Good morning y’all! I hope you're prepared to be amazed. Have you ever imagined how difficult life would be if you got panic attacks every time you saw a button? Probably not. However, there are certain strange phobias many people don’t know about and I'd love to share with you today. While most people’s fears are easy to maintain, others have difficulties understanding or avoiding theirs. The common solutions to these strange phobias are usually therapy, followed by several sessions of controlled breathing, and visualizations, depending on the type and severity of the case. This is a list of the 20 most bizarre phobias you’ve probably never heard of.
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia: People who fear the number 666, the number of the beast, are known to have this phobia. It is derived from the Greek translation of the number itself. Many people prefer to not have the number 666 in their addresses, or make phone calls to numbers that have this sequence in them. For example, A family once changed their address to 668 from 666 when they moved into their new apartment in Los Angeles.
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia: This phobia is as hard to pronounce as it is to understand. It’s the fear of long words. There is a place in Thailand that has a hundred and sixty-three letters in its name. Traveling to this place will for sure be a disaster to those people who have this phobia, considering the number of times they will be asked where they’re at and they'd have to respond.
Gnosiophobia: This is the fear of knowledge, or better said, the influence of excessive knowledge. Knowledge is power and some people are afraid of being too “powerful”. You know how the application of knowledge brought about the invention of nuclear bombs and other weapons of destruction, right? Exactly. That is what they fear the most. Research shows that 70% of them usually live in large cities with a large number of companies and diverse sets of knowledge available to the general public.
Dextrophobia: This is the fear of objects at the right sight of the body. Have you ever seen someone who’s so cautious about the items they put at the right side of their desk? Exactly. I once had a roommate who was always rearranging her desk because she was so mindful of what gets to stay at the right-hand side. The people who suffer from this phobia also find it hard to move into the left side of the road if they see a car approaching them in the right lane.
Doraphobia: I’m 100% sure no one's afraid of Dora, right? Thankfully, that’s not what it means. This term is used to describe the fear of touching or feeling animal fur. Dogs, cats, foxes, and rabbits must be a horror for guys that fall into this category. This is usually linked to people who had disturbing stories relating to furred animals when they were much younger.
Koumpounophobia: This phobia is the fear of buttons. The people under this category try so hard to avoid clothes with buttons on them. The sight or mention of buttons can cause fear or anxiety in them and it’s interesting to note that 1 in 75,000 people have this phobia. Some kids choked on buttons when they were younger and try their best not to get close to people wearing buttons, such as at weddings, where people wear tuxedos. In extreme cases, some of them might even be afraid of writing down the word, “buttons”.
Lachanophobia: This is the fear of vegetables. People with this phobia cannot stand the sight or smell of vegetables near or around them. Some of them imagine that they could turn into caterpillars simply by eating vegetables, and as unbelievable as it might sound, it is actually very true, and in fact, common. So the next time you see a mother forcing her child to eat broccoli, be on the guard. I personally don’t like vegetables and I have encountered tons of people who have tried to convince me to eat them, but that has just never worked, so I guess I can relate to this one on a spiritual level… haha.
Nephophobia: This is the fear of clouds, both in real life and in pictures. This is usually related to traumatic events that occurred in connection to the clouds, such as losing a loved one who died in a plane crash, or something similar. The worst thing that could ever happen to people with this phobia is witnessing a thunderbolt, lightning strike, or any other thing associated with clouds.
Omphalophobia: This is the fear of belly buttons. You must be wondering what’s wrong with something as simple as belly buttons, but some other people would beg to differ. Some people believe that touching it could kill you, while others are just naturally afraid of it to the extent that they would cover it while having their baths just to make sure it's completely out of their sight. This bizarre fear has been found to be linked to stories revolving around birth since the belly button is the part of the baby attached to the mother while in the womb. In extreme cases, people have had surgeries to get theirs removed and stitched the hole created as a result.
Ombrophobia: This is the fear of rain. The thought of rain causes some people to experience panic attacks, especially when they’re alone. Their heartbeats become extremely fast and they often tremble at the thought of drowning in the rain. These kinds of people never miss the weather forecast because the worst thing that could ever happen to them is for the rain to start unexpectedly. This is slightly more common in places where flooding and storms have caused a lot of damages to lives and property.
Pentheraphobia: This is the fear of your mother-in-law. It’s usually taken as a subject of a joke, especially in Western regions of Africa, but some people actually have this serious genetic fear. I’m not sure what the justifiable reason for this would be, but I guess that’s why it made this list, it’s supposed to be strange and unreasonable.
Pogonophobia: This is the fear of beards, in most cases, men in beards. Some people were brought up to never trust men with beards, other than Santa Claus. A study once declared that women usually found men with beards more attractive but I really don’t know. Ladies, what do you think? Let me know down in the comment section… I’m asking for a friend :)
Papathophobia: When I was coming up with this list, I initially thought this was the fear of one’s father, since the word, “Papa” is usually related to a father. However, that would have been extremely surprising to me since most people value their fathers more than anything else. Shoutout to all the fathers out there! This, is in fact, the fear of a Pope or priest. Vatican City must be a place of panic for people who suffer from this phobia then.
Trypophobia: This immediately reminded me of Ethan Dolan :). It’s, simply put, the fear of hole clusters. Honeycombs, sweat pores, strawberries, and other things with clusters of tiny holes always frighten them. Surprisingly, I found out that they feel like the holes are staring at them. Quick disclaimer: I honestly advise that you don’t look up pictures of this online. They’re really disturbing, even for people without the phobia.
Chairophobia: You guessed wrong! It’s not the fear of chairs. But in fact, of laughing in an inappropriate situation. Like at a funeral. This is more like a way of your brain telling you when and when not to laugh. It’s pretty basic and I think it happens to everyone but I guess some people get overly tensed about it. There is also a variation to it that happens when people are completely afraid of getting happy because they believe that when they’re happy, something terrible is bound to ruin their happiness. This is really sad if you think about it though and I can’t even think of any good reason to back this up.
Chronophobia: This is the fear of time. Granted, time is one thing we’ll never fully understand but some people are just on a whole different level. They’re so focused on the flow of time that they almost never do anything with the time. Plus, research shows that old people and prisoners have been known to suffer from this the most. However, I know I get this phobia when I have a few more hours before I have to turn in an assignment… lol, because then I wouldn't even want to know what the time is.
Philophobia: This is the fear of falling in love. I asked someone about this and he said, "When I begin to notice that I'm falling in love, I feel tortured". According to HealthLine, most people experience this when they’re beginning to feel emotionally attached to someone for the first time. Hmmm.
Deipnophobia: Dining out with friends is something most people look forward to, however, not the people in this category. This is the fear of having dinner with people in public places. I never imagined that I’d write an article about how the simple thought of a banquet hall, glass jars, wines, and fancy buffets could be scary to some people.
Emojiphobia: This is the fear of being misunderstood after sending an emoji or sticker, resulting in severe miscommunication. I actually found out that the emoji of the cry-laughing face actually intimidates people a lot. This is, ironically, my default response to people, especially when they say something that’s supposed to be funny but I don’t get the joke. I might actually be scaring them! :(
Selfiephobia: This is the fear of bad selfies. I was so sure this was a joke until I found out it's a real and diagnosable condition. With the popularity of selfies these days, it’s pretty funny to find someone who fears taking pictures of themselves. Although it has not been verified by professionals, this term has been floating around the Internet and people have been coming out with their own versions of what they believe this actually means to them.
And now, we have successfully come to the end of this list... Hurray!!! I hope you liked it. If you learned anything new at all, leave a like, comment and don’t forget to share. See y’all next week and till then, Stay Positive!
Great work Divine *blush blush* I hope this gets big