Strangest Phobias People Suffer From

Fear is a natural response to something dangerous, like spiders, heights, or needles. But a phobia is an irrational and debilitating fear of an object, place, situation, feeling or animal. So, while being scared of deadly spiders makes sense, an Arachnophobe is terrified by the smallest and most harmless house spiders! However, people can be terrified by just about anything, from eyes and bellybuttons to teeny tiny holes! So, if you’re feeling brave, strap in and brace yourself, as we take a look at some of the weirdest phobias that exist!

Nomophobia: The Fear Of Being Without Your Phone

Have you ever gone out and suddenly realized you’re left your phone at home or, even worse, you’ve lost it? To some, it’s just a mild inconvenience, but to sufferers of Nomophobia, this can induce a full-blown panic attack.

The term is an abbreviation for “no-mobile-phone phobia”, which is the weird fear of not having your phone or being able to use it! Even the idea of running out of battery can induce a sense of dread so intense that sufferers will ensure they’re near a power source at all times.

That certainly sounds extreme, but it’s more common than you might think. About 50% of American teens believe they’re addicted to their smartphones, and 12% of adults even take them into the shower, and not just for naughty selfie reasons!

But what causes people to feel so scared without their beloved smartphones? While there’s no specific cause, experts believe it’s linked to a fear of isolation. I mean, if your phone serves as the main method of contacting the people you care about, you’d feel horribly lonely without it. They also believe trauma could play a role, like if losing your phone once caused you serious distress, you might excessively worry about it happening again!

Koumpounophobia: Fear Of Buttons

Buttons on clothes are there to make our lives much easier, but they aren’t loved by everyone, or at least not people with Koumpounophobia. The root of this term comes from the word "koumpono", which is Greek for "button". And as you’ve probably guessed, it’s the bizarre fear of buttons!

Approximately 75,000 people in the world suffer from the timidity of these toggles, and most have fairly similar reasons why. Some simply despise their texture, whereas others have experienced intense trauma relating to them which has manifested into a phobia! Being so small and grabbable, children sometimes swallow buttons or push them up their nose, causing them a lot of pain along with a scary trip to the hospital!

Others find it difficult to get the hang of buttoning up clothing, which can be seriously embarrassing if you’re mocked for it. These are just a few examples of how button-based trauma can develop into a phobia, but it’s not the end of the world. In fact, Koumpounophobia is responsible for one of the most important technological developments in history!

Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs unbelievably admitted to suffering from Koumpounophobia! And it’s this fear that helped inspire the creation of the almost buttonless iPhone. We’ll never know for sure just how much influence this phobia had on the final design, but It does explain why he only ever wore turtlenecks!

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia: Fear Of Long Words

Imagine you’re in school, and the teacher calls you up to the front of the class to read something. You look at the page, and there’s a long, intimidating word staring back at you. You try and break it down, but it’s no good! After a while, all the other kids start to laugh, and suddenly you’re the butt of a class-wide joke. Sounds pretty daunting and it’s distressing situations like this that can cause people to develop an irrational fear of saying, or even reading, long words.

As you can imagine, a fear of long words can be crippling, as it interferes hugely with schoolwork and education. Although the actual name of this phobia makes it even worse, because it’s cruelly called Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia!

Curiously, sesquipedalian on its own means "to have many syllables", so this fear should be called sesquipedaliophobia. But some monster decided to add all those extra syllables onto the beginning! Were they trying to give its sufferers a panic attack? The name itself is purposefully designed to help sufferers overcome their fear. Instead of avoiding all long words, the name of this phobia alone forces sufferers to confront their fear! And gradual exposure to these super-sized syllables in a safe setting does help lessen a sufferers panic.

Chromophobia: Fear Of Colors

Being the lightest hue on the color spectrum, yellow is often associated to bright, happy things like sunshine and springtime! But yellow isn’t a happy color for everyone, just ask sufferers of Xanthophobia. That’s right, these poor people have an unrelenting fear of the color yellow!

But that would mean they’re scared of everything from school buses and taxis to flowers and bananas! Well, as strange as it sounds, it’s not the only color that people are terrified of. It sits under the very muted umbrella of Chromophobia, which is the fear and aversion of colors. For example, sufferers of Melanophobia are afraid of the color black, for Poryphyrophobia, purple is their primary fear, and in cases of Leukophobia, white's terrifying! In their most aggressive forms, just saying the names of these colors can be enough to trigger full blown panic attacks!

But why can a single color cause such an immobilizing reaction? Like many phobias, these can often be traced back to specific traumatic events. A sufferer might have been in an accident with a yellow car, for example, and unconsciously associated their intense fear of the situation with that color. Or sometimes intense colors can induce painful migraines, so sufferers go out of their way to avoid them entirely!

Turophobia: Fear Of Cheese

Is there anything more delicious than pizza topped with mouth-watering amounts of hot, stringy cheese? But for anyone with Turophobia, this is guaranteed to make their stomach churn. It’s not a fear of pizza but a fear of cheese, which is so much worse!

As blasphemous as it sounds, plenty of people simply don’t like cheese because of its flavor, smell or even texture. But Turophobia is an abject fear of all or some of these cheesy features, which usually stems from some kind of trauma. Like being really sick after eating some, or even choking on a piece! It can be so upsetting that sufferers choose to avoid these delicious dairy products all together. And by avoiding it, their harrowing experience gradually curdles into intense disgust or fear.

Decidophobia: Fear Of Decisions

What are you going to have for lunch tomorrow? Are you going to take out the trash before then? Or will you clean up your room first? These are basic questions, but if you felt anxious at the thought of making any of those choices, you might suffer from a degree of Decidophobia!

As you can probably guess by the name, that’s the fear of making decisions. You’re always making choices: from what you eat, to what you wear, and how you act. You do it so often in fact, that the average person makes about 35,000 conscious decisions a day! Assuming you sleep for about 8 hours, that’s at least 36 decisions a minute! So, depending on how aggressive a person’s Decidophobia is, chronic sufferers can be paralyzed by their fear every minute of every day.

But what could be the root cause of this debilitating phobia? It’s most commonly associated with a perfectionist thinking style, meaning making any kind of mistake can make them feel incredibly anxious. However, being afraid to make the wrong decision can turn into being too scared to make any decisions at all.

Papyrophobia: Fear Of Paper

Paper isn’t exactly man’s worst enemy, but papercuts definitely are! Those teeny tiny incisions hurt so much, so you can almost understand why Papyrophobia, also known as the irrational fear of paper, exists. The term stems from the ancient Egyptians, who used papyrus to make a crude type of paper!

But not every Papyrophobe fears paper in the same way. Some fear the texture of dry paper, while others despise slushy, wet paper, purely blank paper, or even just the sound of ripping paper! And as weird as that seems, it’s not as uncommon as you think. Actress Megan Fox revealed she loathes touching dry paper! So, she requests all her scripts be laminated or, instead, she neurotically wets her fingers as she flips through the pages.

Obviously, this fear can be pretty debilitating seeing as we’re faced with books, letters, and receipts on a near daily basis! Fortunately, treatment is available in the form of learning coping skills, called cognitive behavioral therapy, gradual desensitization, and anti-anxiety medication. And maybe use of an e-reader!

Vestiphobia: Fear Of Clothing

Is there anything worse than putting on your favorite clothes and suddenly realizing they’re too tight? While it can serve as a reminder to start that dreaded diet for some, for others, tight clothing can spark an all-out anxiety attack! And in the worst cases, even baggy clothing can make people feel afraid.

This condition is known as Vestiphobia, not a fear of vests, but a fear of clothing! It’s thought to stem from claustrophobia, the fear of confined spaces, because tight clothing is a common trigger for Vestiphobes. While we all know clothing isn’t dangerous, it can link back to a traumatic event involving clothing or fabric, where the individual felt trapped or struggled to breathe. Like getting yourself caught in a garment, or somehow, hilariously, getting stuck in a sweater! But it’s not just these faux pas’ that can fuel a fear of fashion.

Soldiers and military personnel can develop this phobia by associating bullet-proof vests and boots with some understandably stressful experiences. And like their causes, the symptoms of this phobia depend on the individual. Some tremble and sweat if they come into contact with clothing, while others can hyperventilate, become nauseous and even faint! Fortunately, doctors can often prescribe anti-anxiety medication and a range of therapies to help sufferers overcome their wardrobe worries!

Selenophobia: Fear Of The Moon

The moon has been the muse of humanity for thousands of years! But while some find it utterly spellbinding, to those with Selenophobia, there’s nothing more frightening. Derived from the mythological name Selene, who was the Greek goddess of the moon, Selenophobia is the strange fear of that big rock up in the sky!

Regardless of what phase of the lunar cycle it’s in, just thinking about the moon is enough to make most sufferers dizzy with fear. It may sound ridiculous, but this phobia has some deep roots in human history. Back in the 4th century, insanity was thought to be dependent on the phases of the moon. This led to the creation of the Latin word "luna - tic", which was originally used to describe those with epilepsy! But this gave rise to the fear of going insane because of the moon’s phases!

Selenophobia can also link to the fear of fabled creatures tied to the moon, like werewolves, or that horrifying floating face from the Legend of Zelda. As a result, some sufferers become nocturnal, sleeping during the day to keep a wary eye on the moon at night.

But amazingly, Selenophobia is relatively easy to treat! Phobia patients are often hesitant to leave their homes, even for treatment, because there’s a chance they might encounter the thing they fear. But because most treatment options operate during the day, it’s easier for Selenophobes to leave their house! This allows them to get the help they need to face their far-away fear.

Venustraphobia: Fear Of Beautiful Women

Have you ever tried to talk to someone attractive, only to find your tongue has tied itself in a knot and every pore on you is gushing sweat? This bodily betrayal isn’t unusual, but imagine just looking at a beautiful woman and suddenly experiencing a full-blown panic attack.

Sadly, that’s exactly what it’s like to have Venustraphobia; the unfortunate fear of women you find attractive. This term stems from the name Venus, who was the Roman goddess of love, beauty, and fertility. While it may have you hilariously imagining men cowering before goddess-like ladies, it’s really not a laughing matter. Just the thought of an attractive woman can cause sufferers to experience dizziness, nausea, and even vomiting!

Although, it’s not just heterosexual men this can affect. Heterosexual women and even children reportedly suffer from this fine-looking phobia! So, what on earth causes it? Experts believe that intense trauma involving beautiful women is to blame. Though whether that’s a bad breakup, an embarrassing rejection, or even having an abusive mother is down to the individual.

Pteridophobia: Fear Of Ferns

Rumor has it that the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, had a super strange phobia of his own. Even though he was the founder of many modern therapies that help people overcome their fears, he supposedly couldn’t stand ferns. That’s right, the leafy green plants loved by gardeners around the world!

The scientific name of this bizarre fear is derived from the Greek word pteris meaning fern, giving us Pteridophobia! Although, sadly, Freud’s fern fear appears to be something of an urban myth. He never mentions suffering from a fear of ferns in his works, but even though he wasn’t afraid, people today are! After all, some ferns actually are poisonous to humans.

And seeing how their leaves unnervingly unfurl from those strange little spirals (in the clip below), they can leave people feeling a little queasy.

Time-Lapse: Fern Growing New Fronds (15000×) by Danny Bale

Looking at this photo below, you can almost see clusters of baby snails or curled up centipedes crawling about on the leaves.

Ommetaphobia: Fear Of Eyes

Accidentally locking eyes with someone on public transport can make you feel a bit awkward, but for sufferers of Ommetaphobia it’s a waking nightmare! This phobia relates to a bizarrely extreme fear of eyes, and this can be of the sufferer’s own eyes, those of other people, or even just images of eyes.

Admittedly, the more you think about how these complex organs are just gelatinous orbs filled with thick, squishy jelly, the creepier they become. But this phobia isn’t limited to a fear of what eyes are as it can also come from a traumatic experience. Like getting something sharp stuck in the outermost lens of the eye, called the cornea, and having it removed with a needle!

Though that’s not the worst thing that can happen. If the cornea becomes clouded or scarred, some people have artificial corneas like this inserted into their eyes! Called a Boston Keratoprosthesis, the device contains 16 holes which allow the eye’s fluids to provide nutrients to a donor cornea graft!

As miraculously sight-saving as these procedures are, they can be seriously traumatic. This, in turn, can manifest as an irrational fear of anything going near the eyes, even helpful things like contact lenses or even eyedrops! But traumatic incidents aren’t always painful. Someone experiencing serious nerves during a public speech might associate the huge number of eyes on them with the fear they feel. Or just watching someone put in a fake eye can be pretty unnerving!

Caring for your artificial eye by Belfast Health and Social Care Trust

Omphalophobia: Fear Of Bellybuttons

Here’s a weird question: how many times a day do you think about your bellybutton? Not that many, right? After all, bellybuttons are pretty small, they’re not usually painful, and they don’t do anything. So why is it that people with Omphalophobia are nonsensically afraid of navels?

As strange as it sounds, omphalophobes just can’t stomach the sight of innies or outies, including their own! And touching them is absolutely out of the question. Some sufferers report that being poked there feels like someone’s rooting around in their insides! But they’re not exactly wrong.

Doctors have explained that when you stick something into your belly button, it sends a signal from the deep fibers lining your inner abdominal cavity to your spinal cord. And at that level, your spinal cord is responsible for relaying signals from your bladder, so it can make you feel like you need to pee!

As cool as that is, not everyone appreciates the feeling. So much so that just the sight of a bellybutton can send Omphalophobia sufferers into a spiral of anxiety! And while therapy can help sufferers deal with their naval niche; some go way further and opt for the extreme measure of having their belly button removed!

Trypophobia: Fear Of Holes

Lotuses are some of the most beautiful, aquatic flowers on the planet, but they also contain a nightmare inducing secret. The seedpods of the gorgeous blooms are made up of tightly packed, irregular holes which get wider and darker as the head dies. Did the image below make you want to set your screen on fire? Then you might be a sufferer of Trypophobia: the irrational fear of irregular holes or bumps.

Though it’s not a well-known condition, many people report feeling a serious aversion to horrid holes like these! And that’s a problem, because they can occur just about everywhere: from rocks on the beach and pancake batter, to skin indents, vegetable roots and even sponges! But what is it that makes them universally unsettling? Well, so far, science doesn’t have an answer.

Because it affects so many people, there should, in theory, be a shared evolutionary reason to be afraid. Like associating the closely packed patterns on the backs of venomous and poisonous animals with the danger of being hurt by them. But, incredibly, no studies have been able to establish that concrete link!

One theory suggests that the fear may link to the bumpy appearance of serious skin diseases, like Pitted Keratolysis, which is caused by a bacterial infection. But if this is a deep-rooted fear of skin diseases, being afraid of the infection itself, rather than the cause of it, doesn’t make much sense.

While its origins are still a mystery, you might be able to understand why a trypophobic trigger like the sickening Suriname Toad leaves people screaming. These critters develop in 60 to 100 eggs embedded in their mom’s back and, when they hatch, they hideously erupt out of the honeycombed holes!

Pipa pipa - Surinam Toad Babies Emerging by TheRoachKeeper

Gnomophobia: Fear Of Gnomes

The little hats and bushy beards of happy little stone gnomes can really bring a garden to life! Though for sufferers of Gnomophobia, these ornaments are more like stony hellscapes. This chronic fear of garden gnomes is another phobia that isn’t widely known, even though several people have reported it.

But it’s hard to see how the gnome’s friendly expressions, adorable outfits and totally inanimate nature could cause fear in any way! However, one woman who appeared on the Tyra Banks show linked it back to watching "The Leprechaun" horror film when she was a child. In the film, an evil, pint-sized villain commits a series of violent atrocities.

Traumatized by the scary scenes, she linked the lecherous leprechaun’s appearance to that of garden gnomes! Similar horror stories, like the kids "Goosebumps" book series, describes lawn gnomes coming to life and turning children into trampolines or playing tug of war with their bodies! If those were kids books, no wonder people grew up terrified of them.

Globophobia: Fear Of Balloons

It’s not a party without a couple of balloons, that’s just one of the unwritten rules of society! But there are some people who can’t stand to be in the same room with these pretty party accessories. Known as Globophobia, the fear of balloons is a hyperinflated sense of fear that floats around these celebratory staples. Just the sight, sound, touch, or even smell of them is enough to send sufferers into dizzying panic attacks. For others, it’s so bad that even talking about them makes their skin crawl.

Just about everyone has been startled by one of these things unexpectedly popping behind them. It’s a hilarious prank for some, but for young kids, unpredictable and loud noises can be utterly terrifying! Some will scream hysterically, run away, and even hide. And as they grow up, this fear can inflate into full-blown Globophobia, which see’s sufferers avoiding balloons at all costs.

Oprah Winfrey famously admitted that she suffers from the debilitating phobia, as the popping sound reminds her vividly of gunfire! While some people learn to live with the fear by avoiding social events like fairs and parties, the right professional treatment can help burst this phobia for good!

Phobophobia: Fear Of Fear

If you actually suffered from Phobophobia, there’s a good chance you wouldn’t have made it to the end of this article due to your crippling fear of fear! Technically, phobophobia is the fear of developing phobia’s, as well as the fear of fear itself!

Fear is necessary for our survival, and when we’re scared our body’s natural fight-or-flight response kicks in: either we face whatever scares us head on, or we run away! But this automatic, physiological response can make your heart race, your breathing rapid, and your entire body tense up. While it effectively prepares you to take immediate physical action, not many people find the experience pleasant. So much so, that some develop a fear to the reaction of fear itself!

This is a vicious spiral that leads not only to a fear of being in scary situations, but of developing phobias in the future. And as cosmically cruel as this sounds, having this impossibly ironic fear actually increases the likelihood of developing a phobia. Well, it may not be the most common phobia, but it’s definitely the cruelest!

I hope you were amazed at the strangest phobias people suffer from! Thanks for reading.