The only thing we have to fear is fear itself, as the old saying goes. Yet this is hardly the case, is it? Virtually everyone will admit to harbouring a niggling fear. There are the classics: spiders, heights, needles, enclosed spaces, you know the drill. But, most of the time, these fears don’t affect everyday life; a daddy-long legs can easily be dealt with by a brave flatmate with a glass, and unless you’re part of the Skydiving society, jumping out of a plane isn’t a regular occurrence.
But for some people, their fear crosses over to phobia territory, and suddenly a glass just won’t do. A phobia is defined as an anxiety disorder, derived from an extreme or irrational fear of an animal, object, place or situation. They are more than simple fears, as the person suffering usually begins to organise their life in order to avoid contact with the source of anxiety.
Imagine how tricky it would be to manage thaasophobia (the fear of sitting). Arranging your life to avoid being sat down? Now there’s a challenge. Eating dinner, taking the bus and not to mention a two-hour lecture, all stood up?
Lachanophobia (fear of vegetables) would make it hard to get your five a day, chronomentrophobia (fear of clocks) would surely complicate making it to that 9.15am seminar on time, and anatidaephobia may throw up a few problems while studying at York: the fear of being watched by a duck…
It seems that for just about every situation imaginable there is a corresponding phobia to match. So, we’ll indulge in a few more…Consecotaleophobia (fear of chopsticks) and arachibutyrophobia (fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth) are some of the more obscure ones, and there seems to be a lack of reliable information on how many people actually suffer from these phobias. However, wiki-answers claims that, “very few people are afraid of peanut butter sticking to the roofs of their mouths.” Sounds legit.
So, in the interest of writing a perfectly accurate and comprehensive article on strange phobias, I interrogated my flatmates on bizarre fears they had been spending the last three weeks smothering. Surprisingly, almost all the wacky terrors featured on the lists. Bathmophobia (fear of stairs – lucky we’re on the ground floor!) and chaetophobia (fear of hair) were both relatively easy to categorise. Just the one proved too quirky, the fear of Cheerios (which I have now coined Cheeriophobia).
Finding yourself fascinated by all of this information? Just pop the word ‘phobia’ into the search engine of your choice and you too can waste hours scrolling through the never-ending lists.
Though, let’s remember, it’s not all doom and gloom. In most circumstances, a phobia can be quickly and easily cured, usually through exposure or cognitive therapy.
And for all you abibliophobiacs* out there, no need to panic, just turn the page and delight in the rest of what this edition of Vision has to offer.
*Abibliophobia – the fear of running out of reading material.