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fears small spaces, and he or she may have a panic attack if
forced to use an elevator.
Feeling anxious about a certain situation does not
necessarily mean you have a phobia. It is common for young
kids to get anxious during thunderstorms, but that does not
mean they have
astraphobia
(fear of thunder). And nobody
likes getting a shot at the doctor’s office, but that does not
mean we all have
trypanophobia
(fear of needles). When
someone has a phobia, the feelings are much stronger than
what most people experience, and those feelings can interfere
with everyday life.
Unique Phobias
You have probably heard of people who have
an unreasonable fear of snakes (ophidiophobia)
or of airplanes (pteromerhanophobia). These
are very common phobias. But some phobias
might seem strange to you, such as:
• botanophobia: fear of plants
• cacophobia: fear of ugliness
• leukophobia: fear of the color white
• papyrophobia: fear of paper
• podophobia: fear of feet
• selenophobia: fear of the moon
• wiccaphobia: fear of witches
These phobias might seem strange. But remember, even a phobia that
seems weird to you is still terrifying for the person who has it.
The full moon—beautiful or
scary? Depends on whether or
not you have selenophobia.