Phobias: What are you Afraid of?

By: Bhawna Gandhi, Onlymyhealth Editorial Team,Date:Feb 21, 2014

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Here are some common phobias, do you have any of them? Most people do it give it much thought.
  • 1

    Are you Afraid?

    There are people who feel alarmed, afraid and crazy at the smallest instant. Most times we just let such feelings be like as if it is normal, but they are not. These are phobias that can take a toll on your normal living and lifestyle. According to the National of Mental Health, phobias affect approximately 10 percent of adults. There are many explanations given for experiencing phobias which includes evolutionary and behaviourial theories. Phobias generally start during childhood and then follow us through our adulthood. There are many phobias that we could talk about, let us take a look at ten of them.

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  • 2

    Social Phobia

    If you feel awkward in social situations and feel like running away from everybody then well, you are not just socially awkward but also have social phobia. It can bring on a feeling of panic among its sufferers, and your heart can race and your skin may sweat, and you may also feel nauseous. This phobia can make you avoid events, places and people.

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  • 3


    This is a tricky one, as necrophobia is the fear of death or anything which is related to it. You are petrified about funerals, funeral homes, caskets, dead bodies and all the rest of it. While most of us do not like to have such thoughts, a person who is suffering from this phobia would be extremely against anything that has to do with death.

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  • 4


    A very common phobia among people, this would keep you from travelling to places which is at height. Acrophobia is the fear of heights. This phobia can also keep you away off bridges and from climbing ladders too. This fear can also give you anxiety attacks.

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  • 5


    This fear will cause you to escape situations that you perceive to be difficult. The phobia can attack you when you are in crowded areas, open spaces or even in certain normal situations you can face a panic attack. People with this phobia may not want to leave their homes, and avoid open spaces. Most people with panic disorder tend to develop agoraphobia.

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  • 6


    Here is something that is most associated with personal experiences; it is the fear of dogs. The phobia is associated with specific personal experiences such as being bitten by a dog during childhood. This phobia will definitely keep you away from dogs and you may never have a dog as your pet. The phobia varies from person to person due to it being personal in nature.

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  • 7


    The title for 1990 horror/comedy film directed Frank Marshall was named Arachnophobia, it means the fear of spiders. You can well imagine the creepiness that can be displayed on film with such a topic, and it was pretty successful movie back then. This phobia is believed to affect women more than men.

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  • 8


    Here is another very common phobia, and we tend to use this term pretty often in our daily lives. Claustrophobia is the fear of being confined to paces that will make you feel entrapped. People complain of feeling claustrophobic in elevators, airplanes, trains and subways. People suffering from this phobia prefer to remain in the open.

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  • 9


    This phobia could be related to obsessive compulsive disorder, this is the fear of dirt and germs. This can also be called germophobia or bacterophobia. Pop sensation, Michael Jackson also suffered from this fear and this is why he used to wear a surgeon’s mask when he went out. People suffering from mysophobia wash their hands constantly so that they can remove germs.

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  • 10


    If you hide under the table every time thunder and lightning strikes then this one is for you. Also known as astraphobia this is characterised by the abnormal fear of thundering and lightening. This phobia is supposedly treatable and it can develop in both humans and animals. The term astraphobia has been derived from Greek words.

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  • 11


    People with this phobia can never watch the great wide world from an airplane. This is because this is the phobia of flying. Most times people wonder if they are going to die in a plane crash or something similar. This phobia would also restrict you from taking a ride on a hot air balloon.

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