Most phobias are pretty unsurprising. According to recent statistics, the number one fear among men is acrophobia, the fear of heights. The list of things that scare the hell out of guys also include snakes, dentists, injections, thunder, and being maimed. Nearly half of guys are scared of seeing a doctor, and 37 percent are worried about going bald.
But those are the big fears, the ones we can all agree on. What about the fringe fears, the ones we’re a little wary about admitting to, because they might be proof that we’ve lost our marbles?
We asked our readers on Facebook to share some of their deepest, darkest phobias. Their answers ranged from the microscopic—like internal parasites and bathroom-borne germs—to things that probably don’t actually pose any real danger, like seagulls, clowns, and what one reader described as “damn lizards.”
“The majority of people are fearful of something,” said Elizabeth Lombardo, Ph.D., a Chicago-based clinical psychologist and author of A Happy You. “And they’re aware that it’s not 100 percent rational. But it’s real for them. And we all experience fight or flight in different ways.”
Where do these strange fears come from? As it turns out, it might be your dad’s fault.
No, really.
Edmund J. Bourne, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and author of The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook, says that it’s possible for a man’s phobias to be inherited. “There are genetic risk factors that play a moderate role in the origins of phobias and associated irrational fears,” he says.
A 2013 study at Emory University in Atlanta tested this theory on mice, exposing them to the smell of cherry-blossoms while giving them a mild electric shock.
“Subsequent generations that had no prior exposure to that smell were still sensitive to it,” says Brian G. Dias, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at Emory University who co-authored the study. “And the nervous systems of these descendant generations had structural changes in the brain that complemented the sensitivity.”
Does this mean that if you’re terrified of “damn lizards,” even if you’ve never had a bad lizard experience, it might be because one of your ancestors—maybe a great-great grandfather—was brutalized by something big, green, and scaly?
“While the relevance of ancestral experiences to the inheritance of fears and phobias requires more investigation, studies have demonstrated that exposure to historical events like the Holocaust and famines have profoundly affected the biology of descendants, and consequently how they navigate their own environments,” says Dias.
So . . . maybe.
The good news is, phobias are treatable. And by treatable, we don’t mean just avoiding lizards, clowns, and other things that scare you.
“When people avoid the fear, that makes it worse,” Lombardo says. “Because our subconscious says, ‘I feel better because I avoided it, so the only way I can feel better is to avoid.’ That increases and intensifies the fear.”
The key, she says, is to expose yourself to your fears. “If you’ve ever been in hot tub, you put your foot in and say, ‘I cannot even stand this.’ But if you keep your foot in, you start to normalize, and then you can put the other foot in, and then the rest of your body,” Lombardo explains.
“It’s the same with phobias. If you expose yourself to fear, that stress does go up. It feels like it’s going to go up forever until you practically explode, but you get to a point where it plateaus and you will extinguish the phobia.”
Just how weird do guy phobias really get? We reached out to anxiety experts to find some strange—but more common than you would imagine—phobias people fight all the time.
Paruresis (fear of peeing in public)
Bashful bladder? “People find it difficult or impossible to urinate in the presence of others, either in their own home or in public facilities,” says Mark Borigini, M.D., a clinical instructor at UCLA.
The Peeing Problem You Might Have
Cibophobia & Chlorophobia (fear of green food)
These people really hated broccoli as kids. “The sight of foods that are green, probably early in life, has become associated with anxiety,” says L. Kevin Chapman, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist who specializes in anxiety disorders.
It could be considered a sister fear to Lachanophobia, a fear of vegetables, which is typically caused by too much early exposure to junk food as a child.
Emetophobia (fear of vomiting)
This condition affects about 9% of the population, and according to Lombardo, it develops as a result of “a traumatic experience when vomiting, especially during childhood. They often avoid situations such as eating out, drinking alcohol, being alone with children—in case the children vomit—and traveling.”
They also adhere to a strict diet, including diligent checking for expiration dates of food.
Should You Eat Expired Food?
Globophobia (fear of balloons)
“The fear of balloons can arise from a negative experience, such as being startled by the loud, unexpected sound of balloons popping, or the fear of being startled,” says Marla W. Deibler, Psy.D., executive director at The Center for Emotional Health of Greater Philadelphia.
Imposter Syndrome
Lombardo says this phobia—the fear of being “found out”—is the most common anxiety among men, especially successful men.
“They will think, ‘People are going to figure out that I‘m the CEO and I don‘t know what I‘m doing,’” she says. “They don‘t talk about it. And then they try to squash it, deny it, and avoid it. So instead of saying, ‘Well, I’m in way over my head. What should I do?’, they say, ‘Well, I‘m in way over my head and I can‘t let anyone know.’”
Anuptaphobia (fear of being single)
“You may feel pressure from relatives and friends to get married,” says Greenburg. “When you see friends or siblings getting married and having kids, you may be scared of missing out.”
Whatever you do, avoid dating anybody suffering from Gamophobia, the fear of marriage. We‘ll go ahead and spoil it for you—this relationship is going to end badly.
Phagophobia (fear of swallowing)
“One client I worked with who had this condition lost 35 pounds because of his fear of swallowing,” says Lombardo. “And his anxiety about swallowing caused a ‘lump’ in his throat, which just perpetuated the fear that someone was wrong.”
The phobia can sometimes be overcome by desensitizing or distracting from the root of the anxiety. “For example, watching TV while eating can change the focus from their worry to what they are watching,” Lombardo says.
Coulrophobia (fear of clowns)
Besides the fact that clowns can be downright creepy, the fear of them may be due to something called the “uncanny effect,” says Deibler. “The uncanny valley effect is a theory that purports that when something has human features, that looks and moves in an almost, but not quite like natural human beings, it can cause a response such as fear or revulsion.”
(Additional reporting by Emily Mitchell)
