I'm Deathly Afraid of Aquariums...and Other Odd Phobias

In My Humble Opinion
1

Kinda long, I appologize…

Yes. I must admit, I’m afraid of aquariums (and generally any sort of water that I can’t see through). It’s not just your run of the mill “ooh it freaks me out” kinda fear, either. I am totally completely scared @#$%less of aquariums.

I can handle shallow pools or aquariums where I can see through the water, but as soon as I can’t see the other side of the tank or the water gets the least bit murky, I freak out. The same also happens when there are tanks on either side of me, regardless of what’s in them. I can’t even handle walking down the fish aisles in my local pet store. I aso can’t handle going into the ocean unless I can see clearly where every part of my body is. I also refuse to open my eyes while under water in a swimming pool. My heart races, my hands get clammy, and I have this insanely strong instinctive “need” to run away.

Everyone I’ve talked to about this thinks I’m either lying or just plain weird.

I am not a scaredy cat by nature. I like to face my fears head on and conquer them. So I asked my friend Annette to go to the Camden Aquarium (in New Jersey) with me last summer. I walked in the aquarium and what’s the first thing I see?? A giant floor-to-ceiling tank with a ton of fish and a great white shark staring right at me. :eek:

I ran into the bathroom, shaking.

After a few minutes, Annette finally got me to calm down and go through the aquarium. I made it through the whole thing. Yay! :slight_smile: Granted, I held her hand for much of it, but I made it through nontheless. I even managed to look at the big tank that had scared me so much earlier.

The theory I have on why I’m so afraid is kinda out there. I don’t know if I myself competely buy the theory, but it’s the only thing I can think of. So just hang in there with me, ok?

I have been reading some books by Sylvia Brown. She is a psychic who believes in reincarnation.

(We’ll leave the debates on the legitimacy of psychic powers and reincarnation for another thread…)

Anyways…

According to Sylvia, when a soul enters into a new body, they are supposed to temporarily “forget” any experiences they had during previous lives. However, if death in one of those lives was traumatic enough, the soul wll experience cell memory, that is, they remember the strong emotions associated with that death, but not any details. In many cases, these feelings will suddenly emerge in the new life around the same age that the soul experienced the death in the previous life.

This would explain the sudden appearance and strangeness of my fear. I distinctly remember going to pet stores with my dad at a young age and picking out fish for our fish tanks. I loved going and had no problems whatsoever. Then, all of a sudden, the fear developed.

I think that in a past life I may have drowned in the ocean.

So, wise dopers of the world… What’s your take on the topic?

Does anyone out there have a similarly weird story to share?

Star Light

2

Perhaps you were one of the passengers on the Titanic? I have a friend who cannot stand to be wet and cold, and she wears she was a Titanic passenger in a past life.

As for me, I’m terrified of wind. Ever since watching The Wizard of Oz at the age of 2, any strong wind will make me shake and get me sick to my stomach. I don’t know what I’d do if I lived in “Tornado Alley.”

Sheri

3

I get absolutely FREAKED out and have a near panic attack every time I:

  1. Hear the song “Just The Two Of Us”

or

  1. See the movie “Somewhere In Time”

I’m not even kidding. My heart pounds, I start sweating, and I know that by now in my life it’s just conditioning, but I’ve never, since I was like nine or ten been able to handle either of those things.

It really makes me wonder what happened to me at what time when those things were around, that my body and my mind just go crazy.
But lord I love aquariums!

jarbaby

4

I have an irrational and very real fear of heights. Can’t even stand on a chair without getting all queasy. What’s that you say? That’s a fairly common phobia? True, but mine has taken on a weird twist. I’m terrified of stairs. And not only the narrow and steep kind with no railing, either. No, I’m also afraid of the concrete kind on porches with 2 steps.

I can usually walk up them with no problems, but when I start walking down them… I’ll be standing on somebody’s porch, and I go to walk down the stairs. Right when I begin to walk, I can feel myself losing my sense of balance and falling.

It’s not very fun when I have to walk down 3 or 4 flights of the things… <shudder>

5

I’m afraid of being upside down. I discovered this when taking jujitsu, and found that I just couldn’t do rolls. I figured out that I just can’t take being upside down - if I try to do a simple, five-year-old’s somersault, I end up flat on my back, gasping when I come out of it. When trying to figure out what exactly made me freak out, I had friends hold me upside down, increasing my angle to the floor until I freaked. When totally perpendicular, I was fine, but when I got about a degree past that, I was suddenly dizzy and gasping, with an intense need to be right side up again.
I can’t think of what traumatic experiences I had as a child while upside down.

6

Star Light Star Bright, to come to this board and bring up Ms. Brown… :slight_smile: I would suggest you go to http://www.randi.org and read through the commentary archives to gather an independant point of view on her credibility, if you like. I will not, however, tell you that reincarnation does not exist, because I believe it to be a perfectly valid viewpoint. Perhaps such trauma from a past life could be the reason. Maybe, to you, the why shouldn’t matter as much as getting past it? I think having a friend along with you is a very good idea.

I’ve got a pretty strange fear of things that cut. I can’t handle a knife without having fear of cutting someone else (I don’t drop it and scream or anything, but only because I don’t let myself dwell on it.) Thinking about amputations can make me cry. It’s not the object itself that bothers me, but its capacity to hurt people. Sound of chainsaws and axes cutting wood has my blood pressure up to the ceiling. I fully expect to hear a bloodcurdling scream any second.

I also have a fear of bugs in the wrong places (like my bed, my hair, my clothing, etc.) Spent one whole night sleeping sitting up in a chair because I was too scared to go back to sleep in my room due to a June bug that had appeared while I was asleep, then I couldn’t find (found the bugger dead in my candy dish a week later! HAH!) Dont mind them one bit when they’re outside where they belong. :slight_smile:

Ok, so neither of these is weird. Despite the fact that they seemed to come out of nowhere… never had these problems when I was younger. shrug

7

I am terrified of making phone calls. Seriously, even if I know the person and number really well. The thought that I might have a wrong number, or that I might be inconvienancing someone on the other end, terrifies me. I guess this is why I would make a pretty sad telemarketer.

I figure it stems back from when I was ten years old and I got a wrong number and the man on the other end started screaming at me about how stupid I was and how he was in the middle of something, etc. Yeah, now I know that he was just a jerk, but I wonder how he would feel if he knew that he had scared me for life. Actually… he probably wouldn’t care.

8

I have an unreasonable fear of fire. I’m 19 and I don’t know how to use a match or a lighter, as I am too afraid of burning myself or dropping them and having a fire start. I was worse when I was younger. I would run out of the room and hide while my parents lit the fireplace, and I was 13 before I learned how to use a burner on the stove by myself. When I first got a car, I had my parents get me gas because of the possibility (no matter how remote) of getting shocked and bursting into flames. My mom thinks I may have died by fire in a past life.

Like heraldgwena, I hate making phone calls. Not with my friends or people I know, but with strangers. I hate ordering pizzas or calling for some information of some sorts. I’m not sure if it’s a fear, just a high level of nervousness and shyness. But when I was a toddler I was afraid of the phone, even if it was to talk to my grandfather on his birthday.

9

I used to get freaked out by the aquarium/fish aisle at the pet store too. I also was very, very scared of the upper balcony at the Hall of Fishes (now the Hall of Marine Life) at the American Museum of Natural History (NYC). You know, the room with the giant Blue whale suspended from the ceiling? I loved the lower hall which has diorama of dolphins, seals, walruses, penguins, fish and other animals that live in and around the water. However in order to get to the lower hall, you enter by the balcony (which has a large display on the evolution of fish). I would RUN into the hall, eyes barely open and race down the steps to safety.

I can’t recall WHY I was scared of the fish evolution display and neither can my parents. (“You were a strange kid” was their only comment when questioned.)

A few years ago I worked up the courage to actually look at the upper balcony display. Although I found it interesting, I could not dispell a sense of uneasiness.

I also have a phobia of dying in a submarine accident. I have been on a museum sub once (U.S.S. Cod) and it was docked in very shallow water. No one in my family has ever been harmed by or in a submarine. I really can’t explain it, but movies such as Crimson Tide, The Hunt For Red october, The Abyss, and others featuring sub sccidents REALLY freak me out.

10

Ice Skates.

Don’t look at me like that.

I can watch ice skating–that isn’t the problem. I can’t stand having skates on my feet or being on ice. The one time I tried, I ended up in the biggest panic attack of my life. I must have been in some kind of ice skating accident in a past life.

11

Must… resist…
I’m scared witless of being upside down in a tight hole that filling up with water. Maybe I had a bad birth or something butt it scares the bejesus outta me.

12

I too and frighten of the wind, but only with an additional element to it- Wind + Trees= terrifed, sick to stomach, Elfie.

However, my fear has an easy to trace origin. When I was 18 years old, on a windy day I got home from a Lit. magazine meeting and decided to work on whatever I was writing then. I heard a huge crash in the front room. My immidiate though was “What the F#$%? How did the cats knock the cabinet over?” When I walked into the room, before I could even see anything, the smell of pine asaulted me. Where two windows had been, half of a tree was impaled in the roof. For some reason, I’ve been really scared when ever I see trees swaying in the wind. I swear I’m serious, if I ever build a house all the trees that could potenitally fall on the house would be cut down, but people think I’m joking when I say it.

13

This is extremly embarrasing but I am deathly afraid of dogs. Anything bigger than a dauchsand scares the hell out of me. I’m very, very scared of being bitten by them and I get severe panic attacks when encountering dogs I don’t know.

14

Clowns and mimes. Seriously, who came up with the idea that it would be fun to take a man, paint his face dead white, give him huge red lips, and set him loose among small children? And mimes, well, that’s self-explanatory.

I’m also terrified of dark rooms. I can’t walk into a room that’s dark. Literally can’t make myself step over the threshold.

15

Joyfulgirl, your fear of stairs has a name: Climacophobia. Here is a list I’ve had for a while. Many of them I’ve heard of, but I don’t know if I can believe some of them. I mean, fear of having an erection? Imagine the man who has that phobia. At least other phobias can be avoided.

Acarophobia­ Fear of itching or any insect causing itching.
Acerophobia- Fear of sourness.
Achluophobia- Fear of darkness.
Acousticophobia- Fear of noise.
Acrophobia- Fear of heights.
Aerophobia­ Fear of drafts, or swallowing, airbourne noxious substances.
Aeroacrophobia- Fear of open high places.
Aeronausiphobia- Fear of vomiting secondary to airsickness.
Agoraphobia­ Fear of open spaces or of being in crowded public places like markets.
Agraphobia- Fear of sexual abuse.
Agrizoophobia- Fear of wild animals.
Agyrophobia- Fear of streets or crossing the street.
Aichmophobia- Fear of needles or pointed objects.
Ailurophobia- Fear of cats.
Albuminurophobia- Fear of kidney disease.
Alektorophobia- Fear of chickens.
Algophobia- Fear of pain.
Alliumphobia- Fear of garlic.
Allodoxaphobia- Fear of opinions.
Altophobia- Fear of heights.
Amathophobia- Fear of dust.
Amaxophobia- Fear of riding in a car.
Ambulophobia- Fear of walking.
Amnesiphobia- Fear of amnesia.
Amychophobia- Fear of scratches or being scratched.
Anablepobia- Fear of looking up.
Ancraophobia or Anemophobia- Fear of wind.
Androphobia- Fear of men.
Anemophobia- Fear of air drafts or wind.
Anginophobia- Fear of angina, choking or narrowness.
Anglophobia- Fear of England, English culture, etc.
Ankylophobia- Fear of immobility of a joint.
Anthrophobia- Fear of flowers.
Anthropophobia- Fear of people or society.
Antlophobia- Fear of floods.
Anuptaphobia- Fear of staying single.
Apeirophobia- Fear of infinity.
Aphenphosmphobia- Fear of being touched. (Haphephobia)
Apiphobia- Fear of bees.
Arachibutyrophobia­ Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.
Arachnephobia- Fear of spiders.
Arithmphobia- Fear of numbers.
Arrhenphobia- Fear of men. (Androphobia)
Arsonphobia- Fear of fire.
Asthenophobia- Fear of fainting or weakness.
Astraphobia - Fear of lightning.
Atelophobia- Fear of imperfection.
Atephobia- Fear of ruins.
Atychiphobia- Fear of failure.
Aulophobia- Fear of flutes.
Aurophobia- Fear of gold.
Auroraphobia- Fear of Northern lights.
Autodysomophobia- Fear of one that has a vile odor.
Automysophobia- Fear of being dirty.
Autophobia- Fear of being alone or of oneself.
Aviophobia or Aviatophobia- Fear of flying.
Bacillophobia- Fear of microbes.
Bacteriophobia- Fear of bacteria.
Bogyphobia- Fear of bogies or the bogeyman.
Ballistophobia- Fear of missles or bullets.
Bolshephobia- Fear of Bolsheviks.
Barophobia- Fear of gravity.
Basophobia, Basiphobia­ Inability to stand; Fear of walking or falling.
Bathophobia- Fear of depth.
Batonophobia- Fear of plants.
Batophobia- Fear of heights or being close to high buildings.
Batrachophobia- Fear of frogs.
Belonephobia- Fear of pins and needles. (Aichmophobia)
Bibliophobia- Fear of books.
Blennophobia- Fear of slime.
Bromidrosiphobia or Bromidrophobia- Fear of body smells.
Brontophobia- Fear of thunder storms.
Cainophobia or Cainotophobia- Fear of newness, novelty.
Caligynephobia- Fear of beautiful women.
Cardiophobia- Fear of the heart.
Carnophobia- Fear of meat.
Catagelophobia- Fear of being ridiculed.
Catapedaphobia- Fear of jumping from high and low places.
Cathisophobia- Fear of sitting.
Catoptrophobia- Fear of mirrors.
Cenophobia or Centophobia- Fear of empty rooms, empty spaces.
Ceraunophobia- Fear of thunder.
Chaetophobia- Fear of hair.
Cheimaphobia or Cheimatophobia- Fear of cold.
Chemophobia- Fear of chemicals or of working with chemicals.
Cherophobia- Fear of gaiety.
Chionophobia- Fear of snow.
Chorophobia- Fear of dancing.
Chrometophobia or Chrematophobia- Fear of money.
Chromophobia or Chromatophobia- Fear of colors.
Chronophobia- Fear of time.
Cibophobia or Sitophobia or Sitiophobia- Fear of food.
Claustrophobia- Fear of confined spaces.
Cleithrophobia or Cleisiophobia­ Fear of being locked in an enclosed place.
Cleptophobia- Fear of stealing.
Climacophobia- Fear of stairs, climbing or of falling downstairs.
Clinophobia- Fear of going to bed.
Clithrophobia or Cleithrophobia- Fear of being enclosed.
Cnidophobia- Fear of strings.
Cometophobia- Fear of comets.
Coimetrophobia- Fear of cemeteries.
Coitophobia- Fear of coitus.
Contreltophobia- Fear of sexual abuse.
Coprastasophobia- Fear of constipation.
Coprophobia- Fear of feces.
Counterphobia- The preference by a phobic for fearful situations.
Cremnophobia- Fear of precipices.
Cryophobia- Fear of extreme cold, ice or frost.
Crystallophobia- Fear of crystals or glass.
Cyberphobia- Fear of computers or working on a computer.
Cyclophobia- Fear of bicyles.
Cymophobia- Fear of waves or wave like motions.
Cynophobia- Fear of dogs.
Cypridophobia ­ Fear of prostitutes or venereaì disease.
Decidophobia- Fear of making decisions.
Defecaloesiophobia- Fear of painful bowels movements.
Deipnophobia- Fear of dining and dinner conversations.
Dementophobia- Fear of insanity.
Demonophobia or Daemonophobia- Fear of demons.
Demophobia- Fear of crowds.
Dendrophobia- Fear of trees.
Dentophobia- Fear of dentists.
Dermatophobia- Fear of skin lesions.
Dermatosiophobia or Dermatophobia- Fear of skin disease.
Dextrophobia- Fear of objects at the right side of the body.
Diabetophobia- Fear of diabetes.
Didaskaleinophobia- Fear of going to school.
Dikephobia- Fear of justice.
Dinophobia- Fear of dizzyness or whirlpools.
Diplophobia- Fear of double vision.
Dipsophobia- Fear of drinking.
Dishabiliophobia- Fear of undressing in front of someone.
Domatophobia or Oikophobia- Fear of houses or being in a house.
Doraphobia- Fear of fur or skins of animals.
Dromophobia- Fear of crossing streets.
Dysmorphophobia- Fear of deformity.
Dystychiphobia- Fear of accidents.
Ecclesiophobia- Fear of church.
Ecophobia- Fear of home.
Eicophobia or Oikophobia- Fear of home surroundings.
Eisoptrophobia- Fear of mirrors or of seeing oneself in a mirror.
Electrophobia- Fear of electricity.
Eleutherophobia- Fear of freedom.
Elurophobia- Fear of cats. (Ailurophobia)
Emetophobia- Fear of vomiting.
Enetophobia- Fear of pins.
Enochlophobia- Fear of crowds.
Enosiophobia ­ Fear of having committed an unpardonable sin.
Entomophobia- Fear of insects.
Eosophobia- Fear of dawn or daylight.
Epistaxiophobia- Fear of nosebleeds.
Equinophobia- Fear of horses.
Eremophobia- Fear of being oneself or of lonliness.
Ereuthrophobia- Fear of blushing.
Ergasiophobia­ Surgeon’s fear of operating.
Ergophobia- Fear of work.
Erotophobia- Fear of sexual love.
Euphobia- Fear of hearing good news.
Eurotophobia- Fear of female genitalia.
Erythrophobia­ Fear of redlights, Blushing.

Fibriophobia- Fear of fever.
Francophobia­ Fear of France, Frencè culture (Gallophobia)
Frigophobia- Fear of cold, cold things.

Gamophobia- Fear of marriage.
Geliophobia- Fear of laughter.
Geniophobia- Fear of chins.
Genophobia- Fear of sex.
Genuphobia- Fear of knees.
Gephyrophobia- Fear of crossing bridges.
Germanophobia- Fear of Germany, German culture, etc.
Gerascophobia- Fear of growing old.
Gerontophobia- Fear of old people or of growing old.
Geumaphobia or Geumophobia- Fear of taste.
Glossophobia- Fear of speaking in public or of trying to speak.
Graphophobia- Fear of writing or handwriting.
Gymnophobia- Fear of nudity.
Gynephobia or Gynophobia- Fear of women.

Hadephobia- Fear of hell.
Hagiophobia- Fear of saints or holy things.
Hamartophobia- Fear of sinning.
Haptephobia- Fear of being touched.
Harpaxophobia- Fear of being robbed.
Hedonophobia- Fear of feeling pleasure.
Heliophobia- Fear of the sun.
Hellenologophobia­ Fear of Greek terms or scientific terminology.
Helminthphobia- Fear of being infested with worms.
Hemophobia or Hemaphobia or Hematophobia- Fear of blood.
Heresyphobia ­ Fear of challenges to official doctrine or radicaì deviation.
Herpetophobia- Fear of reptiles.
Heterophobia- Fear of the opposite sex. (Sexophobia)
Hierophobia- Fear of priests or sacred things.
Hippophobia- Fear of horses.
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia- Fear of long words.
Hodophobia- Fear of road travel.
Hormephobia- Fear of shock.
Homichlophobia- Fear of fog.
Homilophobia- Fear of sermons.
Homophobia­ Fear of sameness, monotony or homosexuality.
Hydrargyophobia- Fear of mercurial medicines.
Hydrophobia- Fear of water.
Hydrophobophobia- Fear of rabies.
Hyelophobia or Hyalophobia- Fear of glass.
Hygrophobia- Fear of liquids, dampness, or moisture.
Hylephobia- Fear of materialism OR the fear of epilepsy.
Hylophobia- Fear of forests.
Hypengyophobia or Hypegiaphobia- Fear of responsibility.
Hypnophobia- Fear of sleep or of being hypnotized.
Hypsiphobia- Fear of height.

Iatrophobia- Fear of going to the doctor.
Ichthyophobia- Fear of fish.
Ideophobia- Fear of ideas.
Illyngophobia- Fear of veritgo or feeling dizzy when looking down.
Iophobia- Fear of poison.
Isolophobia- Fear of solitude, being alone.
Isopterophobia- Fear of termites, insects that ear wood.
Ithyphallophobia­ Fear of seeing, thinking about or having an erect penis.

Japanophobia- Fear of Japanese.
Judeophobia- Fear of Jews.
Kainolophobia- Fear of novelty.
Kainophobia- Fear of anything new, novelty.
Kakorrhaphiophobia- Fear of failure or defeat.
Katagelophobia- Fear of ridicule.
Kathisophobia- Fear of sitting down.
Kenophobia- Fear of voids or empty spaces.
Keraunophobia- Fear of thunder and lightning.
Kinetophobia or Kinesophobia- Fear of movement or motion.
Kleptophobia- Fear of stealing.
Koinoniphobia- Fear of rooms.
Kolpophobia- Fear of genitals, particularly female.
Kopophobia- Fear of fatigue.
Koniophobia- Fear of dust. (Amathophobia)
Kymophobia- Fear of waves.
Kynophobia- Fear of rabies.
Kyphophobia- Fear of stooping.

Lachanophobia- Fear of vegetables.
Leprophobia or Lepraphobia- Fear of leprosy.
Laliophobia or Lalophobia- Fear of speaking.
Leukophobia- Fear of the color white.
Levophobia- Fear of things to the left side of the body.
Ligyrophobia- Fear of loud noises.
Lilapsophobia- Fear of tornadoes and hurricanes.
Limnophobia- Fear of lakes.
Linonophobia- Fear of string.
Liticaphobia- Fear of lawsuits.
Logophobia- Fear of words.
Luiphobia- Fear of lues, syphillis.
Lygophobia- Fear of darkness.
Lyssophobia- Fear of becoming mad.
Macrophobia- Fear of long waits.
Maieusiophobia- Fear of childbirth.
Malaxophobia- Fear of love play. (Sarmassophobia)
Maniaphobia- Fear of insanity.
Mastigophobia- Fear of punishment.
Mechanophobia- Fear of machines.
Medomalacuphobia- Fear of losing an erection.
Medorthophobia- Fear of an erect penis.
Megalophobia- Fear of large things.
Melissophobia- Fear of bees.
Melophobia- Fear or hatred of music.
Meningitophobia- Fear of brain disease.
Menophobia- Fear of menstruation.
Merinthophobia- Fear of being bound or tied up.
Metallophobia- Fear of metal.
Meteorophobia- Fear of meteors.
Methyphobia- Fear of alcohol.
Metrophobia- Fear or hatred of poetry.
Microbiophobia- Fear of microbes. (Bacillophobia)
Microphobia- Fear of small things.
Memophobia- Fear of memories.
Monophobia- Fear of being alone. (Autophobia)
Monopathophobia- Fear of definite disease.
Motorphobia- Fear of automobiles.
Musophobia or Murophobia- Fear of mice.
Mycrophobia- Fear of small things.
Myctophobia- Fear of darkness. (Achluophobia)
Myrmecophobia- Fear of ants.
Mysophobia- Fear of germs or contamination.
Mythophobia- Fear of myths or stories or false statements.
Myxophobia- Fear of slime. (Blennophobia)
Nebulaphobia- Fear of fog. (Homichlophobia)
Necrophobia- Fear of dead things.
Negrophobia- Fear of Negros.
Nelophobia- Fear of glass.
Neopharmaphobia- Fear of new drugs.
Neophobia- Fear of anything new.
Nephophobia- Fear of clouds.
Noctiphobia- Fear of the night. (Nyctophobia)
Nomatophobia- Fear of names.
Nosocomephobia- Fear of hospitals.
Nosophobia or Nosemaphobia- Fear of becoming ill.
Nostophobia- Fear of returning home.
Novercaphobia- Fear of your mother-in-law.
Nucleomituphobia- Fear of nuclear weapons.
Nudophobia- Fear of nudity. (Gymnophobia)
Numerophobia- Fear of numbers. (Arithmphobia)
Obesophobia- Fear of gaining weight.(Pocrescophobia)
Ochlophobia- Fear of crowds or mobs. (Demophobia)
Ochophobia- Fear of vehicles.
Odontophobia- Fear of teeth.
Odynophobia - Fear of pain. (Algophobia)
Oenophobia- Fear of wines.
Oikophobia- Fear of home surroundings, house.
Olfactophobia- Fear of smells.
Ombrophobia- Fear of rain or of being rained on.
Ommetaphobia or Ommatophobia- Fear of eyes.
Oneirophobia- Fear of dreams.
Oneirogmophobia- Fear of wet dreams.
Onomatophobia- Fear of hearing a certain word or of names.
Ophidiophobia- Fear of snakes. (Snakephobia)
Ophthalmophobia- Fear of being stared at.
Optophobia- Fear of opening one’s eyes.
Ornithophobia- Fear of birds.
Orthophobia- Fear of property.
Osmophobia or Osphresiophobia- Fear of smells or odors.
Ostraconophobia- Fear of shellfish.
Pagophobia- Fear of ice or frost.
Panthophobia- Fear of suffering and disease.
Panophobia or Pantophobia- Fear of everything.
Papaphobia- Fear of the Pope.
Papyrophobia- Fear of paper.
Paralipophobia- Fear of neglecting duty or responsibility.
Paraphobia- Fear of sexual perversion.
Parasitophobia- Fear of parasites.
Parthenophobia- Fear of virgins or young girls.
Pathophobia- Fear of disease.
Patroiophobia- Fear of heredity.
Peccatophobia- Fear of sinning. (imaginary crime)
Pediculophobia- Fear of lice.
Pediophobia- Fear of dolls.
Pedophobia- Fear of children.
Peladophobia- Fear of bald people.
Pellagrophobia- Fear of pellagra.
Peniaphobia- Fear of poverty.
Pentheraphobia- Fear of mother-in-law. (Novercaphobia)
Phagophobia- Fear of swallowing or of eating.
Phalacrophobia- Fear of becoming bald.
Phallophobia- Fear of a penis, esp erect.
Pharmacophobia- Fear of taking medicine.
Phasmophobia- Fear of ghosts.
Phengophobia- Fear of daylight or sunshine.
Philemaphobia or Philematophobia- Fear of kissing.
Philophobia- Fear of falling in love or being in love.
Philosophobia- Fear of philosophy.
Phobophobia- Fear of phobias.
Photoaugliaphobia- Fear of glaring lights.
Photophobia- Fear of light.
Phonophobia­ Fear of own voice.
Phronemophobia- Fear of thinking.
Phthiriophobia- Fear of lice. (Pediculophobia)
Phthisiophobia- Fear of tuberculosis.
Placophobia- Fear of tombstones.
Pluviophobia- Fear of rain or of being rained on.
Pneumatiphobia- Fear of spirits.
Pnigophobia or Pnigerophobia- Fear of choking of being smothered.
Pocrescophobia- Fear of gaining weight. (Obesophobia)
Pogonophobia- Fear of beards.
Politicophobia- Fear or abnormal dislike of politicians.
Polyphobia- Fear of many things.
Poinephobia- Fear of punishment.
Ponophobia- Fear of overworking.
Potamphobia- Fear of rivers.
Potophobia- Fear of alcohol.
Pharmacophobia- Fear of drugs.
Proctophobia- Fear of rectum.
Prosophobia- Fear of progress.
Psellismophobia- Fear of stuttering.
Psychophobia- Fear of mind.
Pteronophobia- Fear of being tickled by feathers.
Pyrexiophobia- Fear of Fever.
Pyrophobia- Fear of fire.

Radiophobia- Fear of radiation, x-rays.
Rectophobia- Fear of rectum or rectal diseases.
Rhabdophobia­ Fear of being beaten or punished by a rod or of being severely criticized
Rhypophobia- Fear of defecation.
Rhytiphobia- Fear of getting wrinkles.
Rupophobia- Fear of dirt.
Russophobia- Fear of Russians.

Sarmassophobia- Fear of love play. (Malaxophobia)
Satanophobia- Fear of Satan.
Scatophobia- Fear of fecal matter. (Coprophobia)
Scelerophibia- Fear of bad men, burglars.
Sciophobia Sciaphobia- Fear of shadows.
Scoleciphobia- Fear of worms.
Scolionophobia- Fear of school.
Scopophobia or Scoptophobia- Fear of being seen or stared at.
Scotomaphobia- Fear of blindness in visual field.
Scotophobia- Fear of darkness. (Achluophobia)
Scriptophobia- Fear of writing in public.
Selaphobia- Fear of light flashes.
Selenophobia- Fear of the moon.
Seplophobia- Fear of decaying matter.
Sexophobia- Fear of the opposite sex. (Heterophobia)
Siderodromophobia- Fear of trains, railroads or train travel.
Siderophobia- Fear of stars.
Sinistrophobia- Fear of things to the left, left-handed.
Sinophobia- Fear of Chinese, Chinese culture.
Sitophobia or Sitiophobia- Fear of food or eating. (Cibophobia)
Soceraphobia- Fear of parents-in-law.
Sociophobia- Fear of society or people in general.
Sophophobia- Fear of learning.
Spacephobia- Fear of outer space.
Spectrophobia- Fear of specters or ghosts. (Phasmophobia)
Spermatophobia or Spermophobia- Fear of germs.
Spheksophobia- Fear of wasps.
Stasibasiphobia or Stasiphobia­ Fear of standing or walking (Ambulophobia)
Staurophobia- Fear of crosses or the crucifix.
Stenophobia- Fear of narrow things or places.
Stygiophobia or Stigiophobia- Fear of hell.
Suriphobia- Fear of mice. (Musophobia)
Symbolophobia- Fear of symbolism.
Symmetrophobia- Fear of symmetry.
Syngenesophobia- Fear of relatives.
Syphilophobia- Fear of syphilis.

Tachophobia- Fear of speed.
Taeniophobia- Fear of tapeworms.
Taphephobia, Taphophobia­ Fear of being buried alive.
Tapinophobia- Fear of being contagious.
Taurophobia- Fear of bulls.
Technophobia- Fear of technology.
Teleophobia- 1) Fear of definate plans. 2) Religious ceremony.
Telephonophobia- Fear of telephones.
Teratophobia­ Fear of bearing a deformed child or fear of monsters or deformed people.
Testophobia- Fear of taking tests.
Tetanophobia- Fear of lockjaw, tetanus.
Teutophobia- Fear of German or German things.
Textophobia- Fear of certain fabrics.
Thaasophobia- Fear of sitting.
Thalassophobia- Fear of the sea.
Thanatophobia- Fear of death or dying.
Theatrophobia- Fear of theatres.
Theologicophobia- Fear of theology.
Theophobia- Fear of gods or religion.
Thermophobia- Fear of heat.
Tocophobia- Fear of pregnancy or childbirth.
Tomophobia- Fear of surgical operations.
Tonitrophobia- Fear of thunder. (Ceraunophobia)
Topophobia- Fear of certain places.
Toxiphobia or Toxophobia or Toxicophobia- Fear of poison.
Traumatophobia- Fear of injury.
Tremophobia- Fear of trembling.
Trichinophobia- Fear of trichinosis.
Trichopathophobia or Trichophobia- Fear of hair. (Chaetophobia)
Triskaidekaphobia- Fear of the number 13.
Tropophobia- Fear of moving or making changes.
Trypanophobia- Fear of injections.
Tuberculophobia- Fear of tuberculosis.
Tyrannophobia- Fear of tyrants.

Uranophobia- Fear of heaven.
Urophobia- Fear of urine or urinating.
Vaccinophobia- Fear of vaccination.
Venustraphobia- Fear of beautiful women.
Verbophobia- Fear of words.
Verminophobia- Fear of germs.
Vestiphobia- Fear of clothing.
Virgiuitiphobia- Fear of rape.
Vitricophobia- Fear of step-father.

Xanthophobia- Fear of the color yellow or the word yellow.
Xenophobia- Fear of strangers or foreigners.
Xerophobia- Fear of dryness.
Xylophobia- 1) Fear of wooden objects. 2) Forests.

Zelophobia- Fear of jealousy.
Zemmiphobia- Fear of the great mole rat.
Zoophobia- Fear of animals.

16

mirrors in the dark. i just won’t look. a light must be on in the bathroom all night long. i don’t get panic attacks or racing heart, just that cold fist in the stomach.

17

I’m afraid of aircraft flying overhead. I dare say that Lockerbie traumatised me when I was a small child. I’m always fearful that planes will fall out of the sky onto me. This has been compounded by the Concorde accident in France, and most recently the WTC.

I’m afraid of things touch my neck, and of being beheaded. I sometimes feel like my neck isn’t strong enough to support my head.

I’m afraid of legs. Like on spiders. I’m terrified of spiders, but I’ve managed to define my fear as that of their legs. If a spider is still, I’m afraid, but if it starts to move, I’m in hysterics, I need to vomit, my knees go shakey, and I want to cry. My mother has pet hermit crabs, and while I want to like the little guys, I look at their legs and shudder. Didn’t help that when she brought them home, she didn’t tell me what was in the little box. I saw the accessories and thought she’d got some new pet mice. I did NOT expect to see hermit crabs, and I don’t know how I didn’t throw the box over my shoulder when I peeped in and saw them!

18

I had a friend in undergrad who was terrified of having anything around his neck. He couldn’t wear regular tshirts, and never let anyone touch him on the neck. The mere thought of a turtleneck sent him into apoplectic fits. I ran him through a regression, and he recalled being lynched in a past life. I took him through the experience as an outsider, not a participant, and after a couple of sessions he had almost completely overcome the fear.

Me, I have several irrational fears. Frogs, clowns, a good number of bugs all get to me. I’m afraid of water, but I attribute that to my sister almost drowning me as a child. But I also have a paralytic fear of being buried alive. Caves both attract and repel me on a totally visceral level. But, since no one has been able to successfully run me through a regression, I guess I’ll never know what happened to cause the fear.

-BK

19

Oh, HELL YEAH. When I was a kid, the Bloody Mary legend was huge. To this day I can’t be in a dark room with a mirror. It’s truly terrifying for me.

Sheri

20

Yup, clowns are another. Hideous, foul, evil creatures that must be destroyed.

Sheri