Turns out I have something called Primonumerophobia, which is the irrational fear of prime numbers. So I cannot have the volume at 11 or 19 and so on; I will change it to 10 or 20 or at the very least to 12 or 15… you get my drift. OK so mine isn't a real phobia but there are some really strange phobias around. A real phobia is a long term fear and avoidance of certain things when coupled with significant distress that impairs quality of life to some extent. Here are some weird, real phobias:
This is the fear of being buried alive, more precisely off being pronounced dead incorrectly and being put into a coffin while actually alive. Apparently, this phobia was very prevalent in the 1700 and 1800s when during plague outbreaks, people were sometimes buried while still alive. Avoidance behaviour and panic attacks are some symptoms.
This is the irrational fear of mirrors – of seeing one’s own reflection as well as the reflections of others in the mirror. A traumatic incident could be behind this phobia or there could be a genetic component at play. Symptoms could include avoiding social situations, extreme anxiety, low self-esteem and physical symptoms such as dry mouth, dizziness and being unable to speak.
This is the fear of ants. I don’t know about you, but that image absolutely horrifies me, makes my hair stand up on end and my skin crawl. I want to run away violently shaking my hands. People who have this phobia may be unable to go outdoors into nature or unfamiliar territories. They may even make major life decisions based on this.
This is the fear of darkness. Many have this as kids and then outgrow it, but many do not. This obviously can obviously have some very real repercussions in a person's life. In kids, this could mean the inability to fall asleep, tantrums and so on. In adults, the phobia could cause shaking, sweating, increased heartbeat, nausea etc. There could be genuine dread about natural light fading, visiting certain places, power outages and even shame and guilt about feeling this way.
This is the irrational fear of vampires. Yes, they don’t exist but there are those who still believe they do. The extremely popular and addictive vampire-themed movies and TV series also probably have something to do with this. Turns out, conspiracy theorists are more at risk of having this particular phobia.
This is the fear of adolescents or teens and yes it is a real thing. There are those who feel anxiety and fear at the thought of meeting younger people and will avoid places and events where they are likely to encounter them. This fear could have a genetic component or could be based on certain events. Looking around us, we see a lot of older people tend to have some form of this phobia; believing younger people to be unwise, irresponsible, out of control and even dangerous. So, come to think this weird phobia is possibly the commonest of them all!
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