Living With Phobias

“Nothing to fear, but fear itself” is a famous quote from the inaugural address of former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Of course, fear is sometimes something that takes over our imaginations and suddenly it seems that every little sound makes us jump. We can get over our fears and control them if we just have the willpower. The problem of getting over fears occurs if we have a phobia or phobias. If you look up the word phobias you’ll find that Wikipedia tells you that these are most commonly the result of a “combination of external events and internal predispositions”. External events are something that might have traumatized you at some point and internal predispositions from heredity or genetics.

Before I get into some of the strangest phobias people might have I have a common phobia Acrophobia which is the fear of heights. Mine is hereditary and came from my mom’s mother. My grandma had quite a few adventures in her life due to being afraid of heights. I myself have been faced with serious problems due to my fear of heights which otherwise would have been no problem at all. So let’s take a look at some of the most bizarre types of phobias.

Alliumphobia Fear of Garlic

Alliumphobia is the fear of garlic. Now can you imagine being Italian and having this phobia? Or being a vampire? The horrors of it all. However, if you do have this strange phobia I don’t think it could interfere too much with your life. You would have to steer clear of fruit and vegetable stands and of course, make sure all of your friends and relatives know about this. What happens to people with this phobia is that they cannot stand the thought of eating garlic and even seeing it and smelling it. Others who have a problem with garlic are of course vampires but we assume that such creatures should they exist are rare in this world. Supposedly blood-sucking mosquitoes also have a fear of garlic so I think rubbing our skins with garlic might be a good idea to ward off these pesky insects. .An odd phobia indeed and it leaves me with one more question – How do you avoid the smell of garlic in an Italian restaurant?

Didaskeleinophobia Fear of School

This next phobia has me rather stumped. Why you might ask. Well, it is Didaskeleinophobia and it is the fear of going to school. Now I know that I was terrified of going to kindergarten on my first day and I even threw up and my dad had to take me home. If my parents had known about this phobia they might have started worrying but as it turned out I soon returned and learned to love school. They say that around 5% of the population has the fear of going to school with the root stemming from learning disabilities like dyslexia or ADHD, difficulty in coping with academic pressure or traumatic events such as bullying. Well, I think that such a phobia as this can be rooted out as long as the students have the full support of parents and teachers. Of course, should an unusual case present itself we now have the option of homeschooling as well. Also if you consider all the school shootings and violence these modern times you should not be surprised if someone develops a fear of schools.

Soceraphobia Fear of In-Laws

Who can say that they dearly love their in-laws? Perhaps there are those of you who have good experiences or who get along famously with your in-laws. However, what would you do if you had Soceraphobia the fear of in-laws? This phobia brings out constant apprehension, anxiety, or fear just at the thought of having to interact with in-laws. Having said that aren’t these the natural reactions of someone who is meeting their in-laws for the first time? I guess one could say they have this phobia if these feelings don’t lessen with time or go away completely. Fearing one's mother-in-law is Pentheraphobia. The apparent root of this fear is in the often exaggerated imagination of the in-law’s similarity to one’s own and most often proves unrealistic. However, you never know if you’re among the unlucky when it comes to in-laws you might wind up like Darrin on the TV show “Bewitched” who wound up with a real witch for a mother-in-law.

What I find interesting is that there are a lot of newlywed women and men who go for therapy sessions to overcome this fear. I know that in my life I have had two mother-in-laws. I became the rock my first mother-in-law chose to lean on when she became ill with dementia and thought I was the smartest person on earth. My second mother-in-law became like my own mom when my real mom died. I really don’t know what I would have done if I had had this kind of phobia and I’m glad that I didn’t even know about such a phobia. Why? Because we can be influenced by certain phobias as well. Would we get the phobia? Who knows? I say it is good to be educated about lots of things just never take it too much to mind.

Pogonophobia Fear of Beards

Just the thought of this phobia makes me smile since there are so many men in this world with beards. The fear of beards is Pogonophobia and comes from the combination of the Greek word “pogono” meaning “pertaining to beard” and “phobia” meaning “fear”. Some people have a dislike for men who look like they are disheveled, unhygienic, or even barbaric due to the amount of hair on their faces. I have seen quite a few terrible-looking beards and quite a few very well-roomed ones. Just be very careful you don’t bump into a “Bluebeard” – the scoundrel of a French folktale who murdered his wives. With someone like that around it would seem natural to have a fear of beards.

At the worst of times, I have had the pleasure of sitting in a restaurant opposite someone at another table with a beard. I see them getting their beard into soup and I also see bits of food in the beard. At moments like that, I wish that I didn’t still have a full dish of food. I guess it must be difficult to deal with this phobia as you never know where you’ll see someone with a beard. I find it a very debilitating fear because you cannot have friends with beards, heaven forbid if a family member grows one and just suppose you turn down a person who could turn out to be your true love all because they have a beard.

Euphobia Fear of Hearing Good News

This fear is known as Euphobia. People with this kind of fear turn away from good news. Supposedly they fear that behind the incredibly good news also lurks some kind of bad news. You know the question – Do you want the good news or the bad news first? It is suggested that behavioral therapy may help people with this fear to develop confidence and optimism. I for one welcome good news because I usually have bad news when it comes to bills having to be paid or other unforeseen expenses. So a dose of good news is always welcome to me. If I had this phobia perhaps a great big dose of good news would be enough to cure me.

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia Fear of long words

This fear simply makes me sigh. Why? Try saying it or try writing it. I had a problem with both. The fear of long words is Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. If that isn’t a mouthful I don’t know what is. If you haven’t been discouraged to know more this awful word has 35 letters in it. It comes from the root word “sesquipedalian” – a long word and the words “hippopotamus” and “monsters” have been added to make it seem terrible. This phobia is thought to stem from frightening experiences with vocabulary or spelling bees during childhood and the difficulty to memorize or mentally process multisyllabic words. I know I was mesmerized when Mary Poppins from the Disney movie “Mary Poppins” said, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”.

It is suggested that perhaps people who have come to rely on modern technology and have stopped reading might in some form develop this phobia. Now that alone is a scary thought. That is why I am still friends with all of my books and I know that nothing can replace the feel and smell of a real book in my hand. Just knowing about this phobia I will continue to read the old-fashioned way. I remember an incident in school when I was faced with having to spell the word Mississippi. All of those double letters resulted in a bad case of hiccups. Luckily no phobia formed.

Pneumatiphobia Fear of Spirits

This is known as Pneumatiphobia and is the fear of the supernatural. It has some sub-categories like Spectrophobia – fear of specters, Phasmophobia – fear of ghosts, Demonophobia (fear of demons), Bogyphobia (fear of bogeyman), Satanophobia (fear of Satan), Stygiophobia or Hadephobia (fear of hell) and Wiccaphobia (fear of witches). People with this phobia experience paranoia, panic attacks, nausea, sweating, mental breakdowns, and a feeling of being chased or persecuted by spirits. The phobia may be aggravated by horror stories or horror movies. Well, of course, you can avoid this outbreak by just not reading or watching anything related to horror. I have to say that I am glad I don’t have this phobia because I have a sixth sense and my family has had many experiences with the world beyond. I love knowing about the supernatural but I can imagine how someone might feel if they had this kind of phobia especially when this world seems to be turning evil.

When I read about the symptoms of this phobia it brought a smile to my face. Why? Because I was reminded of my favorite cartoon Scooby Doo and all those characters constantly being chased by ghouls and demons. I do believe they were depicted as going through some of these symptoms.