"-phobia" redirects here. For the class of psychological disorders, see Phobia.
The English suffixes -phobia, -phobic, -phobe (from Greek φόβος phobos, "fear") occur in technical usage in psychiatry to construct words that describe irrational, abnormal, unwarranted, persistent, or disabling fear as a mental disorder (e.g. agoraphobia), in chemistry to describe chemical aversions (e.g. hydrophobic), in biology to describe organisms that dislike certain conditions (e.g. acidophobia), and in medicine to describe hypersensitivity to a stimulus, usually sensory (e.g. photophobia). In common usage, they also form words that describe dislike or hatred of a particular thing or subject (e.g. homophobia). The suffix is antonymic to -phil-.
For more information on the psychiatric side, including how psychiatry groups phobias such as agoraphobia, social phobia, or simple phobia, see phobia. The following lists include words ending in -phobia, and include fears that have acquired names. In some cases, the naming of phobias has become a word game, of notable example being a 1998 humorous article published by BBC News.[1] In some cases, a word ending in -phobia may have an antonym with the suffix -phil-, e.g. Germanophobe/Germanophile.
Many -phobia lists circulate on the Internet, with words collected from indiscriminate sources, often copying each other. Also, a number of psychiatric websites exist that at the first glance cover a huge number of phobias, but in fact use a standard text to fit any phobia and reuse it for all unusual phobias by merely changing the name. Sometimes it leads to bizarre results, such as suggestions to cure "prostitute phobia".[2] Such practice is known as content spamming and is used to attract search engines.
An article published in 1897 in American Journal of Psychology noted "the absurd tendency to give Greek names to objects feared (which, as Arndt says, would give us such terms as klopsophobia – fear of thieves, triakaidekaphobia – fear of the number 13....)".[3]
^The A–Z of Fear, a 30 October 1998 BBC News unsigned article in the "Entertainment" section
^"Content Spammers Help You Overcome Prostitute Phobia". Webpronews.com. 25 August 2005. Archived from the original on 13 February 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
^Hall GS (1897). "A Study of Fears". American Journal of Psychology. 8 (2). University of Illinois Press: 157. doi:10.2307/1410940. JSTOR 1410940.
psychiatry groups phobias such as agoraphobia, social phobia, or simple phobia, see phobia. The following lists include words ending in -phobia, and include...
injury phobia, and panic attacks, often found in agoraphobia and emetophobia. Around 75% of those with phobias have multiple phobias. Phobias can be divided...
length of conversations and the range of people with whom conversations are held. Listofphobias Nomophobia Marshall, John R. (1995). "Telephone Phobia"....
common to all phobias (agoraphobia, social phobia, and specific phobias), strongly predisposes a person to specific phobias. The recognition of an inherited...
also evidence for the validity of a genetic component contributing to blood-injection-injury phobias and animal phobias, although this evidence did not...
magazine (1996–1997) "Hydrophobia", the 13th track on the Risk of Rain 2 soundtrack Listofphobias This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the...
control arm in such studies. Listofphobias Health hazards of air travel Flight shame Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Fear of flying. "aerophobia". Merriam-Webster...
described as a specific phobia might depend on whether the person mainly responds with fear or with disgust. Because phobias involve fear, a response...
irrational fears and phobias. Specific phobias and syndromes that are similar to scopophobia include erythrophobia, the fear of blushing (which is found...
irrational fear or phobiaof heights, especially when one is not particularly high up. It belongs to a category of specific phobias, called space and motion...
classes of dangerous stimuli". Rachman provides an argument for this theory in his article: "Phobias". He agrees with the statement that phobias generally...
of dogs and canines in general. Cynophobia is classified as a specific phobia, under the subtype "animal phobias". According to Timothy O. Rentz of the...
Perspective as an "unusual" specific phobia. Both symptoms and remedies of ichthyophobia are common to most specific phobias. American psychologist John B....
symptoms of anxiety such as light-headedness, rapid heartbeat, sweating, and/or shaking in the presence of germs/contamination. Like many specific phobias, the...
be treated by any standard treatment for specific phobias. The standard treatment of animal phobia is systematic desensitization, and this can be done...
them. Portuguese shopkeepers use ceramic frogs to deter Roma people. Listofphobias "Psychiatry Specialty Board Review for the DSM-IV" (1996) Psychology...
they are sedative and addicting. Aquaphobia ListofphobiasPhobia Sinking of the Titanic Specific phobia "thalass(o)-, comb. form". OED Online. Oxford...
aphenphosmphobia) is a rare specific phobia that involves the fear of touching or of being touched. As with other phobias and anxiety conditions, haphephobia...
trigger. In the DSM-5, agoraphobia is classified as a phobia along with specific phobias and social phobia. Other conditions that can produce similar symptoms...
ZooPhobia is an American webcomic originally published in 2012 by Vivienne "VivziePop" Medrano, from which she later loosely adapted characters and plotlines...
and cat phobia. A person with this phobia is known as an ailurophobe. Ailurophobia is relatively uncommon compared to other animal phobias, such as ophidiophobia...
eschatology Curse and mark of Cain Day-year principle Fifth Monarchists Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Human branding Listofphobias, including Numerophobia...
bee phobias. A fear of bees can affect quality of life with anxiety around outdoor activities, and people with a bee phobia may experience symptoms of panic...
share fears, phobias". TheIndyChannel.com. Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2013-02-01. "Top 10 Weirdest Celebrity Phobias: The Famous...
λυγή, lygos, meaning "twilight", and φόβος, phobos, meaning "fear") Listofphobias William Lyons (1985). Emotion. p. 75. ISBN 0-521-31639-1. Adele Pillitteri...
many phobias, such as trembling, crying, sweating, panicked reactions, sudden feeling of using the bathroom, nausea, feeling of dread, insertion of the...
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