Spectrophobia or catoptrophobia is a kind of specific phobia involving an abnormal and persistent fear of mirrors, and an anxiety about seeing one's own face reflected in them. It is sometimes related to the fear of ghosts or the undead.
An individual who has experienced a traumatic event involving a mirror may develop spectrophobia. For example, a child who was frightened by someone in the mirror one or multiple times may eventually develop spectrophobia.
Spectrophobia: An abnormal and persistent fear of ghosts. Sufferers of spectrophobia experience undue anxiety even though they realize their fear is irrational. They may fear going into woods, empty houses or dark places and may react with alarm at strange or unexplained noises.
Spectrophobia Symptoms
The symptoms of Spectrophobia are very similar to other specific phobias and will often include: Anger problems. Generalised Anxiety. Social anxiety.
1. Arachibutyrophobia (Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth) Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. While the phenomenon has happened to everyone at one point or another, people with arachibutyrophobia are extremely afraid of it.
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is one of the longest words in the dictionary, and ironically, it means the fear of long words.
Nyctophobia is an extreme fear of the dark. This phobia is very common among children but can affect people of all ages. People with this specific anxiety disorder may have trouble sleeping, have panic attacks and may avoid leaving the house after dark.
If you have megalophobia, avoiding situations that involve large objects can prevent you from enjoying certain things in life like traveling and can lower your overall quality of life. This is why it's important to seek treatment.
If you find large things terribly frightening and panic-inducing – it could be natural structures, buildings, vehicles or even big people – then you might have megalophobia.
Sufferers of spectrophobia can fear the breaking of a mirror bringing extreme bad luck. They can fear the thought of something frightening jumping out of the mirror, or seeing something disturbing inside of it next to their own reflection when looking directly at it.
Eisoptrophobia is an unhealthy fear of mirrors. Some people fear mirrors due to self-image issues. People may also avoid mirrors because they distort the way an object looks. This phobia leads to lifestyle changes that enable people to avoid mirrors.
In general, symptoms of nyctophobia include: Becoming nervous in any darkened environment. Being reluctant to go out at night. Experiencing physiological symptoms, including an increased heart rate, sweating, visible shaking, and even feeling ill when forced to spend time in the dark.
Signs that your social anxiety is specific to scopophobia include: feeling discomfort when people look at you. worrying excessively about blushing. assuming that other people are watching you.
a phobia may be a learned response that a person develops early in life from a parent or sibling (brother or sister) genetics may play a role – there's evidence to suggest that some people are born with a tendency to be more anxious than others.
Thanatophobia is an intense fear of death or the dying process. Another name for this condition is “death anxiety.” You might be anxious about your own death or the death of someone you care about.
Almost everyone has an irrational fear or two—of spiders, for example, or your annual dental checkup. For most people, these fears are minor. But when fears become so severe that they cause tremendous anxiety and interfere with your normal life, they're called phobias.
Trypophobia refers to disgust or fear of a pattern of holes. Seeing clusters of holes in foods, flowers and everyday items like sponges can trigger feelings of revulsion. Trypophobia is gaining recognition as an anxiety problem that can affect quality of life.
Bibliophobia is an intense fear of books. The condition is a specific phobia (fear), which is a type of anxiety disorder. A person with bibliophobia might fear all books or only a specific kind, such as textbooks or children's books.