LET’S TALK ABOUT... PHOBIAS!
(Weird phobias- third article; CAStimes official publication)
Afraid of flying cockroaches, fast running filthy rats and mice, and spiders? How about standing on very high places? Like on top of the mountain or near the edge of any high places? How about being upset while near the pool, or river, or any part of water?
Some people are scared of dogs, cats, lizards, lions, dark places, empty rooms, standing in front of the crowd, etc. But have you ever realize or let’s say categorize these fears? Are they those typical fears or anxiety? Or can they be already classified as disorders?
Phobia weren’t new to us, it’s just that we don’t pay much attention to it unless we are psych majors or we are in a field were phobia is something that should be mastered or at least be/get familiarized.
The famous Wikipedia defines phobia as an irrational, intense and persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, animals, or people. However, phobia is not mere fear of certain objects, but, it is something which is beyond one’s control, and is interfering with the person’s daily life. Fear can be categorized as a disorder or a phobia when there is the excessive and unreasonable desire to avoid the feared stimulus.
Arachnophobia (fear of spiders), Ophidiophobia (fear of snakes), Acrophobia (fear of heights), Claustrophobia (Fear of being trapped in small confined spaces), Hydrophobia (fear of water) were some of the common phobias most of us know or somehow have heard of.
But have you ever heard of someone who’s afraid of chopsticks (Consecotaleophobia)? How about someone afraid of being tickled by feathers (Pteronophobia)? Try to imagine these fears: Fear of long words (Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia); Fear of objects at the right side of the body (Dextrophobia); Fear of things to the left side of the body (Levophobia); Fear of words(Logophobia); Fear of walking (Ambulophobia); Fear of gold (Aurophobia); Fear of everything (Panophobia or Pantophobia). These are some of what they call unusual or weird phobias.
Suppose a Chinese is diagnosed with the fear of chopsticks (consecotaleophobia), will he be questioned or worst condemned because using chopsticks is a must in their culture? Try to think of someone who is suffering from Dextrophobia (fear of objects at the right side of the body), what would his home look like? What if he is partnered by someone who has Levophobia (fear of things to the left side of the body)? Will they be afraid of each other?
Another that’s just fun to know are these fears: Ereuthrophobia- Fear of blushing; Geliophobia- Fear of laughter; Dendrophobia- Fear of trees; and Euphobia- Fear of hearing good news. However, I come up with some rational explanations regarding these fears; thus, I find these fears not to be so strange.
For instance, a person who is suffering from Ereuthrophobia or the fear of blushing might have been suffering from it because he is afraid that people will know that he is shy or embarrassed. He might not want to show his emotions to others. I also infer that since shyness is a sign that the person is not confident, he would not want others to see that he is weak. Thus the fear of blushing could be a manifestation that his real fear is actually showing his emotion, or his weakness, etc.
Another is Geliophobia or the fear of laughter, who do you think in this world would hate being happy? Or does not like laughing? An individual who is suffering from this fear possibly have this thought that every laughter is equal to tears. Perhaps he thought that if he’ll be so happy at a particular moment, he’ll be so miserable later on. In this way, he detested laughter. His real fear could have not been the laughter itself, but the tears, or the loneliness.
Likewise, who in this world doesn’t like to hear good news? The fear of hearing good news or Euphobia could also depend on the next event that will happen. In connection to Geliophobia, a person suffering from Euphobia possibly acquired this fear because he also has the kind of thought that every good news has its subsequent/corresponding bad news. Therefore, he is afraid to hear good news because of the preceding bad news. So his real could be hearing bad news.
Dendrophobia or the fear of trees can be considered a little bit strange, however, I could still see some reasons behind it. This fear maybe common to children, or maybe some adults whose imaginations were wide enough. People suffering from might have acquainted a tree and saw it differently. Mostly in province, there are big trees almost everywhere, and when you try to look outside from a window, the dark surrounding will help you build another specie from a tree, like a monster for instance. We can also add to this the stories about, Kapre and Nunos living in a tree. As a result, people began to fear trees believing that a tree is not a mere living thing that helps us in many ways, but also, something mysterious that could visit our imaginations reaching even our dreams.
It’s interesting to know that we have a wide range of fears in our lives; there are some common fears and certain fears which are not included to the list of the typical ones. Have you thought of your fears? Are they common or do you also have these unusual ones? J
My interpretations or inferences are not absolute explanations of some mentioned fears. They’re not reliable enough to use in different instances. They’re plain rational conclusions and they can always be corrected by experts.
-krista
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