobia and bibliophilia are antonyms.

Gelotophobia is a fear of being laughed at, a type of social phobia. While most people do not like being laughed at, in his clinical observations, German psychotherapist and psychoanalyst Michael Titze (1996) discovered that some of his patients seemed to be primarily worried about being laughed at. They tended to scan their environment for signs of laughter and ridicule. Furthermore, they reported that they had the impression of being ridiculous themselves. Additionally, Titze observed a specific movement pattern among them when they thought they were being laughed at—awkward, wooden movement

Ergophobia (also referred to as ergasiophobia or ponophobia) is described as an extreme and debilitating fear associated with work (manual labor, non-manual labor, etc.), a fear of finding or losing employment, or fear of specific tasks in the workplace. The term ergophobia comes from the Greek "ergon" (work) and "phobos" (fear).

phobia that affects a person's ability to cross a street or roadway

Spectrophobia (derived 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 an abnormal and persistent fear of mirrors, and an anxiety about seeing one's own face reflected in them. It is sometimes related to the fear of ghosts or the undead.

thumb|A group of teens Ephebiphobia is the fear of youth. First coined as the "fear or loathing of teenagers", the phenomenon is recognized today as the "inaccurate, exaggerated and sensational characterization of young people" in a range of settings around the world. Studies of the fear of youth occur in sociology and youth studies. It is distinguished from pedophobia by being more focused on adolescents than prepubescent children.

Chromophobia (also known as chromatophobia) is a persistent, irrational fear of, or aversion to, colors and is usually a conditioned response. While actual clinical phobias to color are rare, colors can elicit hormonal responses and psychological reactions.

Apeirophobia () (from ) is the specific phobia of infinity, eternity, endlessness, or the uncountable and is also known as the fear of infinity, the fear of eternity, or the fear of endlessness, causing discomfort and sometimes panic attacks from intrusive thoughts of the infinity. It normally starts in adolescence or earlier and it is currently not known how it normally develops over time. Apeirophobia may be caused by existential dread about eternal life or oblivion following death. Due to this, it is often connected with thanatophobia (the phobia of death), chronophobia (the phobia of time

Gerascophobia is an abnormal or incessant fear of growing older or ageing (senescence). Fear is characterised as an unpleasant emotion experienced as a result of some perceived threat or source of danger, in the case of gerascophobia that threat is ageing. This fear is irrational and disproportionate to any threat posed and persists even in the case that the individual is in perfect health.

fear of balloons

irrational fear or avoidance of long-term partnership or marriage

fear of the use of pharmacological treatments

Chronophobia, also known as prison neurosis, is considered an anxiety disorder describing the fear of time and time moving forward, which is commonly seen in prison inmates. Next to prison inmates, chronophobia is also identified in individuals experiencing quarantine due to COVID-19. As time is understood as a specific concept, chronophobia is categorized as a specific phobia.

Heptadecaphobia (Greek: , "seventeen" and , , "fear") is the fear of the number 17. It is considered to be ill-fated in Italy and other countries of Greek and Latin origins, while the date Friday the 17th is considered especially unfortunate in Italy. The number is feared due to superstition, and is similar in nature to the fear of the number 13 in Anglo-Saxon countries. __TOC__

Numerophobia, arithmophobia, or mathematics anxiety is an anxiety disorder, involving fear of dealing with numbers or mathematics. Sometimes numerophobia refers to fear of particular numbers. Some people with this condition may be afraid of even numbers, odd numbers, unlucky numbers, and/or lucky numbers. Those with this phobia may have a hard time holding certain jobs, paying bills, or managing a budget.

Coprophobia is fear of or aversion to feces or defecation.

anxiety and fear associated with trains, railways and railway travel

Myrmecophobia () is the inexplicable fear or hatred for ants. It is a type of specific phobia. This fear can manifest itself in several ways, such as a fear of ants contaminating a person's food supply, or fear of a home invasion by large numbers of ants. It is common for those who suffer from myrmecophobia to also have a wider fear of insects in general, as well as spiders (see Arachnophobia); such a condition is known as entomophobia. The term myrmecophobia comes from the Greek μύρμηξ, myrmex, meaning "ant" and , phóbos, "fear".

overwhelming, irrational, and persistent fear of being diagnosed with cancer

Phasmophobia

Koumpounophobia (from Modern Greek κουμπώνω (koumpóno), meaning "to button", and Ancient Greek φόβος (phóbos), meaning "fear") is the term used to describe the phobia of clothes' buttons. This phobia regularly leads to feelings of fear and disgust when sufferers are exposed to buttons either visually or physically. It is estimated that less than one percent of the U.S. has this phobia.

According to the DSM-IV classification of mental disorders, the injury phobia is a specific phobia of blood/injection/injury type. It is an abnormal, pathological fear of having an injury.