Phobia Photos Trivia Quiz

The word oneirophobia is derived from the Greek words for "dreams" (oneiro) and "fear" (phobos). Someone suffering from this fear of dreams would certainly not enjoy the pictured dream about a ghost, and might even avoid falling asleep so such dreams could not occur.

While some sufferers do so as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), those who have not had this trauma could experience oneirophobia due to recurring dreams of a disturbing nature, or other more mundane reasons.

Described as the fear of numbers, arithmophobia (aka numerophobia) does not have "official" status as a diagnosis according to the American Psychiatric Association. Anyone running from their computer screen at the sight of this image might have cause to differ with this opinion, as do some professionals.

The fear may be of all numbers, or of a specific number like 4 or 13, and can occur for various reasons including genetics or cultural phobias.

Fear of failure could easily be triggered by the sight of that big red F on an examination or essay. It is a recognised anxiety disorder, and could stem from many things, including childhood trauma, or extremely high expectations being placed on an individual, either by others or themselves. Not only academic failure, but failure in all aspects of life can be feared by sufferers.

The word derives from the Greek "atyches" meaning "unfortunate".

The fear of memories, mnemophobia, takes the first part of its name from the Greek "mnem", meaning memory. You might have associated it with the word mnemonic, describing those handy little devices like "Roy G Biv" that help you remember something.

The memories contained in the journal pictured, or a scrapbook or photo album, might be enough to cause consternation to one whose memories are such that they have developed this particular phobia.

Fear of school, though not a clinically diagnosed phobia, can be caused by many things, including bullying, academic pressure and a number of other negative influences. Many children experience some form of this fear, but for many it is fleeting. For others it can be physically debilitating, causing upset stomachs and headaches, which in turn justify missing school.

Scolionophobia derives its name from the Latin "scius" meaning "knowing". Its alternate name, didaskaleinophobia is derived from the Greek "Didasko", to teach.

Siderodromophobia is the fear of trains and/or railways, and encompasses the fear of crashing, simply being on a train or even having one close by. Living beside the tracks would not be possible for someone suffering from this phobia.

The etymology of the word is interesting, having apparently been "back-translated" into Greek from the German term "Eisenbahnangst" or "iron way fear", to "sideros" (iron), "dromos" (run), "phobos" (fear).

Fear of dogs gets its name from the Greek "cyno" meaning dog, and the ever present "phobos" (fear). The phobia can have its roots in a negative interaction with a dog or dogs, or could be learned from a parent or other adult who shares the fear. It could be genetic, or like many phobias it simply could just "be".

Some success in treating this phobia with exposure therapy has been reported.

The fear of hands, including one's own, is a type of anxiety disorder, and the sight of this photo might cause a panic attack in someone who suffers from this phobia. The phobia also extends to fear of being touched, because the hands could hurt them.

The word chirophobia comes to us from Greek, with "chiro" (hand) joining our old friend "phobos".

Visiting the Butterfly Conservatory near Niagara Falls, Ontario, should not be on the itinerary of anybody suffering from a fear of butterflies and/or moths, as the creatures flutter about freely, sometimes even landing on visitors. The accompanying photo was taken there.

You might have recognised "lepidoptera" as the order of insects to which butterflies and moths belong, which has given this phobia its name.

While it might be a good thing to have an aversion to too much sun, thus saving oneself from sunburn, sunstroke and even skin cancer, someone who suffers from heliophobia fears any sort of exposure to the sun, sunlight or in some cases, any bright light. They might go so far as to never go outside when the sun is shining in an attempt to avoid the panic attack that could result should they do so. As with many phobias, one treatment is exposure therapy which could start with pictures of the sun, perhaps even the smiling fellow used here.

Helio is the Greek word for "sun", and Helios was the Greek god of the Sun.