10 Even Weirder Phobias You Never Knew Existed

Although it is very easy to laugh and say ‘he’s scared of WHAT?’ when you hear of someone with an odd phobia, it is

only when you have experienced something similar yourself that you realise how life-changing and debilitating it can

be. It is, however, still fascinating to discover the strange and unlikely things our wonderful human brains can take a

violent dislike to, seemingly at random. It is even more amazing to realise that these phobias are all medically

recognised and there are long, technical names for them all. Many phobias can be traced back to traumatic life events,

but often they seem to just appear without warning.

Here is a list of ten of perhaps the strangest phobias out there:

1 Ommatrichophobia - Fear of Eyebrows

Actually, the fear of eyebrows is very often bound up with the fear of all sorts of things to do with hair. The

general fear of hair itself is called chaetophobia and the fear of having it cut is tonsurephobia. People with any

or all of these phobias are likely to remove every scrap of hair from themselves, including their eyelashes.

Ouch! They will also totally avoid contact with hair in any form, including other humans and also animals.

2 Domatophobia or oikophobia – Fear of Houses

How can people with this phobia find a place they feel safe to live in? Domatophobia comes from the Latin

word domus meaning ‘house’ and oikophobia has its roots in the Greek word for ‘dwelling’, oikos.

3 Ereuthophobia – Fear of Red Lights

This irrational fear of red lights is thought to be linked to a general fear of danger. People with this condition

and also with erythrophobia (fear of the colour red itself) may also have haemophobia, the fear of blood, as of

course bleeding is a sign of danger and blood is red. The phobia can also extend to anything at all that is

coloured red.

4 Chromophobia – Fear of Colours

Following on from the particular fear of red is this phobia with its Greek root chromos. The general fear of

colours is very rare and usually such phobias are centred on one particular colour as a response to an

unpleasant or traumatic experience in the sufferer’s life. All of the colour phobias have their own impressive

names however: yellow – xanthophobia; blue – cyanophobia; green – prasinophobia or chlorophobia; purple -

porphyrophobia black – melanophobia and white – leucophobia.

5 Linonophobia - Fear of String

This phobia sounds like it is an easy one to cope with – just stay away from string, right? But it can involve

much more than just the hairy garden stuff or parcel twine. The people who suffer with this one can be

terrified of anything string-like and, if you think about that, you will realise how far-reaching it could become –

thread, wool, wire, shoe laces and electric cables to name but a few.

6 Oryzacustodiaphobia – Fear of Rice Pudding

So now you know that disgust of school rice pudding you felt may have been more than just not liking it.

Indeed, being forced to eat rice pudding in childhood could very well be what brings on a morbid fear in adult

life of that dessert and anything resembling it.

7 Spectrophobia – Fear of Your Own Reflection

Everyone has those days when looking in the mirror can be a disheartening exercise, but people with this

phobia are literally terrified to see their reflection. The word, which comes from the Latin spectrum meaning

‘image of a thing’ or ‘apparition’, can also mean the fear of mirrors or ghosts.

8 Chorophobia – Fear of Dancing

A fear of dancing is often associated with a fear of getting excited or aroused and it most often also extends to

being fearful in a situation or place where dancing is happening. For some sufferers, just seeing someone

dancing can bring on a panic attack.

9 Scriptophobia – Fear of Writing in Public

Huge numbers of us experience anxiety if asked to perform or speak in public (glossophobia). Sometimes this

can extend to severe symptoms – many very well-known performers of long-standing in the entertainment

world routinely get stage fright before a show (Link 10). However, the fear of writing in public is perhaps less

well known. Again, you might think it can be easily avoided, but this fear can make it impossible for people to

take office jobs or for students to finish their education. A graphophobe fears writing anything at all.

10 Sesquipedalophobia – Fear of Long Words

If you suffer from this phobia, you certainly will not have enjoyed reading this list and probably should not

consider a career in the treatment of phobias. It is ironic that the word meaning an irrational fear of long

words has 18 letters!

(Note: There is one phobia listed which may or may not be a bit tongue-in-cheek, but all of the others are truly

proven medical conditions.)