Coprophobia, and Other Phobias

Our dog, Pumpkin, has an intense fear of her own poop. She can scarcely stand still while she defecates and as soon as she is done, she runs frantically away from it and all the way around the back yard with her ears back and a panicked look in her eyes. Once a piece of poop stuck to her rear end and that sent her into a frenzy that could only be remedied when I grabbed her and pulled it off with a piece of toilet paper. She shook for the next thirty minutes, terrified.

There is a name for this type of abnormal fear of excrement:

Coprophobia

There is a plethora of other phobias that you may have heard of, or perhaps not. This information is available at dailycognition.com, among other places. The list of phobias is extensive, so I took the liberty of editing it and leaving only the most interesting ones. And some of them just sound like someone made them up.

Bald people — Peladophobia

The irrational fear of becoming bald or fear of being around bald people.

Good thing I don't have this phobia! That spot on the back of my head would have me terrified.

.
Chickens — Alektorophobia

At some point in the past, there was likely an event linking chickens and emotional trauma.

Chickens and emotional trauma? One would think I would have alektrorophobia by now, after watching my father and mother butcher so many chickens. And once? One of our mean old roosters, whom we called Shakespeare, attacked my sister. So I went out there with a hoe and whacked him on the back. And he died. Yes, I killed a cock.

.
Chins — Geniophobia

An unusual and abnormal fear of chins.

What the? Fear of chins? How could one possibly develop a phobia of chins? That's just silly.

.
Chopsticks — Consecotaleophobia

The abnormal fear of chopsticks. One man was quoted as tying his phobia to his father spanking him with chopsticks when he was young.

I just think they're frustrating. Someone get me a fork!

.
Decisions: making decisions — Decidophobia

An abnormal and persistent fear of making decisions and never knowing what the person wants, at least not until it’s too late.

I get like this when looking at restaurant menus sometimes. Especially Cheesecake Factory. Holy cow. That menu is literally a book that takes hours to read, let alone decide what you're going to order.

.
Dining or dinner conversations — Deipnophobia

A fear of dining in the social sense, and by association, of dinner conversation. Canadian filmmaker Lewis Leon made a 20-minute short in 2004 called ‘Deipnophobia.’

I think I had this when I was a teenager. I was afraid of eating around most people, so much that I wouldn't be able to swallow anything, and sometimes I would have to run to the bathroom and vomit.

.
Rectal - Rectophobia

The fear of rectums, the anus.

I do not fear the anus.

.
Eating or swallowing or of being eaten — Phagophobia

Fear of eating, devouring — harm may occur if any food or substance is digested.

But it doesn't say anything about the fear of being eaten. Fear of being eaten? By whom? Or what?

.
Fecal matter, feces — Coprophobia or Scatophobia

An abnormal and persistent fear of feces (bowel waste). Sufferers go out of their way to avoid coming into contact with feces or sometimes even seeing feces.

Pumpkin.

.
Garlic — Alliumphobia

Apparently you don’t have to be a vampire to have an abnormal fear of garlic.

It's a good thing I don't have this phobia. I LOVE garlic!

.
Infinity — Apeirophobia

The abnormal haunting by thoughts of infinity.

I have definitely had moments where my mind has been blown away by thoughts of infinity. Have you? Fortunately, my thoughts have not been abnormally haunted by them!

.
Looking up — Anablephobia or Anablepophobia

The fear of looking up.

For fear that a crow will drop a creamy load of excrement in your eye? I can't understand why else someone would be afraid of looking up.

.
Mother-in-law — Pentheraphobia

An irrational, disabling fear of the mother-in-law.

No commentary necessary here. How many of you suffer from this phobia?

.
Peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth — Arachibutyrophobia

A persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth. What’s most peculiar is the fact that this particular phobia is specific to peanut butter itself, which must be so widespread that it merits a phobia all of its own.

Do people still experience this phobia even if they never eat peanut butter?

.
Phobias — Phobophobia

A morbid dread or fear of developing a phobia.

This one is my favorite. Nothing to worry about? Why not worry about being worried?!

.
Relatives — Syngenesophobia

The fear of relatives.

I know I have syngenesophobia.

.
Snow — Chionophobia

An abnormal and persistent fear of snow.

I know I have chionophobia.

.

Speaking — Laliophobia or Lalophobia

The irrational fear of speaking or of trying to speak. Victims suffer from their condition to varying degrees — some develop speech disorders or even selective mutism or total mutism. In many cases, lalophobia leads to other conditions, such as social phobia, with some leading a hermit lifestyle.

I teeter dangerously close to running away to live a hermit lifestyle.

.
String — Linonophobia

The abnormal fear of string.

Get it away! Get that string away from me! Aaaaaaaaaa!

.
Teeth — Odontophobia

A morbid fear of teeth.

Sometimes I think being a dental hygienist is the most disgusting job in America. Scraping nasty smelly tartar off of people's teeth for a living?

.
Thinking — Phronemophobia

The fear of thought or thinking, or the idea that the thoughts one’s having are bad or can cause them to go insane.

There are people whose own thoughts drive them more insane than the circumstances that surround them. That's for sure.

.
Tickled by feathers or feathers — Pteronophobia

The persistent fear of being tickled by others or by feathers.

This one makes me giggle. No! Stay away from me with that feather! Get away! Aaaaaaaaa!

.
Ugliness — Cacophobia

An uncommon fear of ugliness.

But is this a fear of your own ugliness or others'?

.
Urine or urinating — Urophobia

Fear of the act of urinating in a public rest room, of hearing others urinating, or of urine itself.

Pee shy anyone? I do have a terrible time when I'm at a party or gathering of some sort and someone uses the restroom and I can hear them peeing while the rest of us are just sitting there. I always want to giggle. I have found strategic ways to pee silently. I'll be happy to share them with you if anyone asks.

.
Ventriloquist’s dummy — Automatonophobia

Fear of ventriloquist’s dummies, animatronic creatures, or wax statues.

Oh yeah. These are kind of creepy.

.
Words, long — Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia or Sesquipedalophobia

The length of the phobic term is rather ironic to its meaning — the fear of long words.

Aaaaaaaa! It's a long word! Get it away! Aaaaaaaaaaaa!

.

What are your phobias?

.