Do you have Arachibutyrophobia?

I'm sure we're already familiar with claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces), arachnophbia (fear of spiders) and agoraphobia (fear of open spaces). I myself probably suffer from a milder form of glossophobia (fear of public speaking). Whenever I have to speak to a large crowd or present a paper in a seminar, i start sweating profusely, my legs turn to jelly and my mind can sometimes become blank, ideas just seem to disappear and I usually have extreme difficulty looking into the crowd or audience. I also have a fear of walking on cement drain coverings, I wonder what that kind of phobia is called. Is there a name for it??? I don't mind walking on the metal grates that cover drains but i just can't walk on the cement ones. Funny huh?

But has anyone ever heard of Arachibutyrophobia? What kinda phobia is that you ask? It's a really weird and funny kind of phobia but i'm sure people who suffer from this kind of phobia will not find it funny at all. Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. It may sound funny but the problem often significantly impacts the quality of life. It can cause panic attacks and keep people apart from loved ones and business associates. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, rapid breathing, irregular heartbeat, sweating, nausea, and overall feelings of dread, although everyone experiences fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth in their own way and may have different symptoms.

Another weird phobia is papaphobia. Hmmm....... fear of fathers?? Ha ha! No it's not fear of fathers, papaphobia is the fear of the pope or the papacy. To me this phobia is weird because i guess here in Malaysia the chances of ever coming in contact or seeing the pope in real life and not on TV, is slim to none. Maybe papaphobia is actually fear of authority, i don't know because to me why should anyone fear the pope. He's not a psycho, he's not someone who would personally seek you out to victimize you. So, there wouldn't be any cause for fearing the pope, at least in my opinion. But I guess that's why it's called a phobia because usually phobia means irrational fear of something.

But phobias are not something to joke about. There are some phobias that can be really debilitating, like agoraphobia (fear of open spaces) for instance. People who suffer from this phobia are cut away from society, in it's most extreme form, you may find that you can't even leave the house. Which, to say the least, is highly disruptive...... you can't join your friends for a shopping trip or a picnic, you can't go out to work or even pop out to buy a newspaper.

Agoraphobia may 'creep up on you'. To start with, you may get an occasional panic attack when you're outside or in an unfamiliar place. Then gradually your agoraphobia or panic attack happens more often. Eventually, the agoraphobic fear may become so great that you daren't leave your house. Your brain goes into permanent "survival mode" and tells you that you are only safe inside the four familiar walls of your house. I can only imagine how terrible it must feel to be imprisoned in your own home, not by someone but by your own irrational fear.

There are many other weird phobias that I've read about. Among the ones that I find interesting are:

1. Aulophobia -- fear of flutes.

2. Barophobia -- fear of gravity

3. Bathmophobia -- fear of walking

4. Cathisophobia -- fear of sitting down

5. Chrometophobia -- fear of money

6. Clinophobia -- fear of going to bed (What happens if a person suffers from cathisophobia and clinophobia, how do they sleep?)

7. Domatophobia -- fear of being in a house (Where do these people live then?)

8. Geumophobia -- fear of tastes or flavors

9. Hygrophobia -- fear of liquids in any form, especially wine and water

10. Logophobia -- fear of words

11. Ommetaphobia -- fear of eyes

12. Phobophobia -- fear of fear itself

13. Phonemophobia -- fear of thinking

14. Telephonophobia -- fear of the telephone

For a list of other phobias, try here ----- Weird Phobias or Phobia List