A List of Medical Terms for Phobias (Fears)

When was the last time you climbed a fifty story building and looked at your street from the very top? When was the last time you sat inside your well closed home, alone? When was the last time you crossed the street? Have you been frightened by any of these experiences? There are fears everywhere, and so the medical community has interesting terms to refer to each. There are fear of loneliness, fear for great heights, fear for darkness, and fears you may think far more ridiculous, such as the fear for naked bodies and sex.

In this article, let's delve into some of the technical terms for these fears. The fear terms are suffixed by phobia, which is the Greek term for 'fear'.

Acrophobia—Fear for great heights Aerophobia—Fear of air drafts, flying, and some airborne substances Agateophobia—Fear of insanity Agyrophobia—Fear of crossing streets Ailurophobia—Irrational persistent fear of cats Algophobia—Fear of pain Apiphobia—Fear of bees Arachnophobia—Fear of spiders Arrhenphobia—Fear of men Astrophobia—Fear of stars or the outer space Aurophobia—Fear of gold Bacteriophobia—Fear of bacteria Ballistophobia—Fear of missiles Bibliophobia—Fear of books Blennophobia—Fear of slime Batrachophobia—Fear of amphibians, such as frogs, salamanders, etc. Botanophobia—Fear of plants Brontophobia—Fear of lightning and thunderstorm Cardiophobia—Fear of the heart Carnophobia—Fear of meat Caulrophobia—Fear of clowns Chaetophobia—Fear of hair Chiraptophobia—Fear of being touched Chorophobia—Fear of dancing Chrematophobia—Fear of money Chromatophobia—Fear of colors Chronophobia—Fear of time Chronomentrophobia—Fear of clocks Claustrophobia—Fear of closed spaces Cleptophobia (Kleptophobia)—Fear of theft Climacophobia—Fear of climbing stairs or falling downstairs Cridophobia—Fear for stings Cryophobia—Fear for extreme coldness Decidophobia—Fear for making decisions Dendrophobia—Fear of trees Dinophobia—Fear of whirlpools Dipsophobia—Fear of drinking alcohol Ecophobia—Fear of home Electrophobia—Fear of electricity Enetophobia—Fear of pins Entomophobia—Fear of insects Eosophobia—Fear of daylight or morning Equinophobia—Fear of horses Eremophobia—Fear of being lonely Erotophobia—Fear of sexuality Felinophobia—Another term for the fear of cats Frigophobia—Fear of cold things or cold drinks Gamophobia—Fear of marriage Gerascophobia—Fear of being old Gerontophobia—Fear of old folk or old age Gymnophobia—Fear of nudity Gynephobia or Gynophobia—Fear of women Hadephobia—Fear of hell Hemophobia—Fear of blood Herpetophobia—Fear of reptiles or snakes Heterophobia—Fear of the opposite sex Hobophobia—Fear of beggars Hoplophobia—Fear of firearms Hydrophobia—Fear of water, associated with rabies Iophobia—Fear of poison Kenophobia—Fear of empty spaces or void Keraunophobia—Fear of thunderstorms and lightning Koniophobia—Fear of dust Kymophobia—Fear of waves Leukophobia—Fear of white color Logophobia—Fear of words Lygophobia—Fear of darkness Maniaphobia—Fear of insanity Mechanophobia—Fear of machines Megalophobia—Fear of large things Melanophobia—Fear of black color Methyphobia—Fear of alcohol Motorphobia—Fear of vehicles Mottephobia—Fear of moths Nebulaphobia—Fear of fog Necrophobia—Fear of dead bodies or death Nephophobia—Fear of clouds Noctiphobia—Fear of nights Nosophobia—Fear of becoming ill Nudophobia—Fear of nudity Oenophobia—Fear of wines Ophidiophobia—Fear of snakes Ornithophobia—Fear of birds Pagophobia—Fear of ice Papaphobia—Fear of the Pope Papyrophobia—Fear of paper Pedophobia—Fear of children Phallophobia—Fear of penis Phobophobia—Fear of fears or phobias Photophobia—Fear of light Placophobia—Fear of tombstones Pharmacophobia—Fear of drugs Pyrophobia—Fear of fire Radiophobia—Fear of radiation Satanophobia—Fear of Satan Scopophobia—Fear of being seen Selachophobia—Fear of sharks Siderophobia—Fear of stars Spheksophobia—Fear of wasps Stygiophobia—Fear of hell Symbolophobia or Iconophobia—Fear of religious symbolism Taurophobia—Fear of bulls Technophobia—Fear of technology Thalassophobia—Fear of the sea Triskaidekaphobia—Fear of the number thirteen Urophobia—Fear of urinating Verbophobia—Fear of words Wiccaphobia—Fear of witchcraft Xenophobia—Fear of strangers and foreigners Zeusophobia—Fear of gods or the god Zoophobia—Fear of animals

As you have seen in the list, most of these fears are strange and amusing. We may doubt if they even exist. But according to psychology, there are sufferers for each of these fears.

For me, I would be frightened if I find a goliath beetle, huge praying mantis, or the mantis crab on my desk. But I would not be frightened by a scorpion or tarantula. I may be frightened by a king cobra or a lion if I am in the midst of the jungle, but not by any of them when I am at a distance. I may be frightened if I look down from the very tip of the Eiffel tower, but not if I look down from a safe helicopter. But I am happy that none of my fears is any bit irrational.

If you ponder over these things, you will know that you too inherently have several of these fears. In fact, if you try, you can fear anything. Stephen King has taught us to fear even clowns, hasn't he? So, if you imagine well, you can fear insects, obesity, week days, deep sea, your computer, wife, relatives, brother, and what not. If you ask any ordinary housewife, you will know that most of them have this strange condition of xenophobia. The root of most of the fears are our own culture, behavioral patterns, and the way we are raised.

There is not a single person walking the earth without any fear, but the ones that need an appointment with a psychologist have an irrational fear of something. There are people, who can't face a beam of light, being locked away in dark rooms for months.

As I said, I fear the mantis crab and other such ugly insects, but I don't fear them irrationally. I may scream if I find a strange salamander in my room, but I still love these animals when I watch them on TV. The one thing that I can tell you is that you can love anything you hate or fear if you choose to. You are the master of your mind, and madness is the result of losing control of it, but my belief is that you can't lose control of your brain if you don't want to.

We don't yet know if all of these terms are standard medical terms or not. If you find any inaccuracy, please let us know in the comments section. Also, don't fear to share your own secret fears.