Warning: This post contains potentially disturbing or triggering images and video.
The Internet is quite literally a fear factory.
Yahoo shared the top 10 phobias its users searched for over the past month, just in time for Halloween. (Which reminds us, there is such a thing as fear of Halloween, called "samhainophobia." So that's fun.)
Topping the list is agoraphobia, which is an anxiety disorder in which people fear being trapped in situations or places that cause panic. So maybe work up to haunted houses another year...
1. Agoraphobia
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Definition: an anxiety disorder in which people fear being trapped in situations or places that cause panic, such as a crowded event.
Celebrity who has experienced agoraphobia: Paula Deen
2. Trypophobia
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Definition: the fear of irregular patterns of holes or clusters, such as those in beehives or swiss cheese.
Who has it? Roughly 16% of people experience uneasiness around holes, estimates the journal of Psychological Science.
3. Xenophobia
IMAGE: FLICKR, MIKESCHINKEL
Definition: the fear of people or backgrounds foreign to one's self, community or citizenship. Xenophobia often manifests as discomfort or aggression toward people of different races, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations and more.
Real-life example: One of the longest standing examples of extreme xenophobia is the Holocaust of World War II, a Nazi-led genocide that targeted, persecuted and killed roughly 11 million Jewish people for their religious beliefs.
4. Arachnophobia
Definition: the fear of spiders.
Fun (?) fact: In the film Arachnophobia, sound mixers crushed a bag of potato chips to simulate the noise of John Goodman destroying a spider.
5. Coulrophobia
IMAGE: NERDIST
Definition: fear of clowns.
Etymology: The root of the word coulrophobia, "coulro" originates in the ancient Greek word for "one who goes on stilts." And stilts are pretty scary, too.
6. Acrophobia
Definition: fear of heights
Celebrity with acrophobia: While promoting Spider Man 2, Tobey Maguirerevealed he could never live as the superhero did, as he's deathly afraid of heights and edges of buildings.
7. Emetophobia
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Definition: the fear of vomit, whether one's self vomiting or seeing vomit in public.
Fun (?) fact: When we vomit, our mouth produces more saliva to protect our teeth from regurgitated stomach acids.
8. Claustrophobia
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Definition: fear of tight or enclosed spaces or constricting situations with no perceived method of escape.
Celebrity with claustrophobia: Uma Thurman. Remember that scene in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 when she's buried alive? Yikes.
9. Hydrophobia
Definition: fear of water, not to be confused with "aquaphobia," which is the fear of bodies of water, or "thalassophobia," which is the fear of the sea.
History: The term hydrophobia is actually a synonym for rabies, which causes some confusion. A common misconception is that rabies causes a fear of water; however, people who contract rabies simply have trouble drinking liquids due to painful throat spasms.
10. Nyctophobia
Definition: fear of the dark.
Behind the numbers: Nyctophobia could be a cause of poor sleep. Nearly half of bad sleepers confessed to being afraid of the dark, whereas only a quarter of good sleepers had the same fear, according to a Ryerson University study.
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文章內容轉貼自: MASHABLE
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