POLOKWANE – Phobias are very common and you might have heard about the fear of heights (acrophobia) or the fear of spiders (arachnophobia), but there are ‘weird’ ones you might not have heard of.

Whether it is a fear of long words, peanut butter sticking to your tongue or the fear of phobias – there’s probably a phobia with your name on it.

Phobophobia

Phobophobia is the fear of phobias and commonly co-diagnosed with other types of specific phobias. Phobophobia is often associated with anxiety disorders and people with phobophobia will often avoid social situations or other situations that can lead to anxiety.

Decidophobia

The fear of making decisions could be part of a larger mental health disorder; dependent personality disorder. People with decidophobia may rely on others to make choices for them and even turn to external sources, such as astrology, for advice.

Ergophobia

The fear of manual labour, the act of working itself or finding a job are all cases considered as ergophobia. People with ergophobia tend to have extreme anxieties associated with their place of work or work environment.

Arachibutyrophobia

The fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. Some people with arachibutyrophobia may be able to eat small amounts of peanut butter while others will avoid eating peanut butter or anything with the same consistency altogether.

Plutophobia

Believe it or not, there are some people who have a fear of money or wealth. This fear is called plutophobia and people with this phobia may fear becoming wealthy themselves or have a fear of wealthy people.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

Ironically, the longest word in the dictionary is also the name of the phobia where people fear long words. The phobia is common in people with dyslexia and is thought to develop from being embarrassed by pronouncing long words incorrectly. This may occur while reading aloud in front of the class as a child.

Chaetophobia

Chaetophobia is the fear of hair, whether your own, someone else’s or animal hair. People with chaetophobia might be afraid of combing their hair and generally avoid people touching their hair. These people often find it difficult to get haircuts.

Ephebiphobia

People with ephebiphobia (fear of adolescents) may perceive teenagers as out of control or dangerous. People with this phobia may believe that teenagers are rude, unpredictable and do not follow rules and is thought to develop from the negative portrayal of teenagers in the media.

Linonophobia

Linonophobia usually develops from a negative association with string that may stem from a fear of being restrained or restricted. A person with the fear of string will have an extreme reaction when they think of string, let alone see it in person.

Also read: Are you a sufferer of Trypophobia? Take this test to find out