A phobia is best described as an irrational fear of an object, situation, or living thing, and as it turns out you can have a phobia of just about anything. Now, we know people are scared of clowns, the dark, dying, snakes, the usual, but today we’re going to talk about phobias that are a little less common. Get ready.
Arachibutyrophobia
(image via: womens health)
We love peanut butter in just about any context, but we imagine we wouldn’t be saying that if we had this phobia, the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth.
Eisoptrophobia
This phobia, the fear of mirrors, or more specifically, the fear of seeing your own reflection in the mirror, has actually been proven to cause so much stress that it can actually lead to depression. Our own reflection has certainly caused a jump scare or two in our lives, but for different reasons.
Xanthophobia
Have you ever noticed how much yellow is in the world? School buses, sunflowers, traffic lights, bananas, the list goes on. You’ve probably never even paid attention, but those with Xanthophobia certainly have because they fear the color yellow making life pretty distressing.
Aerophobia
If you’re thinking that this sounds like the fear of air, then you would be correct. Kinda. It’s the fear of the movement of air like a draft or a breeze. This is actually a common symptom among those with rabies; in fact, blowing or fanning a person with rabies can trigger muscle spasms.
(image via: wonder works)
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
Ironically, this is the fear of long words. This is a common phobia among people with dyslexia, but it has also been said that this phobia stems from being embarrassed to pronounce long words incorrectly.
Amathophobia
If you work somewhere dusty then don’t be surprised if one day you start to develop this phobia, though research tells us that the fear of dust is most common among librarians.
Decidophobia
Most of us can probably agree that making decisions can be a daunting task, and that seems like a totally normal observation. But for those with decidophobia, making decisions seems impossible, and they often rely on other people or even external sources such as astrology to guide them.
Zoophobia
(image via: love your dog)
Having a fear of animals would actually break our hearts, but no one chooses the phobia life. Zoophobia can occur with all animals or a specific animal (like snakes or mice), and those with this phobia often find it difficult to leave their house for fear of coming in contact with animals.