Anxieties and fears are most often completely unfounded. But they have a growing nature. Gradually, anxiety and panic take over the personality, and occupy all his thoughts.

Spatial fear has pronounced symptoms, both somatic and cognitive.

Scientists have found that 80% of the population is susceptible to fear of space. But for some it is a slight anxiety on a subconscious level, while for others it takes on a psychopathic nature and develops into a phobia.

Situational (Specific) phobias

This is usually a fear of certain objects or situations.

Specific phobias usually consist of specific panic triggers, such as spiders, snakes, mice, riding in elevators, or flying in airplanes. These fears develop in childhood and, as a rule, go away with age (fear of the dark, for example).

If the fear continues adult life person, then treatment will be the only solution to get rid of the phobia. These fears can prevent a person from living a normal life, depending on how often the person encounters the source of their phobia.

Group “Obsessive fear” - fear of different spaces and movements in it

This group includes:

• - fear of confined spaces. Psychopathological syndrome associated with panic at the thought of imprisonment within four walls. Often found in prisoners, miners, people who survived house collapses and imprisonment under rubble. A fairly common phobia. Occurs in the female population up to 25% and in the male population up to 15%.
• Agoraphobia - fear of open spaces. In severe cases, the individual cannot work and live independently; he voluntarily locks himself in the apartment as if in a cage and does not leave there. If you still have to go out, it causes severe panic attacks. It may appear after an attack by robbers on the street, an accident, or rape.
• Gypsophobia is an obsessive horror of heights and depths. The normal state of a person is that you can fall, and in the depths you can drown. But there is a huge difference between apprehension and pathological anxiety. In severe cases, it is not even possible to go up to the second floor; a severe panic attack begins. It appears in people who have drowned, who have fallen into an air pocket on an airplane, or who have fallen from a tall tree.
• Amaxophobia is the fear of traveling on public transport. It appears in people who have been in an accident, feel unwell on a crowded bus, etc. It manifests itself as a panic attack even at the thought of having to get into a vehicle. Such people move exclusively on foot.

Social phobias

Fears that relate to other people or social situations are characterized by anxiety, fear of shame, or feelings of humiliation from being watched by others.

An example of such phobias is, for example, giving a public speech (for two or more listeners), and even intimate intimacy.

People with such phobias tend to try to avoid situations that they internally fear.

Group of social phobias - anxieties associated with being in the company of other people

Social phobias are very common. A happy person is self-sufficient. He doesn't need to prove anything to anyone.

Sociopaths cannot achieve harmony with the world around them precisely because of the lack of harmony with society. Uncontrollable anxiety attacks caused by the company of people are obsessive in nature.

Primary social phobia is a fear of human society, and secondary it is a fear of actions in society; the individual is afraid to take an action and cause a negative assessment from others.

The most common types of social phobias:

• Erythrophobia – fear of blushing in front of people. When the disease is severe, a person stops going out because there are people everywhere, and blushing becomes the worst nightmare.
• Demophobia is the fear of crowds of people. Everyone lives in society and crowds of people on the street, especially during rush hour, are a common occurrence. But for some people this does not cause any emotions, while for others it causes anxiety, which can develop into a phobia.
• . A phobia is caused by the fear of being held accountable for one's actions. When doing any work, he begins to panic that he won’t succeed. In severe cases, you may become unable to work.
• Inability to end a relationship. It's like a suitcase without a handle, it's hard to carry, and even worse to get rid of. People tolerate everything so as not to break off relationships, this is not healthy relationships. Doctors classify them as phobias.
• Fear of performing an action in the presence of strangers. Often the roots come from childhood, when the child was often told that he was a loser and that nothing would work out for him. By cultivating these words in the head, a paranoid phobia can develop and a person performs any actions only when left alone.
• Inability to meet people in a crowded place. Often found among people, in dreams a person is already drinking coffee with a stranger, but in fact he cannot even bring himself to get up from his chair.
• Autophobia – fear of loneliness. All people are afraid of being alone, but within reason. People suffering from autophobia cannot tolerate even a moment of loneliness. Such a phobia can develop due to betrayal, due to confinement in a solitary cell, etc.
• Fear of exams. The scourge of modern society, the student’s psyche blocks all external stimuli because... can't handle the load. As a result, a block and the word exam are placed in your head, and preparation causes real horror.
• Fear of hiccups or vomiting in public. It develops when this happened to him, or he witnessed it; if society reacts with laughter, then a phobia may develop and the person will stop going out to crowded places.
• Demophobia is the fear of large crowds of people. In a crowd, people develop a panic attack and find it difficult to breathe. It can happen during a stampede in the subway or riots on the street.
• Kairophobia is a fear caused by unfamiliar places. An individual cannot bring himself to be and even think about his location in an unfamiliar space.
• Rhabdophobia is the fear of punishment. Develops from childhood, it seems to a person that for any of his actions he will be punished. In this case, he is afraid to even begin any action.
• Peniaphobia is the fear of poverty. Even if a person lives in a wealthy situation, but once he had an episode of lack of money, paranoia of poverty may develop.

The group also has some rather strange phobias:

• Allodoxophobia is the fear of other people's opinions. Most likely, it develops when someone else's opinion at some point humiliated or insulted a person so much that a phobia developed.
• Iremophobia is the fear of silence. The patient cannot be in silence for even a minute.
• Bromohydrophobia is the fear of one's own sweat. A person is afraid to sweat in public and the further the disease progresses, the less he appears in public places because of his horror.
• Atazagoraphobia is the fear of being forgotten. Typical for older people. Elderly people experience paranoid fears. Loneliness seems like their worst nightmare.
• Gerontophobia is the fear of old people and the fear of growing old. This is also typical for older people. They are afraid to see old people (they symbolize their own aging).
• Kleptophobia – fear of thieves. Usually those who suffer are those who have already been robbed. Or watched it.

Group of nosophobias - obsessive fears of getting sick or getting dirty

Worrying about health is natural for every person, but when it turns into absurdity, a phobia begins. Man is afraid of everything and everyone. For the object of fear, severe diseases are chosen that are difficult to treat and often lead to death.

In all manifestations of nosophobia, people are crazy afraid of getting one of the diseases. In rare cases, several:

• . It is considered one of the most terrible.
• Cardiophobia is the fear of heart disease. A person constantly looks for symptoms and tries to be treated.
• Heart attack phobia is the fear of a heart attack or stroke. With any slight tingling on the left side, a person panics and believes that he is having a heart attack.
• Lyssophobia is the fear of going crazy.
• Syphilophobia is the fear of contracting syphilis.
• Cancerophobia is the fear of getting cancer.

A group of obsessive-compulsive fears - fear of harming yourself or loved ones

Constantly arising disturbing thoughts, images, behavioral changes. A person may be afraid of outbursts of anger to which he is subject.

With such mental disorders, it is difficult for a person to live in society; it takes most of his time to control his thoughts.

• Fear of suicide. Depressed individuals who often think about suicide begin to fear themselves - realizing that they can do something irreparable.
• Fear of killing or harming family and friends. A person who has experienced a murder or personal injury that he has observed may begin to fear a repeat of the situation.
• – fear of pollution. A person suffering from this phobia is pathologically afraid of touching objects and other people. Intrusive thoughts They are scared about contracting a terrible disease or contaminating themselves.

A group of “contrasting” fears - fear of committing an act that contradicts moral and ethical standards

• Patients exhibit a critical attitude towards themselves and their neuroses. Most often, the patient understands the groundlessness of his fears, but cannot do anything about himself.

“Contrasting” fears are completely groundless and unfounded:

• Fear of swearing in public. It can develop in a person who grew up in a family where everyone swore. And he is so unpleasant to hear this that he vows to never use obscene language. But he is afraid that these words will come out against his will.

Phobophobia group - a person is afraid of all phobias

There are more than 500 types of human fears and phobias.

No one will ever be able to say exactly how a person’s psyche will behave in a certain situation if he has a panicky fear of someone or something.

Exist different types human phobias. Pathological fears can develop in relation to absolutely any object or phenomenon, since everything depends on the circumstances in which a person became acquainted with this phenomenon or object. What are phobias and fears, and which of them are the most common? Here is a list of the most common ones with an explanation.

List of phobias

The list of phobias can be quite large, since a person’s phobias depend not only on his perception, but even on his nationality.

Here is a list of the most common human phobias with further explanations:

• Ablutophobia is the fear of swimming.
• Agoraphobia is the fear of open spaces.
• Claustrophobia is the fear of closed spaces.
• Acrophobia – fear of heights.
• Algophobia – fear of pain.
• Androphobia is the fear of men.
• Autophobia – fear of loneliness.
• Verminophobia is the fear of germs.
• Hemophobia is the fear of the sight of blood.
• Gynophobia is the fear of women.
• Glossophobia is stage fright.
• Zoophobia is the fear of animals.
• Cynophobia – fear of dogs.
• Xenophobia is the fear of strangers.
• Trypophobia – fear of holes.
• Iatrophobia is the fear of doctors.
• Pedophobia is the fear of children.
• Musophobia is the fear of mice.

The types of fears people have can be continued endlessly, but these are the most common types. Let's look at all these types of fear in more detail.

This specific phobia develops in a person from childhood. It lies in the fact that he is afraid to bathe, wash things, clean something, or wash himself. Also called fear of bathrooms and latrines, which is more common among women and children. The treatment prescribed is the same as for other types of fears.

Agoraphobia

The second on the list, agoraphobia, complements the common fears in the world. This is a fear of open space and open doors, markets, squares. It is due to the fact that in a large space there are many people who can demand something and threaten life.

When crossing a square or market unaccompanied, a person is in fear of being killed, robbed, or attracted to some unpleasant activity.

Claustrophobia

When discussing the most common fears that exist today, one cannot fail to mention claustrophobia. The meaning of this fear is a panicky, unconscious avoidance of any closed doors, rooms, buildings, elevators, garages and other premises.

A variation of this phobia is the fear of being left alone with oneself in a closed space, of dying without access to oxygen and water, being closed somewhere from the outside.

Acrophobia

A common phobia in both sexes. This phobia most often affects people with certain vascular pathologies, but a specific connection between these phenomena has not been established.

At high altitudes, a person becomes nauseous, and in rare cases, a panic attack ends in vomiting. Despite the fact that slight dizziness is considered a normal condition at altitude, acrophobes experience severe physical and psycho-emotional discomfort.

Algophobia

There are varieties of this fear, which consists of pathological intolerance to pain and even thoughts about it. In this case, there is no connection with the pain threshold, but algophobes are afraid of even the possibility of being hurt.

This fear has another name - alginophobia. Varieties of this condition may include fear of people who, for one reason or another, cause pain, for example, surgeons or dentists.

Androphobia

Androphobia can be called a common phenomenon, since the number of women who are afraid of men is steadily growing every year. Some of them even tear existing marriages no comments.

The sources of this fear are experiences from childhood. For example, a girl was beaten by her older brother as a child, or she saw her father beating her mother. Women suffering from this fear refuse long-term relationships and any sexual, emotional and even partner contacts with men.

Sometimes the meanings of this phobia change, and it is perceived as the fear of a killer - a formed media character, a maniac or a murderer who can lead a normal life, but hide the murders of people. This influence of fictional characters leads to the fact that women themselves look for different reasons to think of a person as a murderer or rapist.

Autophobia

This pathology occurs more often in older people, although a phobia can be encountered in a person of any age. With such fear, a person is afraid of being left alone, therefore he avoids various types of closed rooms in which he needs to be alone, and tries to spend more time with family and friends.

Physically, a person who is afraid to be alone experiences heavy heartbeat and difficulty breathing. The most severe form occurs when they ask someone to spend the night in the house, stay in a room, or call loved ones at night so as not to be left alone with themselves.

Verminophobia

Verminophobia is the fear of infection by germs and viruses. This pathology cannot be called the rarest; in fact, it is one of the ten most common phobias of all. The meaning of fear is that a person avoids any contact with surfaces that have not been previously cleaned.

In this form, a pure phobia manifests itself, but its variety also implies a fear of communicating with people, including small children, since at their age they suffer from various diseases. infectious diseases. It seems to a person that from any touch he will certainly become infected and die.

Hemophobia

Uncontrollable, most obsessive fear of the sight of blood. A person experiences real sacred horror when he sees blood—either his own or someone else’s. As a result of such fear, even the usual donation of blood from a finger, much less from a vein, becomes very difficult.

Previously, it was believed that such phobias were caused by fear of bleeding or a hereditary factor. Today they say with confidence that a rare disease associated with fear is hereditary.

Gynophobia

Gynophobia refers to the fear of women, girls, and even little girls. Some gynophobes become even more afraid if the girl is pregnant. As in the case of androphobes, gynophobes can break off marriages and leave families, limiting themselves to only short comments and not being aware of their phobia.

Men suffer from this condition much more often than women. Fear is characterized by a state of panic, avoidance of female company and pathological fear even of female colleagues.

Glossophobia

Another common phenomenon on the list is stage fright and public speaking. The name of this phobia may also sound like logophobia - that is, fear of speaking in public.

It seems to the speaker that among all the human thoughts of the audience, only the most negative ones are directed at him, as well as ridicule, mockery and dirty discussions. With this type of human stage fright, you feel trembling in the body, chills, heat, your legs give way, your eyes darken and your mouth dries out.

Zoophobia

Zoophobia is the fear of absolutely all animals. This concept is supported by other phobias and types of fears, for example, musophobia, in which they experience fear of mice. And although people who are afraid of mice stand out in a separate category, zoophobia includes them too.

A similar fear is caused not only by mice, but by dogs, cats, and poultry, although there is a separate category of phobias for birds.

Kinophobia

As a continuation of the previous phobia, the fear of dogs is called cynophobia. It seems to a person that absolutely all dogs are aggressive, that they are rabid, and will certainly bite him and infect him, or bite him to death.

What such a person fears most is street dogs. But fear also extends to those at home, even if they are on a leash or muzzled - the imagination still pictures sophisticated ways in which a dog can kill a kinophobe.

Xenophobia

This concept echoes the hatred of everything foreign, alien and unfamiliar, but if we consider a xenophobe on a psychological plane, then this fear causes a number of unpleasant mental symptoms.

In particular, everything that is foreign seems dangerous, and even when seeing a new employee at work, a xenophobe will definitely assume that the new guy is a thief or even a murderer and should be avoided. In this state, there is severe arrhythmia, sweating, a feeling of heat and flushing to the face.

Trypophobia

Trypophobes are truly terrified of anything that has many holes. The imagination of a trypophobe pictures insects, worms, cockroaches and other living creatures living and swarming in these holes.

This phobia overlaps with other fears, such as insects or worms. Even the presence of voids in some objects makes a trypophobe seriously nervous. Trypophobia physically leads to increased blood pressure, the release of adrenaline and tremors of the limbs, the desire to run away from a scary object.

Jatrophobia

Children are often considered jatrophobes, although anyone can suffer from this fear, it is widespread. Jatrophobes include adult men, women, children, and the elderly.

Jatrophobia consists of a panicky fear of going to the doctor, and it does not matter at all what qualification the specialist is. Jatrophobe inevitably decides that the doctor will tell him terrible news about his health, for example, that he is terminally ill. Either it will hurt him or harm him even more.

Fears of death, pain and blood echo here. Panic is also caused by hospital buildings, laboratories, or simply people in white coats. This form is also difficult because it is impossible to send a person to see a psychotherapist to treat it.

Treatment is carried out remotely, with relatives participating. It is also important that a person wants to get rid of this fear. A thorough self-analysis is carried out. Most likely, in childhood the child was not explained that they were going to the doctor for vaccination, why this procedure was needed, and directly during the vaccination, the child, who did not expect pain, was traumatized for life.

Pedophobia

This phobia covers several obsessive states of panic and fear. Pedophobia is the fear of a child, as well as his birth and even a pregnant woman. Pedophobes are outraged by the very fact of the origin of life in another person.

In addition, schoolchildren and preschool age cause no less horror among pedophobes. It seems to them that the child is capable of causing irreparable harm to them, mutilating them, hitting them, simply because the child does not understand the seriousness and is not responsible for his actions.

At appointments with psychotherapists, pedophobes with a serious history of the disease tell whole stories about how children kill a person and go unpunished because they do not bear full responsibility. These stories, of course, are invented by the brain of a pedophobe, but even in his children he will see traitors, ungrateful people, thieves, if the situation is not corrected.

Conclusion

The list of phobias can be continued endlessly, as there are more and more of them every day. The reason for this is the improper upbringing of children, who in adulthood suffer from instilled fears. Less common causes are heredity and life factors. Otherwise, phobias are eliminated practical courses with a psychotherapist and only with the strong personal desire of the patient.

Every living person is afraid of something. Fear or phobia is a negative emotional experience associated with a threat to a person's physical or emotional existence. And if fear is based on real danger, then phobias are unfounded and directed at the source of an imaginary danger. What is the fear of people called? At the moment, psychologists distinguish over a hundred phobias; they can last for years and intensify, gradually destroying the human psyche. One of the social forms is anthropophobia - fear of people. Is this dangerous for humans? What is the cause of this mental disorder, what are the symptoms and methods of treatment?

Manifestations of anthropophobia

Individuals may show distrust of people and avoid their company due to some negative experience in the past. This phenomenon is common psychological alertness. Where then is the line when fear and mistrust cease to be normal phenomena and turn into a phobia? This happens when fear of something completely takes over a person and begins to control his actions. Fear of people (anthropophobia) can be expressed in various manifestations. People suffering from this phobia find it difficult to communicate with others, to be the center of attention, and it is very difficult for them to start a family. Neuroses are not the worst thing that can happen. This disorder of the nervous system provokes a person to lead a closed or even reclusive lifestyle, as a result of which he becomes antisocial. And this can lead to the fact that he will not be able to even ask for help, because it becomes more and more difficult to come into contact with other people.

Reasons for being afraid of people

Doctors and psychologists have still not come to a consensus on what exactly provokes people’s fear. The main reasons for the onset of phobias lie in early childhood. The non-standard methods used by some parents to raise a child or the requirement of complete submission from him can serve as a seed factor for the emergence of unreasonable fears in the future. Cases have been recorded where the patient does not remember the cruel treatment at all, but the fear remains at the subconscious level, and the fear of people (phobia) is a defensive reaction developed by the body.

Overly shy people who are constantly worried about how others treat them are more susceptible to developing social phobias than others. Despite the fact that unreasonable fear of something originates in childhood, to aggravate it, some kind of trigger is needed. It could be a problem at work, depression, stress, sexual assault or a street attack. As a result of experiencing psychological trauma, a person loses trust in a certain group of people or in society as a whole.

Symptoms of anthropophobia

The main symptom of anthropophobia is fear of people. In advanced cases, exams, large gatherings of people, and public speaking can cause trembling throughout the body, shortness of breath, panic, nausea or numbness, as well as an irresistible desire to quickly hide from prying eyes.

What might anthropophobia include?

The disease manifests itself in various ways, it can be a fear of crowds of people, touching, looking, communicating with the opposite sex, drunk, red-haired, bald, fat people or fear of looking people in the eyes. And this is not a complete list.

How to escape from the grip of panic fear?

Knowing what a phobia is called (fear of people is the main symptom) and the main symptoms, you need to know how to deal with it. Sometimes you can get rid of phobias even on your own, but first it is important to determine the cause of the fear. It is important to seek the help of a psychotherapist in a timely manner. It is often difficult for a person to understand what is happening to him; even a doctor can sometimes make a mistake and make an incorrect diagnosis. It happens that people suffering from various phobias are diagnosed with vegetative-vascular dystonia and prescribed various sedatives. This helps for a short time, but over time the symptoms return, the person thinks that nothing will help him and withdraws even more into his problem. Further difficulties accumulate like a snowball, fears arise one after another.

The point is that simply medicinal treatment of symptoms is not enough. If you have fears, neuroses and phobias, you need to radically change your behavior. Classical hypnosis will help with this, which will free the patient from internal associations that manifested and maintained obsessive fear in him.

Simple ways to get rid of a phobia

There is no need to be left alone with negative emotions and constantly focus your attention on them. Everyone, even the most timid and constrained person, will definitely find that field of activity where he feels confident, that person with whom everything works out easily, calmly, and next to whom the fear of people subsides and makes itself felt less. You just shouldn’t strive for complete calm in any situation. A little excitement and alertness are necessary for any activity.

Play sports. Excess adrenaline can be burned off by vigorous physical exercise.

Inactivity often contributes to the emergence of fears. If you have nothing to do, you lie on the bed alone with your own thoughts and start to worry about something, your imagination will paint pictures one worse than the other. Don’t allow yourself to be idle, constantly do something you love, something interesting - and you definitely won’t be afraid. Remembering the words of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, who said that action not only saves from death, but also from weaknesses and fear, we understand that this is so.

The term "anthropophobia" comes from two words: anthropos - "man" and phobos - "fear" (translated from Greek). In other words, it translates as "fear of people."

What is the difference between anthropophobia and social phobia? The difference is that with social phobia a person is only afraid of large crowds of people, while with anthropophobia the fear arises of any people or society as a whole. A person suffering from this phobia is convinced that being in the company of people can significantly deteriorate his health.

According to the results of various tests that determine the presence of a phobia in a person, it turned out that the first place among mental disorders is occupied by agraphobia (uncontrollable fear of sexual harassment), the second place is by aichmophobia (fear of sharp objects) and the third place is occupied by anthropophobia (28.9% of subjects).

What to do if you suddenly have an attack of obsessive fear?

If a person has a panicky fear of strangers, and suddenly he is overtaken by an attack of acute uncontrollable fear, what should he do? Psychologists say that it is important to learn to control your breathing. During a panic attack, you should try to breathe slowly, do not take deep breaths, and hold your breath after each exhalation. You need to do this until the rhythm returns to normal. In a healthy person, the breathing rate is from 8 to 16 breaths per minute. After these actions, fear will gradually begin to subside. Learn relaxation techniques, which will also help you calm down.

The main thing is that if you or your loved ones have a phobia, you need to immediately contact a specialist.

A persistent fear that a person cannot control is called a phobia. If you list all the fears in the world, it would take more than one page. The most famous human phobias: fear of closed spaces, heights, panic reluctance to fly on airplanes. There are also unusual phobias in people. Whatever fear is, it makes life very difficult.

People can be susceptible to many phobias

Definition of concepts

Few people in the world can boast that they have no fear. The main fears of a person: fear for life, concern for family members, anxiety associated with social crises. If negative feelings appear from time to time and do not become intrusive, do not rush to state that you have phobias or list a list of “diseases.”

In order for a person to understand the difference between fear and phobia, the differences between these concepts are presented below.

1. Fear arises situationally and may not recur. The phobia keeps you “captive” constantly.
2. Spontaneous concerns objects, animals or people, life-threatening patient. A phobia is irrational and sometimes cannot be explained logically. Along with people who are afraid of fire, people are no less worried about the most absurd fears. There are many interesting phobias that can make a skeptic laugh. Examples of such fears are fear of butterflies and panic at the sight of buttons.
3. Cowardice tends to recede when the cause that caused it goes away. The barking stray dog ​​has fallen behind, and you are no longer afraid of it. But if a person has developed a fear of high ceilings (it is called spaceophobia) due to an isolated incident when something fell from the ceiling, then the patient has become a victim of a phobia.

Cowardice and timidity should also not be confused with phobia. Cowardly people may be afraid of “a little bit of everything,” and a patient overcome by a fear of frogs can survive a house fire without panic.

Symptoms

It is worth understanding the differences between fear, anxiety, anxiety and panic. Anxiety is not related to anything specific. “Uneasy at heart” - this is how this feeling can be explained. Anxiety accompanies a person at certain moments in life (at night, when visiting gloomy houses). Once in conditions that are comfortable for him, a person calms down. But if the patient has a fear of rain, he will not forget about his fear. Moreover, seeing rain on TV, the patient will feel a panic attack.

The phobia can provoke panic attacks in the patient

Fear can manifest itself in different ways, the forms of its expression “vary” from minor fear to a nervous cough, nausea, and fainting. Suggestible people sometimes pick up phobias from relatives. The patient, without having a negative experience, may experience panic about botulism. His mother, who had seen her childhood friend die before her eyes, was afraid of botulinum wound poisoning. The shock was deeply ingrained in the woman’s memory, and she “infected” her son with her emotional stories.

There are a huge number of types of fear in psychology - more than 1000. Some of them hardly bother people. The most terrible phobias for physical health and mental well-being of the individual - panic before eating, fear of time, fear of falling asleep.

Main varieties

It would take a very long time to list all the fears in the world, but it is necessary to provide basic information about the types of panic attacks. Types of phobias:

• fears for health, various fears associated with space (limited or too wide);
• phobias of natural phenomena, panic fear of animals;
• fear of plants: fear of tall trees brings significant discomfort to people;
• phobias based on intimacy, childhood and teenage types of panic;
• food and drug phobias;
• panic moods, which are based on rejection of strangers and familiar people, fear of communication;
• rejection of a certain part of the body of other people (noses, large chins): it is worth recognizing that these are quite rare phobias;
• mystical fears;
• the strangest phobias in the world, such atypical fears include panic fear before the Pope, painful rejection of the number 13.

A complete classification of phobias is available in psychology textbooks.

Frequent fears

Even a politician or pop star can admit that he is tormented by a phobia; the world knows many types of phobias. A person who is overly afraid of one particular phenomenon can show enviable courage where others would panic.

If you have a fear of water or dark rooms, whether to see a psychologist or not is your choice. Whether to call fear of this or that phenomenon, as in science, is also a purely personal matter for everyone. Psychology knows a person’s fears, the list of them is quite long. Below we look at the list of phobias, the top 10.

1. Fear of closed spaces (claustrophobia).
2. Fear of the dark (nyctophobia).
3. Fear of heights (acrophobia).
4. Fear of poisoning or toxicophobia. Treatment for this obsessive-compulsive disorder It is complicated by the fact that a person stricken with fear does not trust medications and sees them as a source of danger.
5. Panic at the mere thought of flying on an airplane (aerophobia).
6. Morbid fear of death (thanatophobia).
7. Phobia of botulism.
8. Insectophobia (fear of insects). This type of fright has many varieties.
9. Fear of contracting a sexually transmitted disease.
10. Uncontrollable horror at the sight of dogs (cynophobia).

Claustrophobia - fear of enclosed spaces

Remembering the most popular fears, it is worth mentioning dental phobia - aversion to dentists and fear of contact with them. Fear and phobia of weapons is quite common. Seeing a gun or grenade in a museum or on television can cause a patient to feel nauseous, turn pale, and lose consciousness.

Health

Worry about your well-being, lead healthy image life is a sign of rational thinking. The same cannot be said about the painful horror of infections and diseases. Let's look at the five main health fears below.

1. Anxiety about malignant diseases. People whose close relatives have died of cancer fear that they will also develop a malignant tumor.
2. Fear of contracting AIDS. The main symptoms of speedophobia: excessive scrupulosity in intimate life, desire for frequent examinations, depressive reaction to any ailment.
3. Panic fear of botulism. Panic from botulinum toxin in people often arises due to negative experiences. If one of your friends or acquaintances has suffered from severe food poisoning, you may also be a victim of anxiety.
4. Fear of vegetables due to fear of poisoning (Lacanophobia). Treatment of food phobias should be comprehensive. In addition to conversations with a psychotherapist, the patient will need sedatives.
5. The ability to detect symptoms of syphilis (syphilophobia). Can a person who has not had sexually transmitted diseases have such anxieties? At this point, psychologists answer in the affirmative.

The most common phobias include fear of blood. This condition is called hemophobia. The patient reacts inappropriately when he accidentally cuts his finger and sees blood. If he happens to observe a bloody animal or person, he loses consciousness.

After reading the description of a person’s phobias, the list with explanations, you will understand how to deal with your anxieties.

Mystic

Fears associated with fantastic creatures (fairies, ghosts), mystical numbers and objects, as well as the unknown bring a lot of discomfort to people. Mystical fears (phobias), list:

• a person’s categorical rejection of the number 666, all due to the stereotype that this digital combination is the number of the devil;
• fear of ghosts: the nuisance is called phasmophobia - prejudices and painful fear associated with ghosts darken the lives of children and adults;
• fear of the number 13;
• fear of unfamiliar places;
• frightened by the mere thought of monsters.

Psychologists know what kind of phobias a person has. The name of a particular disease is sometimes difficult to pronounce without a special dictionary. There are rare types of human phobias, and there are also those that plague millions of people.

Fear of Friday the 13th

One of the varieties of panic is the fear of war (especially nuclear). This panic is called nucleomituphobia. With armed conflicts breaking out in many parts of the planet, everyone can think about the horrors of a possible nuclear war. But if you yourself have not participated in hostilities, and thoughts about nuclear weapons and the potential troubles they bring keep you in suspense, this indicates obsessive states.

Sounds and colors

Phobias of melodies and colors, list of the most common fears:

• excessive eye sensitivity to light (photophobia);
• fear of bright colors (fengophobia);
• erythrophobia (fear of the color red): usually fear at the sight of a hated color is an echo of a distant trauma that a person has suffered;
• painful aversion to whiteness (leukophobia);
• fear of the color green: foliage, objects - this pathology is called chlorophobia;
• fear of the color black (melanophobia): people with the disorder destroy things, experience panic and bouts of rapid breathing when they see black objects on the street or at a party;
• panic at the sight of the color yellow; there is also a phobia of the color blue.

Natural phenomena and animals

We will consider common phobias associated with flora and fauna, with natural phenomena in more detail.

1. Fear of rain. Men and women suffering from ombrophobia cannot, under any circumstances, go outside in rainy weather.
2. Mycophobia (categorical rejection of mushrooms, discomfort when looking at them). The origin of the phobia is associated with poisoning. Fear and panicky reluctance to get poisoned again force a person to literally avoid the aisles of the supermarket where mushrooms are sold by weight.
3. Cowardice at the sight of cats (felinophobia).
4. Wild fear at the sight of snakes (ophidiophobia).

Ophidiophobia - fear of snakes

Society

Many men and women are a source of danger in their environment. Some are afraid of old people, some of children. Each phobia has a set of characteristics. Social fears, types and specifics, as well as their manifestation, are an important section of psychology.

The metaphorical name “the curse of the loner” can be assigned to these four types of fear. 4 known anxieties associated with a person’s environment:

• social phobia: a patient whose character has an ingrained fear of social contacts will avoid crowded places and have difficulty communicating with friends;
• fear of disappointing others: this condition is known to science as scoptophobia - the treatment of pathology consists of talking with a psychologist and increasing the sense of self-worth;
• fear of foreigners, people of other religions (xenophobia);
• agoraphobia: fear of visiting crowded places.

Agoraphobia - fear of going out into crowded places

Remembering the types of fears, it is worth mentioning fear when giving gifts and when receiving presents (doraphobia). The listed reasons for the experiences are not the strangest and rarest human phobias. Doctors know more “exotic” variants of panic conditions.

Other disorders

Let's take a closer look at the most common fears among teenagers.

1. Atychiophobia. This is the fear of becoming a loser (loser).
2. Fear of being late (atelophobia). When unforeseen circumstances occur that force him to be late, the atelophobe becomes nervous and angry.
3. Philophobia (fear of falling in love). If parents often argue in front of their child, the student may develop an aversion to romantic relationships. Divorce of parents and long-term depression of the mother can also push a teenager into the arms of fears.

Sometimes boys and girls experience phronemophobia (fear of thinking). This disorder occurs as a reaction to authoritarian upbringing in the family. The forms of manifestation of fear can be different: from quiet fear to violent panic, tears and nervous coughing.

Unusual fears of mature people:

• adolescent rejection;
• atazogoraphobia (fear of forgetting something);
• olfactophobia (chronic fear of smells): such an ailment requires treatment, because against its background the patient may experience a serious mental disorder;
• melophobia (fear of music): a person with such a defect has a very difficult time in society;
• gerontophobia (fear of one’s own and others’ aging);
• fear that something bad will happen to your relatives or spouse - how to get rid of fear for your loved ones: a psychologist will tell you with confidence that conversations with a specialist and art therapy will help you overcome fear.

Absurd fears

Psychologists identify 8 of the strangest phobias.

1. Papyrophobia. This is the name of an uncontrollable fear of paper.
2. Morbid fear of mother-in-law (penteraphobia). A person who is alien to panic and suspiciousness will hardly believe it if you tell him what fears are. But when a man is so afraid of his mother-in-law that he feels dizzy at the mere thought of meeting her, unhealthy cowardice has become a drama for him.
3. Fear of beard. Scientifically, this problem is called pogonophobia. Fear of bearded men can occur in small child in connection with some stressful situation. Sometimes childhood fears do not let go of a person for many years.
4. Fear of trees (dendrophobia).
5. Fear of peanut butter (arachibutyrophobia). If a person who has an aversion to peanut butter sees it in a store or on TV, his heart rate will increase and his body will break out in a cold sweat.
6. Trichophobia. People with this disorder have severe fear long hair And short haircuts. It would seem, how can someone else’s curls threaten a patient? But people with trichophobia experience mental anguish at the sight of hair.
7. Fear of small, small things, objects (microphobia). Parents instill in their children a negative attitude towards buttons, puzzle pieces and other “little things”. An impressionable mother fears that her child will swallow a small object while playing. Her fear is transmitted to the child.
8. Peladophobia (intense horror at the sight of bald people). Just like the fear of hair, aversion to bald people can greatly ruin a patient’s life and hinder his successful socialization. You can see a bald man or a baby anywhere: on the street, on TV, in your own entrance.

Speaking about the most unusual phobias, it is worth remembering chrematophobia (panic fear at the sight of money) and phobia of showing your underwear (the designation for this pathological condition has not yet been invented). The name of the longest phobia is “hippopotomonstrosesquipedalophobia.” This is how the fear of long words is deciphered.

Funny experiences

Having studied the information about all the phobias in the world (the list of them is really impressive), we can conclude: a person is not always afraid of what can harm. If the fear of spiders, snakes and high stairs can be somehow interpreted, then the fear at the sight of buttons or flowers is difficult to explain.

The funniest phobias:

• aurophobia (the so-called fear of gold);
• dextrophobia (fear of things to the patient’s right);
• punctumophobia (fear of receiving a message with a period at the end);
• fear of stupid people: science has not yet given a name to this type of panic.

The vocabulary of phobias is impressive and thought-provoking. It is worth understanding that for the patient his own fear cannot be funny or trivial. If you are surprised that someone you know is afraid of tall people, you should not laugh at the person. The patient probably experienced a shock in childhood or adolescence associated with a tall man or woman.

Serious phobias

Men and women who have specific phobias (fear of cockroaches) manage to hide their anxieties from others for the time being. If a person has a fear of food, such a pathology can seriously undermine his health and alienate his acquaintances and friends.

Fear of time is also destructive. This pathological condition is known in the world of science as chronophobia. A person worries that his time is running out. The patient is afraid of the future and is not happy about the present. Mostly people have a hidden fear of time. “Be afraid of being afraid of what you can’t get away from” - this is what a philosopher might advise, and a psychotherapist will help you get rid of obsessive experiences during sessions.

Group art therapy sessions

To reduce anxiety, it is important to identify the reason why the passage of time is so terrifying. Maybe you regret missed opportunities or worry that loneliness awaits you in old age. It is worth understanding that no one can stop time, but people can make life more meaningful.

Liberation from pathology

Specific phobias do not always require treatment. If the likelihood of meeting the Pope or seeing a gnome is negligible, the patient can hide his worries from others, drive away thoughts about the source of fear. But, if the patient has a fear of time that has developed into depression, the person needs psychotherapy sessions and special medications.

Children's fears are easier to treat than persistent phobias of adults. Parents often ask what to do if their child has phasmophobia, how to get rid of obsessive fear. It is possible that the child watched a movie about monsters and ghosts and now feels frightened when entering an unfamiliar room or a dark corridor. A boy can stop being afraid of ghosts if his mom and dad patiently and tactfully explain to him that such “monsters” do not exist. Humor helps you get rid of fear. By drawing a funny ghost and writing a couple of jokes about it, the child will get rid of painful experiences.

The main fears of childhood are being abandoned and forgotten. Other types of fears are generated by “basic” fears.

Fear of food (plant or animal origin) can be a real curse for a person. The patient, avoiding cottage cheese or meat that he hates, is afraid to even touch those foods next to which the “enemy” lay. To prevent a person from developing nervous disorders, psychotherapists sometimes use the method of hypnosis.

Many patients suffer from osmophobia (fear of smells). “How to get rid of it if everything around you stinks and irritates you – people, animals,” the patient complains. The following methods will help you free yourself from painful fear:

• cognitive psychotherapy;
• method of systematic desensitization: the essence is to gradually reduce a person’s sensitivity to “aggressors” (unloved odors).

If the patient has a fear of making decisions (decidophobia), treatment will consist of talking with a psychologist and strengthening self-esteem. To develop willpower and fight panic, you can enroll in yoga courses, take up an old hobby that you have abandoned (drawing, clay modeling).

Conclusion

If 100 years ago all the fears of the world could be expressed in 30–40 points, today there are about 1030 of them. The main forms of fear: fear for one’s life, fear of animals, insects and plants, fears of social origin, uncontrollable fear of natural phenomena , fear of global disasters. The main signs of fear: rapid heartbeat, cold sweat, intermittent breathing, nausea. In some patients, a panic attack is accompanied by vomiting and loss of consciousness. The strangest phobias: fear of hell, fear of dolls and mannequins, panic at the sight of butterflies.

By studying common types of phobias and a list with explanations, you can understand whether you or your relatives have similar disorders. Don't beat yourself up if you find out that you have various fears that you can't control. You can get rid of panic by visiting a psychologist. A specialist will help determine the cause of a particular unhealthy condition. The method of “immersion in the situation” helps well, when the patient allows himself to experience all the negative emotions associated with the source of panic. And then a person needs to let go of his fear. Sometimes this takes a lot of time. To be a slave to fear is the worst kind of slavery. Whatever the reason for the fear, you should not get used to the obsessive state.

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website collected 25 of the strangest human phobias, many of which can actually be a serious disorder and cause big problems for a person.

• Acribophobia- obsessive fear of not understanding the meaning of what you read.

Sometimes it can become a sign of schizophrenia (when patients complain that the phrase breaks up into words and individual syllables).

• Hexakosioyhexekontahexaphobia- fear of the number 666.

An attack of this disease was shown in the episode "The Honking" of the animated series Futurama. Then Bender was afraid of the reflection in the mirror of the reflected symbols “0101100101” (666 in the binary number system).

There are several known cases where transport route numbers were changed to a different number to avoid it.

• Hippopotomonstrosesquipedalophobia- speaks for itself - fear of long words.

• Gnosiophobia (epistemophobia) - fear of gaining knowledge.

It is logical that 70% of people suffering from this phobia are residents of megalopolises and large cities. This phobia was also found in “Mowgli children” who grew up outside of human society.

• Hydrosophobia- fear of sweating and catching a cold or fear of becoming a source of unpleasant odor.

Those suffering from this phobia may envy birds - they do not have sweat glands, just as rabbits and pigs do not secrete sweat.

• Dextrophobia- fear of objects located to the right of the patient.

The roots of the disease apparently go back to childhood - when a person was accustomed to expecting danger on the right.

• Dorophobia- fear of receiving or giving gifts.

• Kumpunophobia- fear of buttons.

1 person out of 75,000 suffers from this phobia, we do not recommend watching for such people cartoon“Coraline in the Land of Nightmares” - for them it will be a real nightmare.

• Lacanophobia- fear of vegetables.

A person suffering from this disorder may experience nausea, dizziness and rapid breathing when they see vegetables. The smell is also unbearable. Some will not eat a product that has a vegetable next to it.

• Nephophobia- fear of clouds.

Over time, it can take other forms, and develop into a fear of fog or air.

• Omphalophobia- fear of belly buttons.

People suffering from this phobia are afraid of someone touching their belly button and are afraid of touching or looking at other people's belly buttons. This fear is often caused by the association of navels with the umbilical cord and the mother's womb. Sometimes omphalophobes are afraid to even think about belly buttons.

• Ombrophobia- fear of rain.

Fear can lead to a serious panic attack. It is believed that a fear of rain can develop for several reasons, including because children are often told not to go outside in the rain, adding that they may get sick. Additionally, rain is often associated with depression.

• Penteraphobia- fear of mother-in-law.

This may have been the reason for many jokes, but in reality it is a type of disorder where a person is simply unable to communicate with his mother-in-law (or mother-in-law).

• Pogonophobia- fear of beards.

Presenter Jeremy Paxman has accused the BBC of pogonophobia after he was criticized for appearing on Newsnight with a beard.

• Papaphobia- fear of the Pope.

Quite a rare occurrence. It is closely related to hierophobia (fear of clergy or religious objects). This fear usually arises as a result of trauma associated with the Pope.

• Trypophobia- fear of accumulation of holes.

People suffering from trypophobia are afraid of objects with many small holes - they are associated with danger. So far, this type of fear has not been included in the official list of phobias, although, according to some reports, thousands of people suffer from it.

Trypophobes are afraid of objects such as honeycombs, sponges, or plants that have many small holes. Symptoms of trypophobia can include nausea, itching and even panic attacks.

• Chairophobia- fear of laughing in an inappropriate environment (for example, at a funeral).

The mechanism of this fear is associated with a defensive reaction of the body, which can react strangely to a shocking situation and defend itself with a manifestation of joy.

• Chronophobia- fear of time.

A person is haunted by thoughts about time, anxious anticipation - “when will hour X come”, “it seems to me that this will never end”, and fear of the future, of the speed of the passage of time, thoughts in the style of “I didn’t have time (I won’t have time)” , “how much time do I still have” and so on.