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Can’t find your phone and getting into panic? You could have nomophobia.

Scared it might snow tomorrow? You could have chionophobia.

Phobias can be very difficult for people to live with. We often think of a phobia as screaming at a spider, but it can be much more than that.

Simple or specific phobias are those where the person is scared of a simple object, such as a spider or a dog.

But complex phobias can be much harder to deal with. Say you are scared of dogs. This could cause other effects, such as, you may be scared to go to the park as dogs are there. You may not want to pick up your children from school as other people tie their dogs to the school gates. You may not want to walk a certain way to work, as you see dogs around you.  It could become very hard to live a normal life if your fear of dogs gets worse.

A woman I read about had a fear of pigeons. She changed jobs and every morning and night, and lunch time, she had to walk past pigeons outside her office. She would begin to sweat, get palpitations and feel physically ill whenever she walked past them. It got worse and worse until she dreaded going to work and would often phone in sick. Eventually she gave up her and job and unfortunately developed agoraphobia, a severe fear of open spaces.  This is an extreme case but does show how phobias can develop.

We all know the common phobias of spiders, dogs, cats, rats, speaking in public and so on. But what are some of the more unusual phobias?

⦁    Well, a fear of snow is actually a phobia called chionophobia.

⦁    Whilst the fear of losing contact with your mobile phone or cell phone is a new phobia called nomophobia.

Other unusual phobias include –

⦁    And this isn’t a joke – Syngenesophia – is the fear of scary mother-in-laws and other relatives.

⦁    A fear of otters is known as lutraphobia, whilst a fear of horses is equinophobia.

⦁    But the fear of the great mole rat is zemmiphobia.

People do not just have phobias about animals.  Some will be afraid of natural phenomenon.

⦁    Ancraophobia is the fear of the wind.

⦁    Heliphobia is the fear of nighttime.

⦁    Whilst a fear of the moon is selenophobia.

⦁    Pteridophobia is the fear of ferns.

If you are afraid to look at your own reflection in the mirror, this phobia is known as spectrophobia.

These are just some examples and phobias and unfortunately, phobias are not always taken seriously. But they can cause a great deal of distress and suffering to the person with phobia. So next time you dangle a spider in front of someone with arachnophobia, think twice!

 

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