Most of us have probably known someone that is scared of the dark or would rather not be around birds and those fears, by all accounts, seem totally normal, but we aren’t talking about those today. Today we’re looking at some of the strangest, weirdest, and some just plain irrational phobias. Let’s get started!
Nomophobia
Ahh, a real 21st-century problem, nomophobia is the fear of being without your cell phone. Those that suffer from this phobia experience excessive anxiety when they don’t have their phone with them, if their battery is running low, or if they are somewhere with little to no cell service. This particular phobia actually stems from a form of cell phone addiction where a person obsessively checks their cell phone.
Somniphobia
You may have heard of this phobia referred to as hypnophobia, and both refer to the fear of falling asleep. People who experience this phobia often feel as though by falling asleep they’re losing control of their bodies. This phobia can also stem from having recurring nightmares.
Optophobia
This is the fear of opening your eyes, and as you can imagine, this phobia can be absolutely debilitating. People with this phobia tend to want to be indoors in dimly lit rooms. Psychologists believe this phobia stems from both generalized anxieties as well as past trauma.
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
Ironically this is both the longest word in the dictionary as well as the fear of long words. Not that it’s much better, but another name for this phobia is sesquipedalophobia. This phobia is believed to stem from being embarrassed to pronounce long words incorrectly which stems from, you guessed it, reading aloud in class. This phobia is extremely common among people with dyslexia.
Omphalophobia
Omphalophobia is the fear of belly buttons and people with this phobia aim to avoid not only other people’s belly buttons but their own as well and will often cover theirs with a bandage. And yes, they absolutely avoid places where belly buttons are just out and about like the beach, swimming pools, lakes, etc.
Vestiphobia
VESTiphobia is the fear of clothing, that’s right, clothing. So, once again, you can imagine the effect this could and does have on a person. For a lot of folks, this is more a fear of a specific garment versus all garments. This phobia is also extremely rare but is believed to arise from a possible allergy to clothing or if a certain traumatic event is associated with a particular garment or textile. An example of this would be a soldier having a fearful reaction to military garb.