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Top 5 Most Common Phobias

The World's Top 5 Most Common Phobias

By Jasmine MorrisPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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When we are born, we're born with the fear of three things; the dark, loud noises, and falling down.

As we become older, we are socialised and talked into not being afraid of things and this is especially the case with boys and men. However this does not stop us from becoming afraid of things, some phobias are extremely peculiar such as the fear of evenings or the fear of mustard (yes, those are real), which brings me to the five most common phobias.

Spiders (Arachnophobia)

A large majority of people (myself included) worldwide are unable to shake off the eery feeling they get when they see or even think about spiders. It is the fact that they move so fast, have eight legs and are usually dark and large in appearance in appearance and nine times out of ten they surprise us by showing up in our houses and apartments, on our walls, ceilings, or in our bathrooms, or if you're unlucky, they sometimes crawl on to our skin.

Clowns (Coulrophobia)

Why would people be afraid of something that is meant to entertain kids? It is to my knowledge that most of this fear comes from either Hollywood movies or most peoples bad experiences with clowns. Perhaps it is the thought of a middle aged man, in red and white face paint, a beer gut, horizontally striped clothing and coffee stained teeth. Googling 'evil clowns' doesn't do this one much justice either!

Birds (Orinthophobia)

Birds are sometimes a phobia because of a traumatic experience like having a bird land on your head or shoulder unexpectedly, being chased by an ostrich or having your food robbed by a seagull (something of which I have personally experienced). However there are some people who are afraid of specific types of birds and some who are afraid birds altogether.

It must be hell for these people to go to the park, huh?

Socialisation (better known as agoraphobia)

Hear me out with this one. The most common mental health disorders are anxiety and depression with over 10 percent of the global population suffering from it. Agoraphobia is a very common form of anxiety where an individual is so severely anxious that they are unable to leave the house without inducing panic attacks or general unease.

Many sufferers will stay indoors for weeks or months at a time, some even longer. Many are unemployed or work part-time and experience the worst level of fear in crowded public places, parties, supermarkets, shops and shopping centres.

Balloons (Globophobia)

This is a very unusually common phobia as a great many people have some level of a phobia of balloons but this is one of the more commonly suppressed phobias due to peoples reactions when they find out someone is afraid of balloons, followed by a few laughs that globophobes initially get when they tell people about their fear of balloons.

This phobia is most commonly caused by balloons popping in your face or near to you, so loudly that it scares you.

Heights (Acrophobia)

Another extremely common phobia, the phobia of heights. This can involve flying, bungee jumping, sky diving, walking up large flights of stairs that you can see the underneath of.

This phobia usually stems from being very high up on something that one might consider unstable and having an unshakable feeling, that whatever you're standing on will collapse and you will fall from a height.

Some acrophobes, will experience serious anxiety when confronted with their fear.

Fear of Confined Spaces (Claustrophobia)

This is one of the most common phobias worldwide, that originate from being trapped in narrow or small spaces as a child, being suffocated or forced into a corner against your will or something similar.

Did you know that in the UK, the rates of claustrophobia are twice as high as those in the US?

Which phobia do you think is the most common out all 5 mentioned? Do you have any of these phobias, if so which ones? Who do you know that has one of these phobias? Maybe you're one of them.

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About the Creator

Jasmine Morris

I am here to share my opinions, my thoughts, desires and offer people a different perspective and hopefully make a change in the world.

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