-phob-

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This article discusses the use/abuse of the suffix "-phobia". See Phobia article for medical issues.

Template:Table Suffixes The English suffixes -phobia, -phobic, -phobe (of Greek origin) occur in technical usage in psychiatry to construct words that describe irrational, disabling fear as a mental disorder (e.g., agoraphobia), in chemistry to describe chemical aversions (e.g., hydrophobic), and in biology to descibe organisms that dislike certain conditions (e.g., acidophobia). In common usage they also form words that describe dislike or hatred of a particular thing or subject.

Many people apply the suffix "-phobia" inappropriately to mild or irrational fears with no serious substance; however, earlier senses relate to psychiatry which studies serious phobias which disable a person's life. For more information on the psychiatric side of this, including how psychiatry groups phobias as "agoraphobia", "social phobia", or "simple phobia", see phobia. Treatment for phobias may include desensitization (graduated exposure therapy) or flooding.

The following lists include words ending in -phobia, and include fears that have acquired names. In many cases people have coined these words as neologisms, and only a few of them occur in the medical literature. In many cases, the naming of phobias has become a word game.

Note too that no things, substances, or even concepts exist which someone, somewhere may not fear, sometimes irrationally so. A list of all possible phobias would run into many thousands and it would require a whole book to include them all, certainly more than an encyclopedia would be able to contain. So this article just gives an idea of the kind of phobias which one may encounter, certainly not all.

Most of these terms tack the suffix -phobia onto a Greek word for the object of the fear (some use a combination of a Latin root with the Greek suffix, which many classicists consider linguistically impure).

In some cases (particularly the less medically-oriented usages), a word ending in -phobia may have an antonym ending in -philia - thus: coprophobia / coprophilia, Germanophobia / Germanophilia.

Phobia lists

A large number of "-phobia" lists circulate on the Internet, with words collected from indiscriminate sources, often copying each other.

Some regard any attempt to create a list of phobias as an irrational endeavor because, theoretically, a person could become conditioned to have a fear of anything. Also, a significant number of unscrupulous psychiatric websites exist that at the first glance cover a huge number of phobias, but in fact use a standard text (see an example below) to fit any phobia and reuse it for all unusual phobias by merely changing the name. For a couple of striking examples.

"... Poor performance or grades. Promotions that pass you by. moths phobia will likely cost you tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of your lifetime, let alone the cost to your health and quality of life. Now Moths Phobia can be gone for less than the price of a round-trip airline ticket."

"... The expert phobia team at CTRN's Phobia Clinic is board-certified to help with Russophobia and a variety of related problems. The success rate of our 24 hour program is close to 100%"

"...We don't use hypnosis for Prostitute Phobia but our modern techniques are equally relaxing and enjoyable. Clients immediately notice that they feel different. Once the unconscious mind feels safe and learns how to respond appropriately, it will always know - so the results are permanent. Prostitute Phobia is gone. Forever." [1] [2]

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Standard "-phobia" description template

Substituting the string "<something>" with the name of any specific phobia in the text below will give you a fairly correct description. Numerous websites that promise cures for thousands of phobias take this template approach. This does not necessarily mean that they sell snake oil, because the psychological mechanisms of most specific phobias resemble each other.

<Something>phobia means "fear of <something>".

The condition 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 <something>phobia in their own way and may have different symptoms.

Though doctors often prescribe various potent drugs for <something>phobia, severe side-effects and/or withdrawal symptoms can ensue. Moreover, drugs do not "cure" <something>phobia. At best they temporarily suppress the symptoms through chemical interaction.

The unconscious mind creates <something>phobia, like other phobias, as a protective mechanism. Probably, at some point in your past, an event occurred linking failure or defeat and emotional trauma. Whilst the original catalyst may have been a real-life scare of some kind, myriad, benign events can also trigger the condition: movies, TV, or perhaps seeing someone else experience trauma.

The actual phobia manifests itself in different ways. Some sufferers experience it almost all the time, others just in response to direct stimuli. Everyone has their own unique formula for when and how to feel bad.

While technically we can call anything a phobia, the actual definition of a phobia involves having an irrational fear of something that can cause no physical harm or trauma. For example, to have a fear of (say) cotton balls or of feathers classes as an irrational fear and falls into the correct category of a phobia because such things could in no way cause harm to you. Whereas a fear of (say) a large predatory animal or of a hurricane, as a rational fear, does not classify as a phobia, because such encounters carry a possibility of harm or death.

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Psychological conditions

In many cases specialists prefer to avoid the suffix -phobia and use more descriptive terms, see, e.g., Category:Personality disorders, anxiety disorders, avoidant personality disorder, love-shyness, love sickness.

Acrophobia, Altophobia — Fear of heights.
Agoraphobia — Fear of wide open spaces, crowds or uncontrolled social conditions.
Algophobia — Fear of pain
Androphobia — Fear of males.
Anthropomorphobia — Fear or dislike of anthropomorphic traits.
Aquaphobia, Hydrophobia — Fear of water, specifically the morbid fear of drowning.
Astraphobia, Astrapophobia, Brontophobia, Keraunophobia — Fear of thunder, lightning and storms. It occurs especially commonly in young children.
Aphenphosmphobia, Chiraptophobia, Haphephobia, Haptephobia — Fear of being touched.
Athazagoraphobia — Fear of being forgotten, ignored or forgetting.
Aviophobia, Aviatophobia — Fear of flying.
Bacillophobia, Bacteriophobia, Microbiophobia — Fear of microbes, bacteria.
Bathophobia — Fear of depth.
Cainophobia, Cainotophobia, Cenophobia, Centophobia, same as Neophobia — Fear of newness, novelty.
Cibophobia — Aversion to food.
Claustrophobia — Fear of confined spaces.
Clinophobia — Fear of going to bed or falling asleep.
Coulrophobia — Fear of clowns. ( or more specifically evil clowns. )
Dentophobia, Odontophobia, Dental phobia — Fear of dentists and dental procedures.
Emetophobia — Fear of vomiting.
Ephebiphobia — Fear/dislike of teenagers.
Ergasiophobia, Ergophobia — Fear of work or functioning, or a surgeon's fear of operating.
Erotophobia — Fear of sexual love or sexual questions.
Genophobia — Fear of sexual intercourse
Gephyrophobia - Fear of crossing bridges.
Glossophobia — Fear of speaking in public or of trying to speak.
Gymnophobia — Fear of nudity.
Heliophobia — Fear of sunlight
Hemophopia (Haemophobia) — Fear of blood
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia — Fear of the number 666.
Homophobia — Fear of sameness, monotony, homosexuality or of becoming homosexual. (This word has become a common political term, and many people interpret it as a slur.)
Kainolophobia, Kainophobia, same as Neophobia — Fear of newness, novelty.
Lalophobia, Laliophobia — Fear of speaking.
Ligyrophobia — Fear of loud noises.
Lygophobia — see Nyctophobia
Mysophobia — Fear of germs, contamination or dirt
Neophobia — Fear of newness, novelty.
Nyctophobia, Lygophobia — Fear of darkness.
Odontophobia, same as dental phobia
Paraskavedekatriaphobia — Fear of Friday the 13th.
Radiophobia — Fear of radiation or X-rays.
Sitophobia, cibophobia — Aversion to food, synonymous to Anorexia nervosa
Sociophobia — Fear/dislike of society or people in general. (see also "sociopath")
Taphephobia — fear of the grave, or fear of being placed in a grave while still alive.
Technophobia — Fear of technology.
Terdekaphobia, Triskaidekaphobia — Fear of the number 13. Having a superstition.
Trypanophobia - Fear of needles or of pointed objects.
Xenophobia — Fear of strangers, foreigners, or aliens.
Zapatophobia - Fear of shoes, socks, or sandals.

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Zoophobias

Ailurophobia, Elurophobia, Felinophobia, Galeophobia, Gatophobia — Dislike of cats.
Apiphobia, Melissophobia — Fear of bees.
Arachnophobia — Fear of arachnids, usually specific to spiders.
Cynophobia — Fear of dogs or of rabies.
Entomophobia, Insectophobia — Fear of insects. (Also the orchid genus Entomophobia)
Equinophobia, Hippophobia — Fear of horses.
Herpetophobia — Fear of reptiles
Mottephobia — Aversion to moths and butterflies.
Musophobia — Fear of mice and/or rats.
Myrmecophobia — Fear of ants.
Ophidiophobia — Fear of snakes.
Ornithophobia — Fear of birds.
Olfactophobia, Osmophobia — Fear of smells.
Selachophobia- Fear of sharks.
Zoophobia — Fear of animals.

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Non-psychological conditions

Hydrophobia — Fear of water, a symptom of rabies.
Photophobia — aversion to light

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Biology, chemistry

Biologists use a number of "-phobia/-phobic" terms to describe predispositions by plants and animals against certain conditions. See for antonyms in "Biology" section of the "-phil-" article.

Acidophobia/Acidophobic — Preference for non-acidic conditions
Heliophobia/Heliophobic — Aversion to sunlight.
Hydrophobic/Hydrophobe - A property of being repelled by water.
Lipophobic - A property of being insoluble in lipids
Photophobic, a negative phototaxis response.
Superhydrophobe - Extremely difficult to get wet
Thermophobia/Thermophobic — Fear/dislike of heat.
Xerophobia/Xerophobic — Fear/dislike of dryness.

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Ethnic/national/religious phobias

One can readily use the suffix "-phobia" to coin a term that denotes a particular anti-ethnic sentiment, such as Francophobia. Often a synonym with the prefix "anti-" already exists: polonophobia vs. anti-Polonism. See "List of anti-ethnic terms" for more examples. Anti-religious sentiments are expressed in terms such as Christianophobia and Islamophobia.

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Joke phobias

Aibohphobia — A joke term for the fear of palindromes, using (of course) a palindromic word.
Anatidaephobia — Fear that somewhere, somehow, a duck is watching you (fictional, from a Gary Larson cartoon published in The Far Side Gallery, 4).
Arachibutyrophobia — Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth. It had circulated in the Internet for some time until it landed, e.g., at the CTRN Phobia Clinic website (in a way described above, in the section "Standard "-phobia" description template"): "Working one-on-one with one of our team, with guaranteed lifetime elimination of Sticky Peanut Butter Phobia. From $1497 and up."
Luposlipaphobia — The fear of being pursued by timber wolves around a kitchen table while wearing socks on a newly-waxed floor (fictional, also from Gary Larson in the cartoon series "The Far Side")
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia — Fear of long words. Hippopoto- means "big" due to its allusion to the Greek term hippopotamos (= "river horse", "hippopotamus"), -monstro means "monstrous", sesquipedali comes from "sesquipedalian"