English version | My strange madness!

15 Jul 2020
By Sara Andrade

Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? A lot of people. Almost everyone, we dare say. But there are paralyzing fears that are not so consensual. Like “fear” of belly buttons. Huh?!

Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? A lot of people. Almost everyone, we dare say. But there are paralyzing fears that are not so consensual. Like “fear” of belly buttons. Huh?!

FOTOGRAFIA: GETTY IMAGES.

Not fear, phobia. Only he/she who has it can truly understand the difference between the two of them. It’s the line that separates sanity from insanity, normal from deviant, expectable from the absurd. Phobia isn’t simply crossing the road if you see a spider or getting goosebumps from looking down from up high. Even though, ethnologically speaking, Phobos means “fear” or “terror”, phobia is more, much more than simply being scared of or an instante reaction to a potential danger; it’s a state of panic in such a way that, facing a certain experience or object, means feeling an anxiety that significantly greater than the real danger the situation itself presents. Meaning there’s a manifest irrational fear that ends up limiting the experience of he/she who feels it, even interfering with their lifestyle. Divided into specifics, social and agoraphobia - depending on wether it’s a phobia related with certain animals, natural environment situations, blood, wounds or specific situations (common phobias are fear of spiders, snakes and heights); a phobia related to the judgement from other people, social judgement; or a phobia linked to fearing a situation from where you cannot escape, respectively - all tend to get worse, if not treated, conditioning more and more the life of those who suffer from them. Treatment, usually, is made up of psychotherapy sessions that train the mind to resist the involuntary fear and surpass these exaggerated and irrational aversions. We’re not saying that, even with treatment, if you see a snake, you won’t feel the need to maintain social distancing - even if the snake is wearing a mandatory mask -, but treatment allows reducing and alienating panic attacks, too much affliction and potential fainting associated with phobias. Namely, when that phobia addresses themes and situations seemingly common that, normally, wouldn’t spark fear or trigger your survival instinct. Like belly buttons. 

Omphalophobia: irrational fear of belly buttonsIn or out, more or less round, angular, oval, it doesn’t matter; these people have no way of judging a belly button because just the thought of having to face them makes them physically nauseous. These individuals are also terrified to touch or being touched in this umbilical scar, so, if this summer you cross paths with anyone suffering from it, choose a bathing suit over a bikini.

Genuphobia: aversion to kneesFrom the same director that brought you the irrational fear of belly buttons, get to know now the paralyzing fear of knees. Sufferers from this phobia are adamantly scared of their knees, other peoples knees, even the act of kneeling. From the latin Genu (knee), it’s sometimes (like most phobias) sparked by some sort of traumatic and negative experience and can have many levels of intensity: there’s those who just can’t see them in the wild, and there are those who can’t bear watching them even in movies or pictures.

Nomophobia: fear of lack of communication from a mobile deviceWe’re all potential sufferers from this phobia, translated in the angst and over-the-top discomfort when you feel you’re unable to communicate with someone or are out of reach because your without cell net, battery or lack of internet on your mobile phone. The term is recent and the prefix Nomo is short for No-Mobile.

Arachibutyrophobia: fear of peanut butter getting stuck on the roof of your mouthThe struggle is real. Though not a sufferer of the said aversion, we can relate to this first world problem. There’s no better workout for keeping your tongue muscles fit than trying to unstick that nut butter from the top of your mouth. But we wouldn’t refrain from eating a good ol’ peanut butter for it - which, we presume, isn’t a choice applied to those who suffer from this phobia. And saying peanut butter means similar textures. Or even those little popcorn shells that get stuck in your gums forever.

Pogonophobia: aversion to beardsHipsters, beware. Pogonphobic coming. If you feel a pathological fear of beards, avoid trending coffeeshops in the city centre as well as shopping centres on the Holiday Season: he or she who suffers from this phobia can have palpitations, tremors, anxiety, nausea and even panic attacks simply from the sight of a beard or other kind of facial hair. Causes may be related to a negative or traumatic event in the past, connected to bearded men, and the mind, unconsciously, creates a phobic answer to it, in return, as a defense mechanism. For instance, after September 11th, 2001, pogonophobia cases increased because of the association with the authors of the terrorist act. Also, some people see beards as a trait for lack of hygiene and associate them with disease, misfortune and homeless.

Metrophobia: panic of poetryA sad life indeed, the one of those who suffer from this aversion. Whoever has the misfortune of being terrified of poetry hates writing, reading or listening to poetry reciting. It’s not simply disliking or being bored with this type of writing, it’s an irrational fear often developed in school for having to dissect poems, classify them in scales and finding meanings. Phobia can be general or channeled to poems in a specific style or on certain subjects. 

Eisoptrophobia or catoptrophobia or spectrophobia: fear of mirrors and of looking at own reflectionPeople who suffer from this aversion may have created some sort of immunity to taking selfies for social media, as it is a phobia referred to an irrational fear or reflection. Those who have it are scared of seeing in the reflection of a mirror ghosts and other beings and that sort of paranoia is exacerbated by superstitions related to the object itself. 

Lachanophobia: irrational fear of vegetablesThis phobia is unsuitable for vegans. Victims of this aversion are scared of vegetables in particular, wether for their shape, color, texture and it causes them nausea and anxiety. It’s understandable: we always thought that broccoli hiding in the back of the vegetables drawer had something to hide… PS: if the vegetable in question is garlic, know that that person suffers from, specifically, aliumphobia.

Philemaphobia: panic of kissingWhat do you mean, you don’t like kisses? How do you know the happy ending of a movie, feel the care of kissing goodnight, the cordial touch of lips in your hand? You don’t, because whoever suffers from philemaphobia gets their mouth dry and their hands trembling just from the thought of kissing. It is said it is related with philophobia, the fear of falling in love. In philemaphobia, there are no kissing allowed. There was already a group of people bracing themselves for Covid-19 times.

Ancraophobia or anemohobia: irrational fear of windDon’t exhale deeply around those who suffer from this phobia. They are terrified of everything related to windy and drafts. Apparently, the answer, my friend, is not blowing in the wind, these people wish with all their heart.

Heliophobia: fear of sunlightEven with no medical background, it seems safe to say that the probability of a vitamin D deficit from whoever suffers from this phobia is somewhat likely. Terrified from the sun and sunlight, it is a pathology which particularly impacts a day to day way of living, considering the difficulty in abiding schedules and commutes that imply sun exposure of some sort.

Venustraphobia: fear of beautiful womenAlso known as caliginephobia (not to be mistaken with gynophobia, which is the fear of women in general), is an aversion within social phobias and is related to the irrational fear or beautiful women. Symptoms include tachycardia, dry mouth, a sudden exaggerated cheek blush as well as a certain inability to articulate meaningful phrases - we’ve all been there. It’s normal a certain nervousness, due to excitement and chemicals produced by the brain, the problem is the more intense version of these symptoms, which causes so much discomfort that any contact with an attractive woman is non-viable.

Triskaidekaphobia: aversion to number 13If you suffer from this phobia, we don’t mean to alarm you, but this is the 13th phobia from this list. Whoever fears from this superstitious number, deeply believes its bad luck factor, a belief that’s been around since Ancient Greece, being considered by numerologists as a number that’s not in harmony with the laws of the Universe. Of course it doesn’t help that Jesus was betrayed by Judas in the Last Supper, where there were 13 people at the table. One of the most famous victims of this phobia is author Stephen King, which assured in an interview that, when he’s writing, he never stops if that, or a mustiple of 13, is the number of the page he’s on. “When I’m reading, I don’t stop in pages 94, 193 or 382, because the sum of each number totals 13”. It’s also because of these situations that many hotels don't have the 13th floor or the room number 13, or that some airlines banished row 13 from their planes.

Optophobia: fear of opening one’s eyesMetaphorically, a lot of people suffers from this. In reality, the number is rarer, but it’s a real panic. Whoever suffers from this aversion tends to prefer staying home, because going out and keeping your eyes closed seems to us and impossible task. It comes, like many phobias, as a result of a traumatic episode. 

Ithyphallopobia: irrational fear of erectionsAs in, fear of an erect penis. In the man’s case, aversion might be related to the lack of control of the said erection, meaning, not being able to predict or control the time and date when the penis can suddenly become erect creates and anxiety crisis that may evolve to a panic attack.

Phobophobia: irrational fear of having phobiasIt’s the mother of all phobias - the aversion to having phobias. In a sort of phobic inception, it’s like being afraid of fear itself, creating a vicious cycle of anxiety. It’s also the fear of getting sick, in an exacerbated version of a hypochondriac state, with one ending up treating illnesses one doesn’t have.

Pantophobia: pathological and inexplicable fear of everything It’s the phobia that doesn’t discriminate against: the pantophobic  is afraid of everything, including of feeling fear, meaning pantophobia includes phobiahobia, but is not restricted to it. People who suffer from it live in a constant state of terror, remaining in a constant situation of permanent vigilance. Each case is a case, but it is said that its origin comes from past phobias, more specific ones, like arachnophobia (irrational fear of spiders), in a sort of evolution from more detailed phobias.

*Originally published on Vogue Portugal's The Madness Issue.

Sara Andrade By Sara Andrade

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