Recently I was at my girlfriend's house when a little spider walked across the floor. All of the sudden my girlfriend jumped on the couch and started screaming. "Get him, get the spider," she yelled, she even started hyperventilating. Once she calmed down she told me she had arachnophobia. I wondered: what turns a fear into phobia?So I decide to do a little research on phobias, which is the most common mental disorder in the U.S. Believe it or not there are hundreds of them -- everything from coulrophobia, fear of clowns, to gymnophobia, fear of nudity, to emetophobia which is the fear of vomiting.
People whose fears cause any of the following -- anxiety, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath or panic actually have a phobia. Some of the most common phobias are claustrophobia, the fear of enclosed spaces, acrophobia fear of heights and sociophobia the fear of socializing or social gatherings.
Our top searched phobia is agoraphobia which is the fear of going outside. Do you or anyone you know have a phobia? Do you know of any helpful treatments for phobia? Check out more fears by searching for phobias on AOL Search.
Top Searched Phobias on
1. Agoraphobia
2. Acrophobia
3. Claustrophobia
4. Arachnophobia
5. Emetophobia
6. Gymnophobia
7. Coulrophobia
8. Aichmophobia
9. Necrophobia
10. Sociophobia
More Sponsored Links For: anxiety disorders, manic depressive, social anxiety
posted by Heidi
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COMMENTS
I have a fear of being out in the woods at night. Is can get to be a problem because I live in a woody area, a.k.a. maine. Is thier anyone else afraid of dark woods?
By kate on Mar 6th 2008 at 8:28PM
YaY for Aichmophobia!!! I'm not afraid of needles, but I'm terrified of knives (which fall under the category of pointed objects). Anything bigger than a steak knife and I freak out.
By welshierox on Mar 6th 2008 at 8:30PM
well me imma afaid of clowns, since i was 1year old. and also sociophobia and sometimes agoraphobia wht can i do?
By ursexylokita on Mar 6th 2008 at 8:30PM
I have a fear of string...there, I said it.
By Nicole on Mar 6th 2008 at 8:30PM
well me imma afaid of clowns, since i was 1year old. and also sociophobia and sometimes agoraphobia what can i do?
By ursexylokita on Mar 6th 2008 at 8:32PM
Okay, what about 'RATS'....It hurts to even type it. Nothing freaks me out more. I can't even go into a pet store until I know EXACTALY where they are kept. If I happen to come across one, I, for lack of a better term, 'FREAK OUT'. I cry, I scream, I throw things...Even if I'm channel surfing and happen to see one on TV, I cry. What up wit dat?
By Stacy on Mar 6th 2008 at 8:37PM
that's all folks
By stacy on Mar 6th 2008 at 8:38PM
Spiders and Bees mostly.
Spiders is a natural fear for me. But bees is because i was swarmed once and stung over 20 times in less than a minute.
By bluescorpion97 on Mar 6th 2008 at 8:42PM
I have keraunophobia, the fear of lightning, and lilapsophobia, fear of tornadoes... I'm an absolute mess during severe weather and I live in Texas... I like thunderstorms, but if I can see the lightning, I become a total wreck. I can't move, I cry, it's really terrible.
I didn't used to be, I've always had lilapsophobia, but the fear of lightning was rather recent, only about four years ago. I was at the mall with my sister, and we walked outside, I saw lightning streak across the sky and I screamed and bolted inside. It was so weird, my sister and I were both shocked cuz I've never done that before.
It's embarassing and debilitating, people tease me about it. I had a traumatizing experience about eight years before that where I saw lightning strike a building in front of me, but other than that time it hadn't fazed me. I didn't know phobias could appear suddenly because it did with me...
By Amber on Mar 6th 2008 at 8:45PM
Pantophobia--the fear of everything! Charlie Brown had this.
By JohnQ on Mar 6th 2008 at 8:46PM
haha what?
By hannah on Mar 7th 2008 at 10:48AM
I have a phobia, its being left alone or left behind, or being forgotten. I dont know what its called but if i dont talk to my friends like every hour i freak out. Or if i cant get ahold of them..i want to cry.
By Marissa555 on Mar 6th 2008 at 8:48PM
have any of you heard of hippotomonstrosesquipdaliophobia? It is a real phobia, and is the fear of long words.
By m on Mar 6th 2008 at 8:53PM
i am severly SEVERLY afraid of clowns. i am 11 years old, and everytime someone even honks in my face(which they do)i cover my ears and almost start crying. its really embarrasing, and last week, we had to do an art project on clwns. i got so scared, but my teach didnt know, but i asked 2do a mime instead.long live the Coulrophobiacs!!!
By violingirl200 on Mar 6th 2008 at 8:55PM
I have ornithophobia, fear of birds, but more specifically peristerophobia, fear of pigeons... A story I read in 9th grade called Birds scarred me for life...but I'm much better now, I learn to deal with it after I got a tattoo on my back of a bird, I think about it every time I start to tense up!
By meOmi on Mar 6th 2008 at 8:58PM
I can't stand vomiting .Everybody in school has some sort of knowlage that i can't stand puking, and today the girl i sit next to in homeroom started feeling sick. when i walked in, every one said stuff to me like "heidi, micheal thinks she's gonna hurl."
and the second i heard that my heart started to beat really fast, and i got really quaky and everything.
luckily, micheal is not in my second peirod, so i gh taled it out of teir.
By Heidi Smith on Mar 6th 2008 at 9:01PM
i HATE clowns!!
By knottieclover on Mar 6th 2008 at 9:06PM
Ummm I have total caustraphobia. ( howev you spell it)Except its on and off. All I know is when in an airplane i always have to be on the end.. Others examples but I got to go. My friends don't believe me buts its totally true. Although, when crammed together outdoors i'm fine. Prob. because the air and such..
By lexster858 on Mar 6th 2008 at 9:05PM
Britney Spears naked again: http://celebritieshotvideos.com/videos.php?v=Britney_Spears
By Alex on Mar 6th 2008 at 9:10PM
i have a pretty severe version of agoraphobia, but i have the "type 2" version of it... as in, i cant handle going anywhere i'm unfamiliar with. like i cant go to a store ive never been to without someone i trust leading me around. and its pretty bad... like i play World of Warcraft, and i cant go to places IN GAME that ive never been to without a friends character with me, yeah, its bad. if i dont know anyone on, i sit in one of the major cities until someone does get online... on top of that i have social anxiety, borderline sociophobia, which makes things even harder. its fantastic.
By Amora on Mar 6th 2008 at 9:13PM