List of Top 10 Weirdest Phobias

Have you ever been scared of noise, height, water, dark while your friends loved loud sounds, mountaineering, swimming and ghost stories, and thought of yourself as weird? If yes then you will be pleased to know that acousticophobia, acrophobia, hydrophobia and achluophobia are few of the commonest fears people have. Phobia is an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something and is not a matter of joke for those who suffer from any. Phobia arises in a person from a combination of external events and internal predispositions and dealing with it can be prostrating especially when it is of no common nature.

We list below few of the weirdest phobias people suffer from:

10. ATYCHIPHOBIA- FEAR OF FAILURE

Atychiphobia is the fear of failure due to which a person is averted to take any sort of risk or attempt new activities. It can have severe constricting effects on the sufferer’s lifestyle as often this person undermines his own capability and does not consider himself good enough to carry out any task.

Before attempting anything the person is caught between possibilities of success and failure and is thus debarred from realizing his full potential. The effect of this fear can hold back the sufferer in various areas. The fear in most situations is irrational and subconscious.

9. ORTOGRAPHOBIA- FEAR OF SPELLING MISTAKES

Ortographobia is a fear in which people are afraid of making spelling mistakes. Also called spellphobia, ortographobia hinders a person’s capabilities in reading and writing as they fear spelling every word wrong. Ortographobia can be controlled by practicing spellings and dictations on a regular basis. Students with this phobia are most affected as it effect their written communication capabilities and bad language paper scores and making it impossible for them to enter any spell bee competitions.

8. MNEMOPHOBIA- FEAR OF MEMORIES

Ever wished you could forget something bad that had happened? There are some people who dread having similar memories. People having mnemophobia are afraid of having memories, especially bad ones. The condition can be associated with fear of haunting nightmares caused by bad memories or experience. They will deny of event happening feeling it might protect them from their pain. Some people might not fear having memories but losing them thus fearing a disease like Alzheimer. These people panic on the thought of not being able to remember their identities and experiences.

7. HAPHEPHOBIA- FEAR OF TOUCH

Haphephobia is a rare phobia that involves the fear of touching or being touched! The fear can be in a person either by birth or developed later by some bad experience. It can also be specific to the fear of being touched by the opposite sex. If the phobia is prominent the person finds it difficult to blend in with people and do even small touch gestures like handshakes or hugs. It can also hamper a person’s capabilities of expressing or accepting love and care through pats and kisses. The fear makes it hard for the sufferer to have much social standing or company. Many times it is developed by some dreadful experience and the sufferer can be counseled against it.

6. ABLUTOPHOBIA- FEAR OF BATHING

Ever sat next to a foul smelling person on a bus or train and felt disgusted and wondered how many days since the person hasn’t bathed? Well maybe you would be a little sympathetic knowing the poor chap fears bathing and cleaning himself. Ablutophobia, though abnormal, is not very uncommon in which a person is scared of bathing, washing or cleaning.

This is different from hydrophobia which is the fear of water. In this a person is scared of cleaning himself and experiences dizziness and suffocation when needed to bath. Also the phobia is more common among kids and women than men.

5. ANTHOPHOBIA- FEAR OF FLOWERS

Yes it is difficult to believe that anything can stimulate someone to hate and fear these little, colorful, harmless beings. Though sufferers of this phobia generally understands that they face no threat or harm from the flowers but they feel anxious when see one. Any kind or color of flower can instill the problem. Maybe bouquets are not such an ideal gift to present on all occasions for the receiver may get a fit on the sight of it.

4. MYSOPHOBIA- FEAR OF GERMS AND CONTAMINATION

Remember Dr. Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory? Yes it makes him crazy when someone sneezes in front of him or touches his food. He is not mad but a Mysophobe. Mysophobia is the fear of contamination and germs. A mysophobe is afraid of catching an illness and thus suffers from extreme aversion of anything unclean and dusty or anything or anyone contaminated. A mysophobe can go beyond normality in taking precautions while protecting him from germs and illness and cannot stand dust and filth.

3. PHOBOPHOBIA- FEAR OF HAVING A PHOBIA

Phobophobia is the fear of phobias or fear of fear which involves having unrealistic sensations of being afraid of something. Phobophobia is more serious than it sounds and is related to anxiety disorders and panic attacks. When a phobophobic person is afraid of something, his fear coupled with his fear or inability to fight from that fear may cause him extreme mental anxiety and panic attacks. It makes it unable for the sufferer to act immediate in grave situations and can also be an important factor in maintaining other phobias. The phobia results in the person feeling dizziness, extreme sweating and heart pounding etc. whenever faced with a frightful thing or situation.

2. ANABLEPHOBIA- FEAR OF LOOKING UP

Anablephobia is an unusual persistent fear of looking up. The fear is related with looking up and not necessarily looking in the sky and up can also mean ceiling or so. The people suffering from this phobia feel nausea at the thought of tilting their heads to ninety degrees. People with anablephobia complain of spinning of head, nausea and dizziness whenever they try to look up and thus avoid it.

1. HIPPOPOTOMONSTROSESQUIPPEDALIOPHOBIA- FEAR OF LONG WORDS

Do not try to spell or pronounce what this phobia is called if you don’t want it yourself! As quite evident from the name itself, Hippoptomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is the fear of long words like supercalifragilisticexpialidocius. People suffering from it is avert to spelling, pronouncing and using large words. The intensity of it also differs as some people fear only extraordinary large words while others are averse to moderately long ones as well.

The effect of it on the sufferer in daily activities may differ from person to person depending over the severity of the phobia and usage of long words in their jobs. School and college going sufferers may experience social exclusion and bad test scores as well especially in the languages paper.