Phobias

[Stav]

Does a phobia have to exist for there to be one? I found a website with a list of Phobias on it, and some of them are beyond bizarre! Allodoxaphobia- Fear of opinions? Arachibutyrophobia- Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth? Linonophobia- Fear of string? Are these real, or can anyone just make them up?

[xyzzyplugh]

Seen 2 tv progs about 2 separate cases of a fear of buttons. I know personally of a someone who has an ominous looming fear of coathangers.
It's not always e.g. string = stark terror, like with heights etc. but can escalate to stark terror through irrational thoughts and associations. [in my amateur opinion] :-)

[Cathy]

The thing with phobias is that they are totally irrational, so I could quite believe that a small number of people are scared of these things. I'm absolutely petrified of butterflies, moths and the things they grow from (which I can't even bear to type), and I'm not the only one. People will often say "they won't hurt you" but that doesn't make any difference. If you think of one of the more common phobia of spiders there is no logical reason to be scared of them (in Britain at least), yet they terrify people.

[wildwood]

Don't know if all the 'far out' ones are real, but one is - pteronophobia - fear of feathers. My sister has suffered from this all her life and, although it may seem almost amusing to us, her fear is terrifyingly real. We have no idea how or why this came about.

[darth vader]

I have a fear of wasps and bees though they are about a millionth my size and weight and i know that in reality they do no harm

Is there a phobia name for an irrational fear of phobias?

[Cetti]

Yes, there really is darth, it's called phobophobia - Fear of Fear!

[gazzawazza]

I heard it on the radio that Paulo di Canio has a phobia of cupboards!!! Can anyone confirm this, and what would that be called?

[Mintox]

I have a fear of getting my hair cut - but my mum says its only becasue im a wimp and not a real medical case so i dont have an excuse.

[rekstout]

I fear sheepskin mocassins and my wife cannot be within 100ft of the underside of a boat unless she is on it - moccaphobia and hullophobia?

[Quizmonster]

Gazza, I can't confirm the diagnosis, but the word for 'cupboard' is 'ermario' in Greek - the source-language for virtually all phobia-names. So, poor Mr di Canio would appear to be suffering from 'ermariophobia'.

In answer to the original question, all it needs is for some afflicted soul to tell his psychiatrist that he has a mortal dread of eyelids, for example, for the word 'blepharophobia' to appear as if by magic in the medical lexicon.

[darth vader]

what would be the name for a fear of greeks QM?

[Quizmonster]

'Hellenophobia', Darth. Perhaps we should also remember Virgil's 'Aeneid' and the words of the Trojan priest on seeing the famous Trojan horse - actually a Greek 'horse' left at the gates of Troy - "Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes" - usually translated as "I fear the Greeks even when bearing gifts." So hellenophobia has been about for a long time and we might also call it 'danaophobia'. Cheers

[PaulYukochan]

My guess is that the brain is very very complex, and perhaps occaisonally nerve connector things get connected up wrongly - such as with sadomasochism or with smokers becoming deluded that nicotine cures anxiety (although the latter is an effect of taking the drug). Therefore maybe sometimes the sight of - say.... the 'windows' key on a pc keyboard might send a confused signal in the brain that produces a dark, primordial fear, that stabs into the very heart of my humanity, and yet, I my eyes are still drawn to it...

[paulperoni]

simple answer is that anyone can have a phobia to anything. this is also made worse becuse they negatively reinforce these phobias so that they become more powerful.