Do you feel sick when you have lots of money that you want to burn or throw them all out? Strange but you might have a phobia that you are not aware of. What’s a phobia? A phobia is an irrational and extreme reaction to things, places, situations, feelings, or animals that affect oneself and life. The following might appear illogical and exaggerated but they are real.
FEAR OF HAIR (chaetophobia or trichophobia). Panic attacks set in as soon as you see a clump of hair on the drain, specially if it belongs to another person or animal. People who have this phobia suffer from anxiety, panic bouts, and feel powerless whenever they see a mass of hair. Studies say that this may be caused by stress or depression or has something to do with fear of germs or bacteria.
FEAR OF TAKING A BATH (ablutophobia). An intense fear of bath, cleanliness, or washing that may be rooted from a traumatic experience that has something to do with water. This mostly affects women and children.
FEAR OF THE BELLY BUTTON (omphalophobia). Extreme and persistent, this fear is focused only on the belly button — even their own belly button or other people’s that they don’t want to think, hear, touch, or see it. Other sufferers put band-aid on their belly button to prevent them from seeing it and feeling unwell. They also never go to the beach.
FEAR OF MIRROR (eisoptrophobia). People with this phobia think that they will break the mirror and bring bad luck to their life. Others think that looking into the mirror will link them to a supernatural world inside the glass.
FEAR OF UGLINESS (cacophobia). This is not just about how people look, but things that people with this fear see as ugly, even if others see them as beautiful. Sometimes they see situations as ugly. This is extreme and irrational when triggered. Researchers say this fear may have started after experiencing a bad event that has something to do with ugliness.
FEAR OF FLOWERS (anthophobia). People with this phobia will do anything to prevent them from thinking, seeing, touching them even how beautiful they are. Their fear is extreme that their palms sweat, breathing is fast, they feel dizzy, cold, tremble, mouth is dry, and heart is racing. This may be rooted from a traumatic experience that has something to do with flowers such as, insect sting or allergies that developed a negative impact in the brain.
FEAR OF SLEEP (somniphobia). Just thinking of sleep brings extreme anxiety and fear for people with somniphobia, that something bad may happen while asleep. This maybe a cause of a variety of mental and physical symptoms such as panic attacks, being unfocused, irritable, forgetful, nausea, tight chest, sweating, and more.
FEAR OF TOUCH AND BEING TOUCHED (haphephobia). Every touch, even to and from friends and relatives, makes people with this phobia tremble, sweat, heart race, and suddenly experience hot flushes. They may have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event related to touch for developing this kind of phobia.
FEAR OF MONEY (plutophobia). People with this phobia are afraid to have lots of money or be surrounded by rich people. They can’t handle pressure, responsibility, and anxiety that lots of money bring. They also fear that money may bring harm to their lives. Most don’t work hard to accumulate money.
FEAR OF LOVE (philophobia). People with this irrational and unreasonable feeling towards love experience confusion and panic attack, even just thinking of it. When fear is triggered, they feel dizzy, nauseous, experience palpitations, tremble, almost fall, and sweat.
FEAR OF KISSING (philemaphobia). This is often experienced by people who have no experience at all in kissing for fear of doing something wrong. Others are afraid to contract a disease or bacteria. If your fear causes problems because you find it difficult to maintain a relationship, there maybe a deeper issue about intimacy.
FEAR OF SEXUAL INTIMACY (genophobia or erotophobia). This is a condition caused by extreme fear when love is expressed. For others, just thinking about it sends them to panic mode. This phobia may have something to do with emotional problems and physical issues, according to healthline.
FEAR OF TAKING SELFIE (selfiephobia). In today’s technology, this is unbelievable but it’s real. People who fear selfies will do everything to avoid it. They think they are not photogenic enough to warrant a selfie or they see this as lack of attention. They may have identity issues and problems with how they look, although these have no professional verification.
These phobias are real. And it is challenging to people who suffer from them. But nothing compares to the support, understanding, and love of family and friends to make their lives better. There are several treatment options to help them. They just need to be assured that they are not alone in this battle. Fear not!
