Top 10 Weird Types Of Phobia That You Probably Had But Never Knew

Hanima Anand |Jun 14, 2025, 15:37

It turns out we have many of these common but weird types of phobia. See the scientific names and pictures for top 10 most bizarre phobias below!

Before coming to top 10 weird types of phobia, let’s make it clear what a phobia is! According to Oxford Dictionaries, a phobia is a strong unreasonable fear of something. We have often heard of claustrophobia (fear of small closed space) in movies when the character is locked inside the elevator. You might also know xenophobia which refers to a strong dislike for people from other countries.

However, there are so many strange types of phobia that you never heard of. And lots of people are having these phobias without knowing their technical terms.

1. Arithmophobia – Fear of numbers

Arithmophobia
Those with arithmophobia often avoid dealing with maths problems.

Are you scared of Maths? Have you ever tried to avoid calculation by all means? If the answer is yes, you are probably having arithmophobia, also known as numerophobia. People diagnosed with this type of phobia often face many difficulties in life due to their irrational fear of seeing the number symbols only, let alone doing maths or solving monetary problems.

2. Nomophobia – Fear of not being with mobile phone

Nomophobia
When seeing their battery low, nomophobia victims start to panic.

In an era of technology, having no mobile phone is truly an obstacle. However, people with nomophobia easily get panicked when not having their phone with them at any time. They also fall in anxiety when their phone battery goes low or out of service.

Along with the increasing addiction to mobile phones, nomophobia is becoming one of the most common types of phobia in our modern society.

3. Plutophobia – Fear of money

Plutophobia
If you constantly say No to money, you're probably of plutophobia group.

While most of us are chasing wealth for the whole life, these people with plutophobia need to stay away from money as far as possible. This also means they are scared of rich people or even themselves becoming rich.

Plutophobia patients may destroy their own careers to stop generating more money. This symptom is believed to result from a strong fear of responsibilities or robbery.

4. Ablutophobia – Fear of bathing

Ablutophobia
Ablutophobia often occurs in children but may disappear when they grow up.

According to research, a large number of people had ablutophobia when they were kids. However, this type of phobia could resolve itself when people become adults.

Though ablutophobia doesn’t pose serious threats to one’s life, it may cause other people annoying by the unpleasant body odour. In some cases, ablutophobia is a consequence of aquaphobia (fear of water in general).

5. Optophobia – Fear of opening their eyes

Optophobia
These people avoid open spaces and prefer dim light.

How can a person function if not opening his or her eyes? This difficult riddle actually occurred to optophobia people. They are scared of opening their eyes and outdoor space. They prefer staying indoor as well as working under dim light.

Optophobia is often related to anxiety disorder and differs from eyesight diseases.

6. Ephebiphobia – Fear of adolescents

Ephebiphobia
The stereotype of rebellious youth portrayed by media also contributes to ephebiphobia.

Usually, people often fear becoming adults when they have to face lots of responsibilities, and monthly bills. However, many adults are actually scared of teenagers who they perceive as dangerous. This may stem from a common belief that adolescents are rude and rebellious.

People having ephebiphobia hate staying around youngsters as well as avoid paying visits to households with adolescents.

7. Ergophobia – Fear of work

Ergophobia
Don't mistake ergophobia with necessary stress at your workplace!

This weird phobia has nothing to do with laziness. Ergophobia is a symptom when its victims have extreme anxieties in their working environment. These people also fear of applying for a job as a normal person.

Sometimes, when the phobia grows so strong, individuals might attack themselves to impair their ability to do a professional job. This phobia, like plutophobia, exerts immense impacts on not only the victims but also their family members as well.

8. Deipnophobia – Fear of dinner conversations

Deipnophobia
Dining conversations are the nightmare of people with deipnophobia.

If you notice, some people find it extremely hard to start the conversation no matter how much they want to engage the other person. This cause them to fall behind in the dating race or enlarging their acquaintance circle.

These people are experiencing deipnophobia, an unreasonable fear of dining with others. These patients will avoid dinner parties or any event that may force them to talk. Scientists think the social phobia in general is the underlying cause of deipnophobia. Children who are ridiculed for not conducting proper social etiquette are also prone to this type of phobia.

9. Vestiphobia – Fear of clothes

Vestiphobia
It's not about fashion; it's about how they feel.

When fashion is an important way to express personal style and social status, many individuals don’t have a chance to display their taste of clothing. They are diagnosed with vestiphobia, a fear of specific garments or even all types of clothing.

Some patients said tight clothing made them feel restrained, so they were anxious when wearing these attires. In other cases, former soldiers might be frightened of seeing military uniforms due to the traumatic events they had in association with that clothing.

10. Ichthyophobia – Fear of fish

Ichthyophobia
Some people just freak out when seeing a raw fish.

It’s common when seeing people scared of dogs, cats, or worms but fish seems to do no harm that one should be afraid of. Having said that, ichthyophobia is not a rare phenomenon though it’s definitely among the weirdest types of phobia.

People with ichthyophobia might fear eating fish, touching fish or even seeing a goldfish. Particularly, those frightened of sharks are called galeophobia.

Above are 10 types of phobia that you might have never heard of. Please note that many of these phobias are just phenomena, which might resolve themselves or link to cultural belief. Not all phobias are categorized as psychological conditions.

Should you feel like you are having one of those, don’t worry if you can avoid the agents that cause fear. If the symptoms remain, you may consider seeing doctors for more advice.

>>> Check more interesting facts on Starbiz.com!

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