The phobias you should know about

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glossophobia4Phobias are irrational intense fears of certain objects or situations, despite the awareness of them not being actually dangerous. They are not simple fears though, since the person that suffers them cannot really control his/her reactions and this may lead to stress and emotional problems.

Claustrophobia (fear of confined places) or, the opposite, agoraphobia (fear of crowded public open spaces) are two quite well-known phobias; however, there are some others whose names we may not know but still exist and create anxiety among people: amaxophobia (fear of driving vehicles), bibliophobia (fear of books), dentophobia (fear of dentists), geliophobia (fear of laughter), hemophobia (fear of blood), alliumphobia (fear of garlic), lygophobia (fear of darkness), olfactophobia (fear of smells), chronophobia (fear of time), dromophobia (fear of crossing streets), hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia (fear of the number 666) or the mother of all problems: phobophobia (or the fear of phobias). For a varied list of bizarre and uncommon phobias, you can check this video and for a complete glossary of fears see this list.

glossophobia2

There is one specific fear that apparently 70-75% of the world’s population has and it’s called glossophobia. This is the severe fear of public speaking. The word comes from the Greek γλῶσσα glōssa, meaning tongue or language, and φόβος phobos (fear, dread). Glossophobia can provoke different symptoms, such as the anxiety before speaking in front of a group or even more intense physical distress, like nausea or panic.

As an intense phobia, people cannot control these emotions and they panic at the thought of having to communicate a message to a group. Psychologists and therapists work with glossophobic people providing them with guidelines to control this nightmare.

This week’s video presents this phobia and a couple of direct tips to make public speaking more pleasant and enjoyable. According to the authors, the preparation of the content is the key to a successful speech. Keeping a natural posture while speaking will also help us breath and, essentially, being as natural as possible will attract the audience’s attention and make us feel more confident. Losing the fear to speak in front of people is also a matter of practice and patience.

References

Glossophobia.com

Farlex Dictionary

Phobialist.com (glossary)

 

By Jurdana Martin Retegi, student of the MA Learning & Communication in Multilingual and Multicultural Contexts at the University of Luxembourg. Study visitor at TermCoord.