Phobia is a type of anxiety in which a person constantly fears someone, something, a situation, or a combination of these. The person is behaving strangely and would do anything to avoid their fear. Most people on earth have phobias that can be of different types, from minor phobias to major phobias. However, not everyone behaves the same as their phobias.
Some people are in control of their phobias and do not prefer to show their phobia to others, but some people suffer so much from their phobias that they cannot hide or get rid of their anxiety disorder. There are many types of phobias, some people fear animals, ghosts, nightmares, blood, injections, and many more. But some of the phobias are strange in nature and when you meet them you may be surprised to see how a person can fear that much.
We are presenting here the top 10 weirdest phobias in the world that may shock you.
10. Heliophobia
It is a specific type of phobias in which the person suffers from the fear of sunlight, sun, or any type of bright light. Like most phobias, it also trails back to a past traumatic event in history. As we all know that sunlight has strong ultraviolet rays in it and can cause sunburn as well and skin cancer. Most people develop this phobia because of bad personal or family experiences. Sometimes people suffering from eye diseases like keratoconus or skin diseases like porphyria cutanea tarda in which the skin is sensitive to sunlight develop heliophobia.
The growing fear of sunlight causing skin cancer is responsible for the spread of this phobia. It can be found all alone or maybe as a part of some other disorders like obsessive-compulsive disorder if it is extreme fear. Most of the time this phobia remains as such, however, it also possesses evolving power and can evolve into public phobia or fear of people or gatherings.
9. Chorophobia
Now, this is a strange phobia in which people develop the fear of dancing, it can also be described as the unwillingness of a person to become excited or aroused. The fear of events that includes dancing like parties or going to club is also included in this phobia. It may be related to some bad personal experiences in the past included including TV, radio, or media.
But most of the time it is undiagnosed as such people stay away from being involved in dancing but when they face such situations that involve dancing or they are forced to do so, they are exposed especially when they are persuaded. Such a person will do anything to keep away from dancing and will avoid going to any place where there are chances to get involved in dancing.
People having Chorophobia may also show signs and symptoms of anxiety-like shortness of breath, sweating, panic attacks, irregular heartbeat, and many more. This phobia may be linked to social phobia or the fear of being in-crowd.
8. Taphophobia
It is one of the bizarre phobias that might terrify you. Taphophobia means the fear of being buried alive. In Greek, it is referred to as the fear of graves. People suffering from this phobia are afraid of the fact that they might be diagnosed as dead and placed in the grave while still alive. It is basically a psychopathological condition. It is one of the most abnormal and unusual fear and people might develop it owing to some historical incidents they might have heard from their elders.
In the early 1900s, there had been some such events of burial of 219 live people and ten cases of live dissection. However, with the development of technology people are not labeled as dead until and unless performing the resuscitation measures properly for 20 minutes at least. Even then the people who are interested in history develop this fear as many of the legends were buried alive and many horror stories also are responsible for the development of this phobia.
7. Ergasiophobia
Ergasiophobia also known as ergo phobias is a disorder in which people develop the fear of working. It may be present in manual labor or in the people involved in non-manual labor. People suffering from this phobia are always anxious about their workplace, environment, colleagues, and performance even if they know that their anxiety is irrational and undue. It is usually not present all alone and maybe a part of social phobia or performance phobia where people are afraid to show any kind of work or performance in front of others.
It is basically the combination of many fears like fear of facing people, fear of making assignments, socializing, along with several psychological and emotional injuries. Such people face difficulty in doing their jobs and mostly remain unemployed or jobless. No doubt it is a miserable condition to have such phobias.
6. Gymnophobia
The fear of being nude in front of others or even the fear of seeing any other person naked is known as gymnophobia. The word gymnophobia is derived from Greek work, where gumnos means naked and Phobos means fear. The people will become anxious while getting naked and surprisingly they are aware of the fact that the fear is irrational.
This is applied to both personal as well as private situations and is mostly seen in kids. This phobia overlaps with Dishabiliophobia that is the fear of getting undressed in front of others. It basically belongs to the generalized fear of sexuality in which they feel that they are physically not fit or inferior and become unprotected. Such people will avoid changing in the dressing rooms of public places, washrooms, beaches, etc.
However, this phobia is treatable and people can be trained to change their behavior. But in some cases, it may develop in an anxiety disorder where it may affect the life of an individual significantly.
5. Paedophobia
Paedophobia which is an anxiety disorder means fear of children and infants. The word paedophobia finds its origin in the Greek word PAIDI PHOBOS. The consequences of paedophobia include ageism, adultism, and paternalism. The studies have revealed its effect on biological conception in humans.
Many international organizations addressing paedophobia either outright or by implication include SAVE THE CHILDREN and CHILDREN DEFENSE FUND while others are against it. It is said that many of us make exceptions in our children but we do not welcome and pamper other people’s children. Most people develop this phobia owing to the fear of being embarrassed by children in front of other people or public places.
However; fortunately the condition is curable through several kinds of treatment which include medical as well as psychiatric methods. This has been tackled by many organizations pertaining to social services and human rights.
4. Venustraphobia
It is also known as caligynephobia in which a person suffers from the fear of beautiful women. Mainly the victims are boys and men who feel scared when they are surrounded by beautiful women. This causes hesitation and anxiety in gatherings leading to poor social interaction unlike most of the guys who are dying to be with beautiful ladies. It is said that the fear of women is usually linked to some bitter experience in past.
Most of these people have had failures in their love life or failed experiences while dealing with beautiful women and they end up developing this phobia as they grow up. Another important factor associated with Venustraphobia is the weak self-image that makes the person unconfident in front of other people mainly beautiful ladies. However, this is bizarre but still treatable phobias that involve several therapies.
3. Phobophobia
It is one of the most bizarre phobias in which a person suffers from the fear of phobias. It is highly associated with anxiety that and other phobic disorders like generalized anxiety disorder. Such people usually suffer from panic attacks and have associated psychological disorders. It is usually said to be a type of stress and any other phobia creating an extensive phobophobia where he or she can’t help it as doesn’t know what is actually troublesome.
This phobia usually develops due to some emotional stress or it may originate from other phobias. It is differentiated from other phobias as it lacks internal stimulus and the patients suffer from severe internal sensations of anxiety. This all turned into a vicious cycle leading to severe anxiety and its precipitation by avoiding being phobic. A person starts experiencing severe symptoms like dizziness, tension, shortness of breath or may become faint.
2. Eisoptrophobia
This is an interesting rather bizarre phobia in which a person develops the fear of his own reflection. The people suffering from this phobia do not go in front of the mirror as they are scared of their own image. Another phobia is spectrophobia in which the person suffers from the fear of mirrors and not by his own reflection. It may also develop when the person is conscious about himself.
This is usually based on a past experience and people hold the opinion that they have something wrong at their face or they might find some ghost or witch standing behind them. It is related to a psychological condition in which the person does not recognize his image as himself instead he thinks that the reflection is some other person. This is one of the bizarre phobias indeed.
1. Ithyphallophobia most bizarre Phobias
This is rather the most bizarre phobia in which a man has fear of erection. He might suffer from the fear of being seen erect by others; even the thought of an erection brings fear out of him. The person feels anxious and develops symptoms like excessive sweating, nausea, vomiting, dryness of mouth, palpitations, and other features of anxiety while suffering from this phobia.
To your surprise, this is not an uncommon phobia however it may be hidden and never disclosed. However, most people realize that they have an irrational phobia and some of them also overcome their phobia by taking behavioral therapy. There are several treatment options available for this phobia like hypnotherapy and other mental programming options that help many people get rid of this bizarre fear.
[ Also Checkout: Most Common Phobias People Fear ]
