The Root Of The Name For The Fear Of Long Words
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia is probably taken from the root word sesquipedalian, which means “long word.” Therefore, sesquipedalophobia is technically more correct.
But somewhere along the line, someone added references to the hippopotamus and monsters to make the word sound even more intimidating. How ironic that the name for the fear of long words is itself 35 letters long.
This phobia is highly personalized. Some people are afraid of long, multisyllabic words, while others have a fear of obscure words. Some fear even moderate-length common words.
Please Leave A Review About Thriveyard
Did you find ThriveYards resources helpful? We would like to hear from you. Reviews take just a couple of minutes to complete.
- What did you like about the article?
- How will it help you? or
- How did it help you? or How did it help others?
- Or give any other feedback/comments.
Please send your feedback by clicking on the link below:
Mysophobia: Fear Of Germs
The excessive fear of germs is a common anxiety disorder in America. The medical term for this phobia is mysophobia. Mysophobia may be related to obsessive-compulsive disorder and hypochondria. Symptoms include obsessive washing and fear of public spaces. In the television show Monk, actor Tony Shaloub played a detective with OCD and numerous phobias, including mysophobia.
You May Like: The Meaning Of Phobia
Normal Fears Vs Phobias Or Irrational Fears
It is normal and even helpful to experience fear in dangerous situations. Fear serves a protective purpose, activating the automatic fight-or-flight response. With our bodies and minds alert and ready for action, we are able to respond quickly and protect ourselves. But with phobias the threat is nonexistent or greatly exaggerated. For example, it is only natural to be afraid of a snarling Doberman, but it is irrational to be terrified of a friendly poodle on a leash, as you might be if you have a dog phobia.
| The difference between normal fear and a phobia | |
| Normal fear | Phobia |
| Feeling anxious when flying through turbulence or taking off during a storm | Not going to your best friends island wedding because youd have to fly there |
| Experiencing butterflies when peering down from the top of a skyscraper or climbing a tall ladder | Turning down a great job because its on the 10th floor of the office building |
| Getting nervous when you see a pit bull or a Rottweiler | Steering clear of the park because you might see a dog |
| Feeling a little queasy when getting a shot or when your blood is being drawn | Avoiding necessary medical treatments or doctors checkups because youre terrified of needles |
Agoraphobia: Fear Of Leaving Home
Fear of being alone outside your home, where escape and assistance might be difficult, is called agoraphobia. This phobia may involve fear of being on a bridge, a busy street, or in a crowded mall or elevator. People with agoraphobia may only be able to leave home with friends or a family member. In severe cases, they may not be able to leave home at all, feeling that it is the only safe place to be. This phobia usually starts around age 30 with severe panic attacks.
Read Also: Does Pristiq Help With Anxiety
Az List Of Some Of The More Common Phobias
While not comprehensive, this phobia list offers a glimpse of the many phobias that can have a serious impact on a person’s life. As you may notice while you browse through this list, most specific phobias fall into one of four major categories:
- Fears of the natural environment
- Fears related to animals
- Fear related to medical treatments or issues
- Fears related to specific situations
One important thing to remember is that virtually any object can become a fear object. The names of specific phobias are often formed as nonce words, or words coined for a single occasion only.
These names themselves are often formed by taking a Greek prefix that represents the fear object and adding the -phobia suffix. Because of this, any attempt at a completely exhaustive list of phobias would simply be an exercise in futility. Any list of phobias could grow with the addition of newly coined terms for previously unnamed specific phobias.
While listing all of the phobias that may exist is not possible, it can be helpful to look through a list of some of the more commonly described phobias. As you can see by looking at this list, almost any object or situation can become the source of fear.
Other Types Of Phobias
Many people dislike certain situations or objects, but to be a true phobia, the fear must interfere with daily life. Here are a few more of the most common ones:
Glossophobia: This is known as performance anxiety, or the fear of speaking in front of an audience. People with this phobia have severe physical symptoms when they even think about being in front of a group of people. < Glossophobia treatments can include either therapy or medication.
Acrophobia: This is the fear of heights. People with this phobia avoid mountains, bridges, or the higher floors of buildings. Symptoms include vertigo, dizziness, sweating, and feeling as if theyll pass out or lose consciousness.
Claustrophobia: This is a fear of enclosed or tight spaces. Severe claustrophobia can be especially disabling if it prevents you from riding in cars or elevators. < Learn more about claustrophobia, from additional symptoms to treatment options.
Aviophobia: This is also known as the fear of flying.
Dentophobia: Dentophobia is a fear of the dentist or dental procedures. This phobia generally develops after an unpleasant experience at a dentists office. It can be harmful if it prevents you from obtaining needed dental care.
Hemophobia: This is a phobia of blood or injury. A person with hemophobia may faint when they come in contact with their own blood or another persons blood.
Arachnophobia: This means fear of spiders.
Cynophobia: This is a fear of dogs.
Ophidiophobia: People with this phobia fear snakes.
Read Also: What Is A Depression On A Topographic Map
How Much Phobias Do You Have
- .:~*Meranii-San*~:.
- Job/hobbies : hanging out with friends, taking naps and watching animeRegistration date : 2008-05-05
- .:~*Meranii-San*~:.
- Job/hobbies : hanging out with friends, taking naps and watching animeRegistration date : 2008-05-05
- Job/hobbies : hanging out with friends, taking naps and watching animeRegistration date : 2008-05-05
- .:~*Meranii-San*~:.
- Job/hobbies : hanging out with friends, taking naps and watching animeRegistration date : 2008-05-05
by AeroPhoenix Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:27 pm
- Job/hobbies : Unemployed, story telling, song makingRegistration date : 2008-07-20
- Job/hobbies : hanging out with friends, taking naps and watching animeRegistration date : 2008-05-05
- Job/hobbies : hanging out with friends, taking naps and watching animeRegistration date : 2008-05-05
What Is Social Phobia
If you have social phobia, you will feel a sense of intense fear in social situations. You will often try to avoid them. You might worry about a social event before, during and after it has happened. It is also known as social anxiety or social anxiety disorder.
A lot of people find social situations difficult, or feel shy or awkward at certain times this is completely normal.
Social phobia however can completely overwhelm you. You might find it very difficult to engage in everyday activities such as:
- talking in groups
- speaking to authority figures, such as talking to doctors
- eating and drinking in front of others
- regular trips out, to the shops for example
- going to work.
“I have suffered from phobias since I was three years old and couldn’t cope with the social demands of a playgroup. I then went on to suffer from School Phobia right through to my teens, then various phobias surrounding college and work, which led to me becoming unemployed, isolated, agoraphobic and severely depressed.”
You might worry about these social situations because you fear that others will judge you negatively. Or maybe you fear that you’ll offend others by something you say or do. You may also worry about others noticing that you are anxious.
Social phobia can hugely affect your everyday life. It might:
Lots of social phobia, but no friends
“When I walked through the door and was amongst other people, I couldn’t even open my eyes.”
You May Like: Pristiq For Social Anxiety
What Are The Symptoms Of Entomophobia
Unlike a fear or dislike of insects, a person with entomophobia has an irrational fear of them.
Adults with phobias often understand the irrationality of being afraid of something that poses no actual danger. Even still, the mere idea of being near an insect can bring on severe mental and physical symptoms, such as:
- immediate feelings of intense fear or anxiety when seeing or thinking about an insect
- anxiety that worsens as an insect comes closer
- inability to control the fears even though youre aware theyre unreasonable
- trouble functioning because of fear
- doing anything possible to avoid insects, such as avoiding parks, basements, or activities where they may be present
Entomophobia can also cause physical symptoms, such as:
A Response To Visual Characteristics
Some research suggests that the discomfort people feel has more to do with the visual characteristics of the patterns themselves.
One study published in Psychological Reports found that while people experience discomfort when viewing trypophobic patterns, these feelings were more related to the visual patterns themselves than to associations with dangerous animals. Such results call into question whether or not trypophobia is actually a phobia at all, or simply a natural response to certain types of visual stimuli.
Don’t Miss: Fear Of Spoons Phobia Name
What Are We Afraid Of
Illustration by Emily Roberts, Verywell
Phobias are surprisingly common, but what exactly do people fear the most? Are there any phobias that tend to be more common than others?
The following phobias are ten of the most common objects or situations that lead to marked fear and symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, and breathlessness. In some cases, these symptoms escalate into a full-blown panic attack.
Social phobia and agoraphobia are in their own category of anxiety disorders, where the remaining eight phobias are considered “specific phobias,” related to a particular object or situation.
These common phobias typically involve the environment, animals, fears of injections and blood, as well as certain other situations.
Associations With Dangerous Animals
Another theory suggests that clustered holes share a similar appearance to skin and coat patterns on some venomous animals. People may fear these patterns out of unconscious associations.
There is some research that supports this idea. A 2013 study looked at how people with trypophobia respond to certain stimuli in comparison to those without the condition. When viewing a honeycomb , people who don’t have trypophobia immediately think of things such as honey or bees.
The researchers believe that those with trypophobia non-consciously associated the sight of a honeycomb with dangerous organisms that share the same basic visual characteristics, such as rattlesnakes. While they are not consciously aware of this association, it may be what causes them to feel feelings of disgust or fear.
Recommended Reading: Pristiq Drug Interactions
Arachnophobia: Fear Of Spiders
It is not abnormal for a child to have a severe fear of certain animals such as snakes or spiders. These may be the object of childhood nightmares. But when an extreme fear of an animal persists into adulthood, it rarely goes away without treatment. Fear of animals is the most common type of specific phobia. If you saw the Hollywood film Arachnophobia, you know thats the name for the fear of spiders.
Surprising Facts About Phobias
The word phobia gets thrown around a lot in conversation, but how well do we really understand them, and the affect they have?
Far from being a silly fear, a genuine phobia can actually have a pretty big impact on someones life.
Specific phobias , arent actually that rare in fact 8% of Australians have one.
So, we decided to gather together some facts about the topic.
Also Check: Treating Schizoaffective Disorder Naturally
What Are The Complications Of Phobias
If not treated, a phobia can worsen to the point in which the person’s quality of life is seriously impaired, both by the phobia itself and/or by attempts to avoid or hide it. For example, a fear of flying can result in the sufferer being unable to travel. Some people have problems with their relationships, have failed in school, and/or been unable to maintain employment as the result of a severe phobia. While there may be periods of spontaneous improvement, a phobia does not usually go away unless the individual gets treatments that are specifically designed to address this condition. Alcoholics can be up to 10 times more likely to develop a phobia than nonalcoholics, and phobic individuals may be twice as likely to suffer from alcoholism or another addiction than those who have never been phobic. It has even been found that phobic anxiety can be life-threatening for some people, increasing the risk of suffering from heart disease in both men and women.
Social Phobia: Fear Of People
Fear of being embarrassed in front of other people is called social phobia. In mild cases it may be experienced as the common fear of public speaking, but for some people this fear may extend to something as simple as writing a check in front of another person or eating in public. Social phobias are also called social anxiety disorders and they affect about 15 million American adults, men and women equally.
Recommended Reading: Urgent Care For Panic Attack
Links To Other Disorders
Researchers have also found that people with trypophobia were more likely to experience symptoms of anxiety and depression. Symptoms of trypophobia were also found to be persistent, leading to functional impairments in daily living. The symptoms were most likely to meet the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for specific phobias rather than other conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder .
What Is Agoraphobia
Many people think that agoraphobia is a fear of open spaces, but it is more complex than this.
Agoraphobia is feeling anxious about being in places or situations:
- that could be difficult to get out of
- that could be embarrassing to get out of
- where you might not be able to get help if you have a panic attack.
You’re likely to experience high levels of anxiety about everyday situations. You may also try to avoid these situations.
Some examples include:
- being in a crowd of people
- travelling by car, bus or plane
- being in enclosed spaces, such as a lift or in a shop.
Having agoraphobia can have a serious impact on the way you live your life. Many people with agoraphobia find it hard to leave the place they live.
How does agoraphobia develop?
Agoraphobia can develop due to various reasons. One example is panic disorder, but not all people with agoraphobia have panic disorder.
Agoraphobia can sometimes develop after a panic attack. You may start to feel extremely anxious and worried about having another one. In turn, you may feel your symptoms returning each time you’re in a similar situation.
To manage your anxiety, you may start to avoid that particular place or situation. Avoiding particular situations may help in the short term. But this can affect the way you live your life and may make your phobia worse.
If you experience agoraphobia, it’s also common that you might:
- dislike being alone, or monophobia
- become anxious in small confined spaces, or claustrophobia.
Don’t Miss: Phobia Suffix Meaning
What Is A Phobia
Almost everyone has an irrational fear or twoof spiders, for example, or your annual dental checkup. For most people, these fears are minor. But when fears become so severe that they cause tremendous anxiety and interfere with your normal life, theyre called phobias.
A phobia is an intense fear of something that, in reality, poses little or no actual danger. Common phobias and fears include closed-in places, heights, highway driving, flying insects, snakes, and needles. However, you can develop phobias of virtually anything. While most phobias develop in childhood, they can also develop in later life.
If you have a phobia, you probably realize that your fear is irrational, yet you still cant control your feelings. Just thinking about the feared object or situation may make you anxious. And when youre actually exposed to the thing you fear, the terror is automatic and overwhelming. The experience is so nerve-wracking that you may go to great lengths to avoid itinconveniencing yourself or even changing your lifestyle. If you have claustrophobia, for example, you might turn down a lucrative job offer if you have to ride the elevator to get to the office. If you have a fear of heights, you might drive an extra 20 miles in order to avoid a tall bridge.
Barbaras fear of flying
Read: Back To Basics Anxiety 101
An individuals social anxiety may escalate in certain situations. For example, many experience the worst of their symptoms when they are the center of attention: say, theyre giving a presentation at the office or otherwise addressing a large group of people, all eyes on them.
Arachnophobia is another common fear, with as many as 1 in 4 men and 1 in 3 women suffering with it. Youre probably familiar with this fear, but in case you arent, arachnophobia is the fear of spiders. While its often triggered by actually seeing a spider, even thinking about spiders can bring on extreme fear and anxiety.
Scientists have long been dumbfounded by the widespread fear of spidersI mean, the majority of spiders arent poisonous or dangerous in any other sense. Yet, many of us lose our minds when we spot one nearby. A recent study concludes that this stress-reaction is deep-rooted, one we likely inherited from our ancestors who lived with and feared these creatures. You might be wondering why they feared these creatures. Its possible that spiders posed a greater threat to our ancestors who didnt yet have the ability to heal from spider bites or other injuries sustained from encounters with insects.
This phobia can cause its sufferers serious distress, both physically and mentally. Here are a few common symptoms:
- Rapid heartbeat
- Fear of dying
Read Also: What Makes Tequila A Stimulant