The Top 10 Most Common Phobias

 1.   Arachnophobia: Fear of spiders

50% of women, and 10% of men admit to being terrified by our eight-legged friends!

2.    Social Phobia:  Fear of being negatively thought of or evaluated in a social gathering.

This fear, which normally begins in early adolescence, affects about 8 million people in USA alone!

3.    Aerophobia: Fear of flying.

4.     Agoraphobia: Fear of the inability to escape. 

Sufferers of this phobia say that what causes them most anxiety is the fear that they will be unable to escape should they desire to do so.  Approximately 2% of the population suffers from agoraphobia.

5.     Claustrophobia: Fear of enclosed spaces.

6.    Acrophobia:    Fear of heights, but interestingly sufferers of this phobia rarely report a concurrent fear of flying. 

7.    Emitophobia:    Fear of vomiting.

8.    Carcinophobia: Fear of cancer.

9.    Brontophobia: Not a fear of the extinct Brontosaurus, but rather a fear of thunder storms!

10.    Necrophobia: A fear of death and/or dead things.

Some Unusual and Weird Phobias

Geliophobia: Fear of laughter

Cibophobia: Fear of food

Heliophobia: Fear of the sun

Helmintophobia: Fear of being infested by worms

Octophobia: Fear of the number 8

Verbophobia: Fear of words

Deciophobia: Fear of making decisions (we all know someone like this!)

Xanthophobia: Fear of the colour yellow

Trichopathophbia: Fear of hair

Peladophobia: Fear of bald people