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A phobia is an irrational fear. Many people are aware of claustrophobia, the fear of closed spaces, or its opposite, agoraphobia, the fear of open spaces. While many people are frightened by scary movies, rarely does that experience itself turn into a full-blown phobia. However, horror films do tap into many of our actual deep-seated fears, such as these 21:
1. Wiccaphobia. This is our irrational fear of witches.
2. Kinemortophobia is a fear of zombies, and with so much attention being paid to fictional zombie apocalypses on TV and at the movies, this may be on the rise.
3. Phasmophobia is the fear of ghosts.
4. Ailurophobia. Afraid of a black cat crossing your path, or any cat? Ailurophobia is fear of cats.
5. Coulrophobia. A surprising number of people are afraid of clowns (including my sister.), and coulrophobia is the name given to this fear.
6. Pediophobia. Remember Chucky? Pediophobia is fear of dolls.
7. Nyctophobia. This is the quite commonly known fear of the dark.
8. Necrophobia. Sometimes just the sight of a dead body is enough to send chills up one’s spine; necrophobia is the fear of corpses.
9. Aichmophobia. What’s a slasher film without a knife-wielding maniac to play on our fear of knives and other sharp objects?
10. Teratophobia. Since the early days of motion pictures, monster movies have been top-grossing hits, playing on people's teratophobia, or fear of monsters.
11. Sanguivoriphobia is the fear of vampires.
12. Taphophobia is the fear of being buried alive; it also applies to the fear of graves or tombs in general.
13. Domatophobia is the fear of houses. Combine it with phasmophobia, and you’ve got a fear of haunted houses.
14. Clinophobia. Clinophobia is the fear of going to bed.
15. Arachnophobia. The fear of spiders, which is a more common phobia (and the title of a popular horror-movie comedy).
16. Chiroptophobia. The fear of bats.
17. Ophidiophobia. This is the fear of snakes (on or off a plane).
18. Selenophobia. Afraid of the full moon? That’s selenophobia.
19. Lupophobia is the fear of werewolves—and perhaps, for some, the cause of selenophobia.
20. Astrophobia. Science fiction movies may come a set of fears all their own, such as this, the fear of outer space.
21. Alienophobia. This is easy to figure out—the fear of aliens.
Let’s be clear: Phobias can seriously impair people, so they are no laughing matter. If a phobia is causing problems in your life, please seek counseling.
Happy Halloween!
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