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Mental Health

4 weirdest phobias that you probably haven’t heard.

Fear and anxiety are influential factors in our lives and was an essential evolutionary tool that kept our ancestors alive. Most mental health experts agree that a phobia can be classified as a mental disorder when properly diagnosed. A phobia is an irrational, uncontrollable and lasting fear of a particular object, activity or situation. It may be so overwhelming that the person goes to great lengths to avoid facing it. Having said this, there are some pretty weird phobias out there; some are pretty crazy while others are just absurd.

Statistic about phobias.

 

    • In the United States, approximately 19 million people or 13% of the population, suffer from at least one phobia, and they have varying levels of severity. 
    • Women (12.2%) are twice as likely to develop a phobia than men (5.8%).
    • Specific phobias usually appear around age 7.
    • Specific phobias are more prevalent among teenagers, with an estimated 19.3%
    • According to the NIMH and ADAA, the most common phobias are height, insects, animals, flying, highway driving, and public transport.

List of the weirdest phobias

1. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia or the fear of long words.

word

I am not kidding; this is the name for the fear of long words. Imagine having this phobia and trying to say its name. It is one of the longest words in the English language and the irony is that it is supposed to be the fear of long words. Another more manageable but still long name for this fear is Sesquipedalophobia. This phobia is thought to have been developed from one’s embarrassment of pronouncing long words incorrectly in public. Though not officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association, it is unofficially categorized under social phobias.

2. Nomophobia or the fear of being without your phone.

phone

I am partly kidding when I say that most of us Gen Z and Millennials might have this phobia. Some of us grew up with a mobile phone in our hands and can’t imagine our lives without it. However, people who really have nomophobia experience panic attacks and excessive anxiety when their phone is not with them or if it died or is out of service. This phobia usually stems from a phone addiction and makes people obsessively check their phones several times a day. A recent medical journal recently suggests that this phobia might be more common than you think, with an estimated 9% to 77% of the population suffering from it and honestly am not shocked.

3. Arachibutyrophobia or the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth

peanut butter

This one is weirdly specific and is on all the lists and compilations of weird phobias, and it is there for a reason. If you ate peanut butter before, then it has definitely stuck to the roof of your mouth at one point or another. The severity of this phobia varies from people to people, some people with this phobia can eat peanut butter in small quantity while others avoid it altogether. Arachibutyrophobia can stem from a greater phobia of sticky things or the fear of choking or might even stem from a past incident involving peanut butter.

4. Plutophobia or the fear of money.

money

This is one phobia I swear I’ll never have; most of us wish we had more money, not less. Plutophobia is the fear of money or wealth, and people who have it either fear getting wealth or wealthy people. Let’s be honest; rich people are scarier than getting rich. People who suffer from this phobia dread dealing with money and some people can even sabotage their own careers to avoid being wealthy. This may stem from the fear of being robbed or the fear of responsibility.

Sound off in the comments below and tell us if you also find the word Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia ridiculous and even harder to pronounce.

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