Everyone has fears. When being asked about your pet peeves you normally hear the basic answers. “Oh I really don’t like people who chew with their mouths open.”,  “ I can’t stand people who talk over me.” , or “I am terrified of heights.” Did you know all these pet peeves you dislike are phobias? For people who are afraid of heights your phobia is acrophobia or for the people who can’t stand to hear the sound of chewing you have misophonia. Do you wonder what phobias you have? Here is a list of phobias that you might have!

Most children do not like the thunder and lighting. The big crash sounds and the bright flashes of lighting is very unsettling especially for a kid to experience in the middle of the night. If you had this fear growing up or maybe even as a teen/ adult, you have astraphobia. People with this phobia tend to experience major anxiety and discomfort when preparing for thunderstorms. 3% of citizens have astraphobia but it can be cured by visualization exercises or affirmations / sayings to repeat during a storm.

One of the scariest things a student has to do is speak in front of a class. Now imagine having to make a speech in front of hundreds of people. Some people think about that and a shiver runs down their spine. If you have a fear of public speaking you have glossophobia. 75% of people have glossophobia and will learn relaxation techniques, or will practice building confidence by positive self talk, and will seek professional help to control their glossophobia. This is more of a common phobia, but is definitely one that leaves people shaking in their boots.

Speaking of groups of people, you might find yourself to be in crowds more than you’d imagine. When you’re in class, you’re in a crowd.  When you’re at sports practice, you’re in a crowd. Of course there are times when there are massive crowds like at concerts or a party. Some people have an extremely difficult time in large crowds, a phobia that is called enochlophobia.

Maybe you don’t like crowds and enjoy spending time in nature instead. Nature is a beautiful thing. We are really fortunate that we are able to see beautiful flowers, animals, the trees, etc., but sometimes nature can be scary. Insects and arachnids are very disruptive. Mosquitoes can bite you and bees can sting you, but the most terrifying creepy crawly is spiders. Their eight eyes and eight legs are extremely unsettling.  If you have an awful fear of spiders then you have arachnophobia. Fifteen percent of people have this phobia and it is more commonly seen in women.  I don’t know about you, but having little beasties roaming around isn’t a pleasant sight. Funny enough, the word arachnophobia comes from the Greek word arachne which exactly translates to the word spider. Arachnophobia can be genetically passed down due to family history of anxiety.  Genes that can cause phobias may trigger a person to have higher risk of phobias.

No matter how common a phobia is, phobias and fears bring challenges to citizens’ everyday lives. When reading about some of the phobias mentioned above you might think that some of these aren’t unusual but there are some phobias that wouldn’t even cross one’s mind. On the chart below there is a list of phobias that are so bizarre and ridiculous that your jaw will be on the floor.