10 of the Rarest Phobias in the World - Rarest.org (2023)

FAQs

What is the rarest phobia in the world? ›

1. Arachibutyrophobia (Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth) Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. While the phenomenon has happened to everyone at one point or another, people with arachibutyrophobia are extremely afraid of it.

Xanthophobia, fear of the color yellow.

The following are just a few of the most commonly diagnosed phobias and how they manifest in patients: Arachnophobia – Arachnophobia is possibly the most well-known of all phobias. It is the fear of spiders, or arachnids. Estimates put arachnophobia at affecting roughly 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men.

Mythophobia is the fear of myths, story or making false statements. Mythophobes would disbelieve every story. The word comes from the Greek mytho meaning "story", and phobos, meaning "fear".

It's not very common, but sometimes people need medications that temporarily relieve symptoms of fear and anxiety in order to cope with fear while they are participating in therapy. Exposure therapy is a common form of psychological treatment used to treat specific phobias.

Nyctophobia is an extreme fear of the dark. This phobia is very common among children but can affect people of all ages.

Understanding the phobia can help you overcome it and live a fulfilling life. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is one of the longest words in the dictionary, and ironically, it means the fear of long words. It originally was referred to as Sesquipedalophobia but was changed at some point to sound more intimidating.

Plutophobia is derived from Pluto (wealth) and Phobia. (fear) is the fear of wealth.

One in five parents suffer from arithmophobia.

Each list explores around 20-40 types of phobias.

What is the easiest phobia? ›

Simple phobias are fears about specific objects, animals, situations or activities. Some common examples include: dogs. spiders.

There are only five basic fears, out of which almost all of our other so-called fears are manufactured. These fears include extinction, mutilation, loss of autonomy, separation, and ego death.

Tokophobia is a pathological fear of pregnancy and can lead to avoidance of childbirth. It can be classified as primary or secondary. Primary is morbid fear of childbirth in a woman, who has no previous experience of pregnancy.

Understanding Automatonophobia: Fear of Human-Like Figures. Automatonophobia is a fear of human-like figures, such as mannequins, wax figures, statues, dummies, animatronics, or robots.

This condition is very rare, but it can also be quite serious. 1 Like other phobias, spectrophobia can disrupt all aspects of an individual's life and lead to avoidance behaviors. Experiencing symptoms of spectrophobia can be incredibly debilitating and can impact one's overall quality of life.

You can have a phobia of pretty much anything, but there are over 400 recognised phobias out there! Some, however, are much more common than others.

It typically affects children, but many adults still deal with a fear of thunderstorms. Astraphobia is one of the most common specific phobias.

How common is phobophobia? It's hard knowing exactly how many people have a specific phobia, like phobophobia, but it's rare. We do know that about 1 in 10 American adults and 1 in 5 teenagers will deal with a specific phobia disorder at some point in their lives, though.

Why am I scared of the dark at 13? ›

Being afraid of the dark often starts in childhood and is viewed as a normal part of development. Studies focused on this phobia have shown that humans often fear the dark for its lack of any visual stimuli. In other words, people may fear night and darkness because they cannot see what's around them.

The term photophobia is a misnomer and not quite accurate. It comes from two Greek words: photo- “light” and phobia “fear or dread of”—hence, “fear of light.” It is defined as an “abnormal sensitivity to light, especially of the eyes” (4).

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is a phobia, meaning the fear of long words. Ironically, it is a long word itself. The phobia isn't considered an actual phobia, but more of a social phobia. This is the second longest word in the English language.

2. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (36 letters)

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is one of the longest words in the dictionary — and, in an ironic twist, is the name for a fear of long words. Sesquipedalophobia is another term for the phobia.

Eisoptrophobia is an unhealthy fear of mirrors. Some people fear mirrors due to self-image issues. People may also avoid mirrors because they distort the way an object looks. This phobia leads to lifestyle changes that enable people to avoid mirrors.

Abstract. Frigophobia is a condition in which patients report coldness of extremities leading to a morbid fear of death. It has been reported as a rare culture-related psychiatric syndrome in Chinese populations.

A person with cacophobia might fear all forms of ugliness or a specific kind, such as perceived ugliness in people, animals, places or objects. People with cacophobia can get very stressed or anxious when they think about or see something they consider to be ugly.

Numerophobia, arithmophobia or mathematics anxiety is an anxiety disorder, where the condition is fear of dealing with numbers or mathematics. Sometimes numerophobia refers to fear of particular numbers.

Some people may experience multiple phobias. They can be broadly categorised into two groups: Specific phobias. Complex phobias.

What phobias start with T? ›

Yotaphobia is the fear of the letter y.

Answer and Explanation: Humans are born with two fears, the fear of loud noises and the fear of falling. When an infant hears a loud and unexpected noise, the infant generally experiences an acoustic startle reflex and starts crying.

arachnophobia – fear of spiders. claustrophobia – fear of confined spaces. agoraphobia – fear of open spaces and public places. social phobia – fear of social situations.

Pantophobia refers to a widespread fear of everything. Pantophobia is no longer an official diagnosis. But people do experience extreme anxiety triggered by many different situations and objects.

Fear of the unknown is universal, but it seems to take form most commonly in three basic human fundamental fears: Fear of Death, Fear of Abandonment or Fear of Failure.

Thanatophobia is an intense fear of death or the dying process.

Many kinds of fears affect our well-being or ability to perform well under pressure. We can put most of these fears into four categories and in this “How to Master Fear” series we'll refer to as the “big four fears”: fear of failure, fear of success, fear of rejection and fear of selling.

The most common phobias include: Arachnophobia: an intense fear of spiders and other arachnids. Ophidiophobia: an intense fear of snakes. Acrophobia: an intense fear of heights.

What is the most popular phobia? ›

1) Arachnophobia – fear of spiders

Arachnophobia is the most common phobia – sometimes even a picture can induce feelings of panic. And lots of people who aren't phobic as such still avoid spiders if they can.

Fear of blood (hemophobia), injections (trypanophobia), needles or other sharp objects (belonephobia), or injury (traumatophobia) occurs to some degree in at least 5% of the population.

Causes of Bananaphobia

Only a handful of people are known to suffer from the fear of bananas from all over the world. Most cases begin in childhood, when one has been forced to eat bananas by parents or caregivers to an extent that leads to stomach distress or vomiting.

How common is somniphobia? Experts don't know exactly how many people experience somniphobia. Research does show that more than 40 million adults in the United States have a chronic sleep disorder. And more than 12% of adults in the U.S. have a specific phobia.

The most common phobias include claustrophobia, social phobia, and arachnophobia.

Nyctophobia is very common, especially among children. Some researchers estimate that nearly 45% of children have an unusually strong fear of some kind. Fear of the dark is one of the most common fears among kids between 6 and 12 years old. Kids usually outgrow nyctophobia by adolescence, but not always.

What is this? An unfortunate aspect of this mental disease is that sufferers don't only experience fear when they hear music. Even the thought of music can trigger feelings of fear or even a full-blown panic attack. Like all other phobias about specific things or situations, melophobia is an anxiety disorder.

Phobias are one of the most common mental illnesses in the United States. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIH), approximately 12.5% of adults in the U.S. will deal with a specific phobia in their lifetime.1 Women are more likely to experience phobias than men.

One specific phobia is the fear of fear itself — known as phobophobia. Having phobophobia can cause you to experience some of the same symptoms that other phobias trigger. Explaining to a doctor or caregivers that you're afraid of fear can feel intimidating.

What is Venustraphobia the fear of? ›

The term venustraphobia supposedly means the fear of beautiful women. Venustraphobia.

How common is thalassophobia? Phobias are very common. According to professional diagnostic criteria, approximately 7–9% of people in the United States have a specific phobia in any given year. However, there are no estimates of how many people live with thalassophobia specifically.