Medicine:List of phobias

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The English suffixes -phobia, -phobic, -phobe (from Greek φόβος phobos, "fear") occur in technical usage in psychiatry to construct words that describe irrational, abnormal, unwarranted, persistent, or disabling fear as a mental disorder (e.g. agoraphobia), in chemistry to describe chemical aversions (e.g. hydrophobic), in biology to describe organisms that dislike certain conditions (e.g. acidophobia), and in medicine to describe hypersensitivity to a stimulus, usually sensory (e.g. photophobia). In common usage, they also form words that describe dislike or hatred of a particular thing or subject (e.g. homophobia). The suffix is antonymic to -phil-.

For more information on the psychiatric side, including how psychiatry groups phobias such as agoraphobia, social phobia, or simple phobia, see phobia. The following lists include words ending in -phobia, and include fears that have acquired names. In some cases, the naming of phobias has become a word game, of notable example being a 1998 humorous article published by BBC News.[1] In some cases, a word ending in -phobia may have an antonym with the suffix -phil-, e.g. Germanophobe/Germanophile.

Many -phobia lists circulate on the Internet, with words collected from indiscriminate sources, often copying each other. Also, a number of psychiatric websites exist that at the first glance cover a huge number of phobias, but in fact use a standard text to fit any phobia and reuse it for all unusual phobias by merely changing the name. Sometimes it leads to bizarre results, such as suggestions to cure "prostitute phobia".[2] Such practice is known as content spamming and is used to attract search engines.

An article published in 1897 in American Journal of Psychology noted "the absurd tendency to give Greek names to objects feared (which, as Arndt says, would give us such terms as klopsophobia – fear of thieves, triakaidekaphobia – fear of the number 13....)".[3]


Psychological conditions

Specialists may prefer to avoid the suffix -phobia and use more descriptive terms such as personality disorders, anxiety disorders, and avoidant personality disorder. Terms should strictly have a Greek prefix although many are irregularly formed with Latin or even English prefixes. Many use inaccurate or imprecise prefixes, such as aerophobia (fear of air) for fear of flying.


A

Phobia Condition
Achluophobia fear of darkness
Acousticophobia fear of noise – a branch of phonophobia
Acrophobia fear of heights
Aerophobia fear of aircraft or flying
Agoraphobia fear of open places
Agyrophobia fear of crossing streets
Aichmophobia fear of sharp or pointed objects such as a needle or knife
Ailurophobia fear/dislike of cats, a zoophobia
Anatidaephobia fear/dislike of chickens, a zoophobia
Alexktorophobia fear/dislike of ducks, a zoophobia
Algophobia fear of pain
Ancraophobia fear of wind or drafts
Androphobia fear of adult men[4]
Apeirophobia excessive fear of infinity and the uncountable
Aphenphosmphobia fear of being touched
Aquaphobia fear of water. Distinct from hydrophobia, a scientific property that makes chemicals averse to interaction with water, as well as an archaic name for rabies
Arachnophobia fear of spiders and other arachnids such as scorpions, a zoophobia
Astraphobia fear of thunder and lightning
Atelophobia fear of imperfection
Autophobia fear of isolation[5]

B

Phobia Condition
Bacteriophobia fear of bacteria
Basophobia, basiphobia fear associated with astasia-abasia (fear of walking/standing erect) and a fear of falling
Batrachophobia fear/dislike of frogs and other amphibians, a zoophobia
Belonephobia fear of needles
Bibliophobia fear of books
Blood-injection-injury type phobia a DSM-IV subtype of specific phobias

C

Phobia Condition
Cacophobia, aschimophobia fear of ugliness
Carcinophobia fear of cancer
Catoptrophobia fear of mirrors
Chemophobia fear of chemicals
Cherophobia fear of happiness
Chiroptophobia fear/dislike of bats, a zoophobia
Chromophobia, chromatophobia fear of colors
Chronophobia fear of time and time moving forward
Chronomentrophobia fear of clocks
Cibophobia, sitophobia aversion to food, synonymous with anorexia nervosa
Claustrophobia fear of having no escape and being closed in
Coimetrophobia fear of cemeteries
Coprophobia fear of feces or defecation[4]
Coulrophobia fear of clowns
Cyberphobia fear of computers
Cynophobia fear/dislike of dogs, a zoophobia

D

Phobia Condition
Dental fear, odontophobia fear of dentists and dental procedures
Dentophobia fear of dentists
Domatophobia fear of houses
Dysmorphophobia, body dysmorphic disorder a phobic obsession with a real or imaginary body defect

E

Phobia Condition
Ecophobia fear of cataclysmic environmental change
Eisoptrophobia fear of mirrors or seeing one's reflection in a mirror[6][7]
Emetophobia fear of vomiting
Enochlophobia fear of crowds
Entomophobia fear/dislike of insects, a zoophobia
Ephebiphobia fear of youth; inaccurate, exaggerated and sensational characterization of young people
Equinophobia fear of horses
Ergophobia, ergasiophobia fear of work or functioning, or a surgeon's fear of operating
Erotophobia fear of sexual love or sexual abuse
Erythrophobia, erytophobia, ereuthophobia fear of the color red, or fear of blushing
Eurotophobia aversion to female genitals

F

Phobia Condition
Frigophobia fear of becoming too cold

G

Phobia Condition
Gamophobia fear of marriage
Gelotophobia fear of being laughed at
Gephyrophobia fear of bridges
Genophobia, coitophobia fear of sexual intercourse
Genuphobia fear of knees or the act of kneeling
Gerascophobia fear of growing old or aging
Gerontophobia fear of growing old, or a hatred or fear of the elderly
Globophobia fear of balloons
Glossophobia fear of speaking in public or of trying to speak
Gymnophobia fear of nudity[8]
Gynophobia fear of adult women

H

Phobia Condition
Halitophobia fear of bad breath
Haphephobia fear of being touched
Heptadekaphobia, heptadecaphobia fear of the number 17
Hedonophobia fear of obtaining pleasure
Heliophobia fear of the sun or sunlight
Helminthophobia, scoleciphobia, vermiphobia fear of worms,[9] a zoophobia
Hemophobia, haemophobia fear of blood
Herpetophobia fear/dislike of reptiles or amphibians, a zoophobia
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia fear of the number 666
Hippophobia fear/dislike of horses,[10] a zoophobia
Hodophobia fear of travel
Hydrophobia[11] fear of water, see aquaphobia
Hypnophobia, somniphobia
Hypochondria fear of illness

I

Phobia Condition
Ichthyophobia fear of fish, including fear of eating fish, or fear of dead fish, a zoophobia
Insectophobia fear of insects

K

Phobia Condition
Koumpounophobia fear of buttons on clothing[12]

L

Phobia Condition
Lilapsophobia fear of tornadoes or hurricanes
Lepidopterophobia fear of butterflies and moths

M

Phobia Condition
Mageirocophobia fear of cooking
Masklophobia fear of people in masks, costumes and mascots
Melanophobia fear of the color black
Melissophobia, apiphobia fear/dislike of bees, a zoophobia
Monophobia fear of being alone or isolated or of one's self
Musophobia, murophobia, suriphobia fear/dislike of mice or rats, a zoophobia
Myrmecophobia fear of ants
Mysophobia, germophobia fear of germs, contamination or dirt

N

Phobia Condition
Necrophobia fear of death or the dead
Neophobia, cainophobia, cainotophobia, centophobia, kainolophobia, kainophobia, metathesiophobia, prosophobia fear of newness, novelty, change or progress
Noctiphobia fear of the night
Nomophobia fear of being out of mobile phone contact
Nosocomephobia fear of hospitals
Nosophobia fear of contracting a disease
Nostophobia, ecophobia fear of returning home
Numerophobia fear of numbers
Nyctophobia, achluophobia, lygophobia, scotophobia fear of darkness

O

Phobia Condition
Obesophobia fear of gaining weight
Oikophobia fear of home surroundings and household appliances
Odontophobia dental fear
Ommetaphobia fear of eyes
Oneirophobia fear of dreams
Ophidiophobia fear/dislike of snakes, a zoophobia
Ophthalmophobia fear of being stared at
Ornithophobia fear/dislike of birds, a zoophobia
Osmophobia, olfactophobia fear of odors
Ostraconophobia fear/dislike of shellfish, a zoophobia

P

Phobia Condition
Panphobia fear of everything or constant fear of an unknown cause
Pedophobia, paedophobia, pediaphobia fear of babies and children
Phagophobia fear of swallowing
Phallophobia fear of erections
Pharmacophobia fear of medications
Phasmophobia fear of ghosts or phantoms
Philophobia fear of love
Phobophobia fear of fear itself or of having a phobia
Phonophobia fear of loud sounds or voices
Pogonophobia fear of beards
Pornophobia dislike or fear of pornography; may be used in reference to the opposition to visual nudity
Porphyrophobia fear of the color purple
Pteromerhanophobia fear of flying
Pyrophobia fear of fire

R

Phobia Condition
Radiophobia fear of radioactivity or X-rays
Ranidaphobia fear/dislike of frogs, a zoophobia
Roller coaster phobia fear of roller coasters

S

Phobia Condition
Scopophobia fear of being looked at or stared at
Sexophobia fear of sexual organs or sexual activities
Siderodromophobia fear of trains or railroads
Sociophobia fear of people or social situations
Somniphobia fear of sleep
Spectrophobia fear of mirrors
Stasiphobia fear of standing or walking
Submechanophobia fear of partially or fully submerged man-made objects[13][14]

T

Phobia Condition
Taphophobia, taphephobia fear of graves, or fear of being placed in a grave while still alive
Technophobia fear of advanced technology (see also Luddite)
Telephone phobia fear or reluctance of making or taking telephone calls
Teratophobia fear of giving birth to a monster[15] or a disfigured foetus[16]
Tetraphobia fear of the number 4
Thalassophobia fear of the sea, or fear of being in the ocean
Thanatophobia fear of dying
Thermophobia intolerance to high temperatures
Tokophobia fear of childbirth or pregnancy
Tomophobia fear of invasive medical procedure[17]
Tonitrophobia fear of thunder
Toxiphobia fear of being poisoned
Traumatophobia a synonym for injury phobia: fear of having an injury
Trichophobia delusional fear of something in the roots of the hair that stops it from growing,[18] or fear of hair loss
Triskaidekaphobia, terdekaphobia fear of the number 13
Trypanophobia, belonephobia, enetophobia fear of needles or injections
Trypophobia fear of holes or textures with a pattern of holes[19]

V

Phobia Condition
Vehophobia fear of driving
Verminophobia fear of germs

W

Phobia Condition
Workplace phobia fear of the workplace

X

Phobia Condition
Xanthophobia fear of the color yellow

Z

Phobia Condition
Zoophobia fear of animals

Cultural prejudices and discrimination

Phobia Condition
Biphobia fear/dislike of bisexuality or bisexuals
Ephebiphobia fear/dislike of youth
Gerontophobia, gerascophobia fear/dislike of aging or the elderly
Heterophobia fear/dislike of heterosexuals
Homophobia fear/dislike of homosexuality, homosexuals, or gays (as opposed to lesbians)
Lesbophobia fear/dislike of lesbians
Pedophobia fear/dislike of babies or children
Psychophobia fear/dislike of mental illness or the mentally ill
Transphobia fear/dislike of transgender people


Ethnic prejudices and discrimination

The suffix -phobia is used to coin terms that denote a particular anti-ethnic or anti-demographic sentiment, such as Americanophobia, Europhobia, Francophobia, Hispanophobia, and Indophobia. Often a synonym with the prefix "anti-" already exists (e.g. Polonophobia vs. anti-Polonism). Anti-religious sentiments are expressed in terms such as Christianophobia and Islamophobia.

Phobia Condition
Afrophobia fear/dislike of Africans
Albanophobia fear/dislike of Albanians
Anglophobia fear/dislike of England or English culture
Christianophobia fear/dislike of Christians
Germanophobia fear/dislike of Germans
Hinduphobia fear/dislike of Hindus
Hispanophobia fear/dislike of Hispanic people, Hispanic culture and the Spanish language
Hungarophobia fear/dislike of Hungarians
Indophobia fear/dislike of India or Indian culture
Iranophobia fear/dislike of Iran or Iranian culture
Islamophobia fear/dislike of Muslims
Judeophobia fear/dislike of Jews
Lusophobia fear/dislike of the Portuguese, Portuguese culture and the Portuguese language
Nipponophobia fear/dislike of the Japanese
Koryophobia fear/dislike of the Koreans
Latinophobia fear/dislike of Latin people
Negrophobia fear/dislike of black people
Polonophobia fear/dislike of the Polish
Russophobia fear/dislike of Russians
Shiaphobia fear/dislike of Shiites
Sinophobia fear/dislike of Chinese people
Sunniphobia fear/dislike of Sunnis
Turcophobia fear/dislike of Turks
Xenophobia fear/dislike of foreigners

Medical conditions

Phobia Condition
Osmophobia hypersensitivity to smells causing aversion to odors
Phonophobia hypersensitivity to sound causing aversion to sounds
Photophobia hypersensitivity to light causing aversion to light


Cultural phenomena

Phobia Condition
Bibliophobia
Lipophobia avoidance of fats in food[20][21][22] (see also Lipophobicity)
Coronaphobia fear of COVID-19.[23]

-phobia in the natural sciences

In the natural sciences, words with the suffix -phobia/-phobic generally describe a predisposition for avoidance and/or exclusion. For antonyms, see here

Phobia Condition
Acidophobia/acidophobic preference for non-acidic conditions
Heliophobia/heliophobic aversion to sunlight
Hydrophobia/hydrophobic the property of being repelled by water
Lipophobicity the property of fat rejection (sometimes also called lipophobia)
Oleophobicity the property of oil rejection
Photophobia a negative phototaxis or phototropism response, or a tendency to stay out of the light
Ultrahydrophobicity the property given to materials that are extremely difficult to get wet
Thermophobia aversion to heat


Jocular and fictional phobias

  • Aibohphobia – a humorous term for the fear of palindromes, which is a palindrome itself. The term is a piece of computer humor entered into the 1981 The Devil's DP Dictionary.[24]
  • Anatidaephobia – the fictional fear that one is being watched by a duck. The word comes from the name of the family Anatidae, and was used in Gary Larson's The Far Side.[25]
  • Anoraknophobia – a portmanteau of "anorak" and "arachnophobia". It was used in the Wallace and Gromit comic book Anoraknophobia. Also the title of an album by Marillion.
  • Arachibutyrophobia – fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth, from Latin arachis "peanut" and butyrum "butter".[26] The word is used by Charles M. Schulz in a 1982 installment of his Peanuts comic strip,[27] and by Peter O'Donnell in his 1985 Modesty Blaise adventure novel Dead Man's Handle.
  • Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia – fear of long words,[28] from the root word sesquipedalophobia combined with monstrum and hippopotamus. This was mentioned on the first episode of Brainiac Series Five as a Tickle's Teaser.
  • Keanuphobia – fear of Keanu Reeves, portrayed in the Dean Koontz book, False Memory, where a woman has an irrational fear of Reeves and has to see her psychiatrist, Mark Ahriman, each week, unaware that she only has the fear in the first place because Ahriman implanted it via hypnotic suggestion to amuse himself. He calls her "Keanuphobe" in his head.
  • Nihilophobia – fear of nothingness, from Latin nihil and "nothing, none", as described by the Doctor in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Night". Voyager's morale officer and chef Neelix suffers from this condition, having panic attacks while the ship was traversing a dark expanse of space known as the Void. It is also the title of a 2008 album by Neuronium.
  • Robophobia – irrational fear of robots and/or androids, also known as "Grimwade's Syndrome". It was first used in "The Robots of Death",[29] the fifth serial of the 14th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who.
  • Semaphobia – fear of average web developers to use Semantic Web technologies.[30]
  • Venustraphobia – fear of beautiful women, according to a 1998 humorous article published by BBC News.[1] Venustraphobia is also the title of a 2006 album by Casbah Club.

See also

  • List of paraphilias

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 The A–Z of Fear, a 30 October 1998 BBC News unsigned article in the "Entertainment" section
  2. ↑ "Content Spammers Help You Overcome Prostitute Phobia". Webpronews.com. 25 August 2005. http://archive.webpronews.com/insidesearch/insidesearch/wpn-56-20050825ContentSpammersHelpYouOvercomeProstitutePhobia.html. 
  3. ↑ Hall, G. Stanley (1897). "A Study of Fears". American Journal of Psychology (University of Illinois Press) 8 (2): 157. doi:10.2307/1410940. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Robert Jean Campbell (2009). Campbell's Psychiatric Dictionary. Oxford University Press. pp. 375–. ISBN 978-0-19-534159-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=76vPu_G2UkgC&pg=PA375. 
  5. ↑ Gould, Dr. George Milbry (1910). The Practitioner's Medical Dictionary (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: P. Blackiston's Son & Co. p. 100. https://archive.org/details/practitionersme00goul. 
  6. ↑ David Sue; Derald Wing Sue; Diane M. Sue; Stanley Sue (15 February 2013). Essentials of Understanding Abnormal Behavior. Cengage Learning. pp. 126–. ISBN 978-1-285-62475-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=BbgWAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT126. 
  7. ↑ William Pitchot (11 September 2014). "Effective Treatment of Eisoptrophobia With Duloxetine: A Case Report". Prim Care Companion CNS Disord 16 (5). doi:10.4088/PCC.14l01636. PMID 25667801. 
  8. ↑ Bullough, Vern L.; Bullough, Bonnie (2014) (in en). Human Sexuality: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 449. ISBN 9781135825096. https://books.google.com/books?id=UHymAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA449. 
  9. ↑ K. Winkler (1957). "Der wahnhafte Ungezieferbefall [Helminthophobia]". Z Haut Geschlechtskr 22 (2): 47–52. PMID 13409951. 
  10. ↑ YG Papakostas; MD Daras; IA Liappas; M Markianos (2005). "Horse madness (hippomania) and hippophobia". Hist Psychiatry 16 pt.4 (64): 467–471. doi:10.1177/0957154X05051459. PMID 16482685. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00570821/file/PEER_stage2_10.1177%252F0957154X05051459.pdf. 
  11. ↑ Hydrophobia (and Superhydrophobia) can be used for chemical and scientific purposes. See Hydrophobe page.
  12. ↑ Russell, Julia; Lintern, Fiona; Gauntlett, Lizzie (2016-09-01). Cambridge International AS and A Level Psychology Coursebook. Cambridge University Press. p. 144. ISBN 9781316605691. https://books.google.com/books?id=TRziDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT150. Retrieved 2 March 2017. 
  13. ↑ Clinical and Organizational Applications of Applied Behavior Analysis. Academic Press. 2015. p. 461. ISBN 978-0-12-420249-8. 
  14. ↑ Linder, Courtney (November 29, 2019). "The 25 Coolest Shipwrecks In the World". https://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/outdoors/g29370431/best-shipwrecks/. 
  15. ↑ "Teratophobia definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary" (in en). https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/teratophobia. 
  16. ↑ "Teratophobia (Concept Id: C0522188) - MedGen - NCBI". https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/medgen/637111. 
  17. ↑ Schmid, Markus; Wolf, Robert C; Freudenmann, Roland W; Schönfeldt-Lecuona, Carlos (2009-11-18). "Tomophobia, the phobic fear caused by an invasive medical procedure – an emerging anxiety disorder: a case report". Journal of Medical Case Reports 3: 131. doi:10.1186/1752-1947-3-131. ISSN 1752-1947. PMID 20062769. 
  18. ↑ Basavaraj, K. H.; Navya, M. A; Rashmi, R. (2010). "Relevance of psychiatry in dermatology: Present concepts". Indian Journal of Psychiatry 52 (3): 270–275. doi:10.4103/0019-5545.70992. ISSN 0019-5545. PMID 21180416. 
  19. ↑ Thomas, Gregory (15 October 2012). "Do holes make you queasy or even fearful". The Daily Herald (Arlington, IL). http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20121015/entlife/710159967/. 
  20. ↑ Fischler, C. "From lipophilia to lipophobia. Changing attitudes and behaviors towards fat: a socio-historical approach", in: Dietary fats determinants of preference, selection, and consumption / edited by DJ Mela. London : New York : Elsevier Applied Science, 1992. pp. 103–115.
  21. ↑ Askegaard, S. Ostberg, J. "Consumers' Experience of Lipophobia: A Swedish Study", Advances in Consume Research, 2003, vol. 30, p. 161
  22. ↑ Askegaard, Søren, Holt, Douglas B. Jensen, Anne F. "Lipophobia: A Transatlantic Concept?" Advances in Consume Research, 1999, vol. 26, issue 1 pp. 331–336.
  23. ↑ "https://www.mc I.number.nih.gov". https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7474809/. 
  24. ↑ Stan Kelly-Bootle. "Aibohphobia". The Computer Contradictionary. p. 7. 
  25. ↑ "I hate to burst Poway Unified's balloon". U-T San Diego. 10 June 2006. http://sports.uniontrib.com/uniontrib/20060610/news_1mi10jenkins.html. 
  26. ↑ "Fear of Peanut Butter: Why Arachibutyrophobia is a Real Phobia". May 22, 2021. https://www.unitedwecare.com/arachibutyrophobia/. 
  27. ↑ "Peanuts Comic Strip, May 19, 1982". GoComics.com. 19 May 1982. http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1982/05/19. 
  28. ↑ Ben Farmer (10 January 2008). "Phobia catalogue reveals bizarre list of fears". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1575157/Phobia-catalogue-reveals-bizarre-list-of-fears.html. "A catalogue of unusual phobias reveals that the fear of long words is known as hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia." 
  29. ↑ "BBC One - Doctor Who, Season 14: The Robots of Death - The Fourth Dimension". https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2TdP860FMcY7cJKp0ZHVl5T/the-fourth-dimension. 
  30. ↑ M. Lanthaler and C. Gütl (2011). "A Semantic Description Language for RESTful Data Services to Combat Semaphobia". Proceedings of the 2011 5th IEEE International Conference on Digital Ecosystems and Technologies (DEST): 47–53. doi:10.1109/DEST.2011.5936597. ISBN 978-1-4577-0871-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/DEST.2011.5936597. 

Further reading

  • Aldrich, C. (2 December 2002). The Aldrich Dictionary of Phobias and Other Word Families. Trafford Publishing. pp. 224–236. ISBN 1-55369-886-X. 

External links





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