Phobias are a fitting topic now that we’re approaching ‘spooky season’, and it got me thinking about my own fears and whether they would qualify as phobias or not.
I don’t care for snakes, but as there aren’t any venomous snakes where I live, it’s more of a startle reflex than a real fear.
I like to have spiders in the house and routinely trap and move the silly individuals who think the bathtub or the sink is a suitable home.
Really, really high heights make me uncomfortable, but it won’t keep me from taking an elevator to the 40th floor if there’s a need for me to be there.
Take-offs and landings make me nervous, but I willingly enter an airplane. (Though, if I could get where I’m going by train, I’d pick that mode of travel. I love train journeys.)
Because I don’t have actual phobias, they don’t spring to mind as a potential character trait in my stories. Whilst scanning the list of phobias - fears that are unrealistic, uncontrollable, and that cause physical reactions like shortness of breath and sweating - I tried to visualize using one in a story. And because us writers are supposed to make things difficult for our characters before making them even worse, why not use two or more?
For instance, a guy with a fear of bacteria (Bacteriophobia) who is also afraid to bathe (Ablutophobia).
Or a gal with a fear of dirt and germs (Mysophobia) who is also deathly terrified of vacuum cleaners (Zuigerphobia). (And not just philosophically opposed.)
What if someone is afraid of people and society (Anthropophobia), but is also afraid of being alone (Autophobia)?
The classic fear of illness (Hypochondria) makes sense when paired with fear of germs (Verminophobia). What is such a person to do if they’re also afraid of doctors (Iatrophobia) and hospitals (Nosocomephobia)?
And finally, pity the poor vampire with Heliophobia (fear of the sun) who is also burdened by a fear of the night (Noctiphobia).
I can understand many of the known phobias. I can picture how they were formed from a childhood accident or trauma. But one phobia is puzzling. Porphyrophobia - fear of the colour purple. Maybe because my favourite colour is purple, but for the life of me, I can’t imagine how one particular colour could cause powerful and irrational fear.
Luanna Stewart has been creating adventures for her imaginary friends since childhood. She spends her days writing many flavours of romance. When not torturing her characters, she’s in her kitchen baking something delicious. She lives in Nova Scotia with her patient husband and two hens.
2 comments:
Oh My Goodness! Porphyrophobia? Really? Is that a real thing? I absolutely love purple. I don't like orange or yellow but I certainly don't fear them. Hmmm...there's more to "phobias" than I realized.
You've enlightened me, Luanna, and I'm figuring that's a good thing.
Interesting, Luanna - I can say my fear of snakes and spiders come from contact with deadly poisonous ones as a child when we lived overseas. So, despite being rational, as I don't live in a climate where we have poisonous creatures (although climate change is changing all that,) I still fear them.
As for fearing purple - I am with you - my favorite color. But now every time I wear purple, I will wonder if I am terrorizing someone else.
Deb
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