People who have been kidnapped or held prisoner will
be highly susceptible to this phobia. They will feel severe terror when faced
with the idea of going through a similar experience at other times in their
lives. Imagining that you are locked up in an enclosed space will make you
upset and anxious. And, if his reaction continues at an extreme level one maybe
suffering from Cleithrophobia.
Pear Of Anguish -
Agliophobia is the persistent, unwarranted and often
irrational fear of pain. It is derived from the Greek word algo which means
pain and phobos which means fear or dread. The dictionary defines pain as a “highly unpleasant
sensation following an illness or injury or mental suffering or distress”.
Thus, pain is subjective and what is extremely painful to one might trigger
little or no response in another. Therefore, pain is treated as a complicated
subject by psychologists and experts in the field of medicine. Pain indicates
that something is wrong in the body. But in case of Agliophobia, there is an
intense and constant anxiety in the sufferer’s mind about experiencing pain.
This tends to aggravate his/her physical/emotional distress and can be highly
disruptive in everyday as well as medical settings.
Like in all other specific phobias, Agliophobia also
originates from an intense traumatic experience in the past as well as
intrinsic factors. For example, highly
sensitive people could be more prone to the fear of pain phobia. Even seeing
their loved ones suffer can lead to a lifetime of fear of pain. Children who
have experienced pain at the dentist’s or doctor’s office will be fearful of
experiencing that pain all the time.
Symptoms of fear of pain phobia
- The fear of pain phobia is often mistaken for depression,
bipolar disorder, ADHD, sleeping disorder, schizophrenia and so on. Depending
on the extent to which one suffers, the disruptive phobia can lead to many
physical symptoms including:
- Shaking, trembling, sweating
- Crying, screaming
- Experiencing a full blown panic attack
- Rapid and shallow breathing, having an increased heart rate
- Experiencing dizziness, nausea and other gastrointestinal
distress
- Inability to express self accurately
Often, medical and dental pain agliophobics end up
aggravating their medical/dental condition as they refrain from seeking help
for it. Their fear and paranoia about pain might also make them turn to
excessive use of pain relievers which could cause an overdose.
~
Aichmophobia is a specific phobia which is defined as an
abnormal and morbid fear of sharp objects such as knives, needles, and
pencils. This type of phobia is often
mistaken for Trypanophobia which is an irrational and extreme fear of medical
procedures which involve injections and/or hypodermic needles.
- Pounding heart, palpitations or accelerated heartbeat
- Chest pain and/or discomfort
- Shortness of breath
- Shaking or trembling and excessive sweating
- Stomach distress and nausea
- Feeling of being detached from reality
- Fear of dying, losing control, going crazy or fainting
Aichmophobia may cause intense and disabling anxiety, panic
and fear. Patients may recognize that their fear is unreasonable and excessive,
but they will try as much as possible to avoid places or situations which are
related to their fear. This avoidance may start to interfere in their normal
routine and may cause significant distress.embarrassing themselves by fainting
and hence they tend to avoid needles completely.
~
Mechanophobia is the fear of machines. When machines were
first used, many thought that this could take away jobs from many and some even
viewed them as evil.
What causes Mechanophobia?
In the olden times, many reluctant to accept machines and
this reluctance lead to fear. Fear of machines can also be caused due to a
previous trauma by direct contact with a machine such as those who have missing
limbs, fingers or toes or even crushed some bones. We live in an industrialized
world, and machines have become a part of our daily living to the point that it
would be so much trouble if one of our efficient machines in the workplace did
not work. People who fear machines will always avoid industrial
places or machinery. Their homes may have fireplaces for heat or candles for
light. Some of them may have no trouble with the benefits of machinery as long
as they don’t have to have physical contact with the machine itself.
Symptoms of Mechanophobia
- Dizziness
- Elevated heart rate and temperature
- Panic attacks
- Trembling
- Urge to flee.
Rat Torture -
Musophobia is the fear of mice or rats and the word
originates from Latin Mus which means mice and Greek phobos which means deep
fear or dread. Other terms used for fear of rats and mice include Murophobia,
which is derived from the word ‘Murine’ or the ‘Muridae’ family of mice/rats
and Suriphobia which is derived from souris, which is French for mouse.
Causes of Musophobia
Musophobia is a very common phobia affecting hundreds of
thousands of people all over the world. Where some people think of mice as
“cute and cuddly”; phobics tend to find them “disgusting and carriers of
disease”. Rats and mice are known carriers of pathogens. They are also infamous
in history for spreading the Black Plague which wiped away large chunks of the
human population. In general, they are known to dwell in sewers, drainages and
dark, wet or dirty places. Rats are also known to carry fleas and other
parasites that harm not just humans but pets as well. Wild rats and rodents are
not welcome guests in human homes, so they tend to hide in cracks and crevices
found around pantries, kitchens and other places having an abundant storage of
food. Naturally, they might spring on unsuspecting individuals and startle
them. Like most animal phobias, the fear of mice also stems, usually, from a
negative or traumatic experience with rats. Incidents in childhood where a rat
has bitten a child or loved ones can also trigger this phobia. Humans are
conditioned from childhood to fear wild rats and rodents. An adult, might have
been startled by a rat and screamed or climbed up on a chair. Children
unknowingly learn to imitate this behaviour and the occasional fright triggers
an anxiety response that might turn into lifelong phobia of rats and mice. Popular
culture depicts these creatures in negative light: cartoons (Tom and Jerry),
books (Pied Piper of Hamilton), movies, and TV shows etc show stereotypical
traits about them. Typically: a rat scares the woman protagonist who jumps and
climbs up screaming on a chair/table.
Symptoms of fear of mice phobia
The symptoms of Musophobia vary depending on the extent of
fear the phobic experiences. Just like any other Zoophobia, the fear of mice
typically triggers physical and mental symptoms which include:
- Screaming, crying, climbing on beds or tables/chairs
- Trying to flee
- Shaking, trembling, and sweating profusely.
- Having accelerated heartbeat, breathing rapidly or gasping
- Feeling nauseated, vomiting or having other signs of
gastrointestinal distress
- Musophobes might experience anxiety/panic attacks at the
mere mention of mice, or even from watching them feeding on trash, or in
pictures, on TV etc.
~
Trypophobia, is an irrational and persistent fear of holes,
generally not the huge ones but the tiny holes seen within asymmetrical
clusters. It is a rather unusual, albeit, a common type of phobia, wherein
sufferers report having an adverse reaction to images of holes or objects with
holes.
Symptoms of trypophobia
According to researchers Geoff Cole and Arnold Wilkins of
the University of Essex, the brains of trypophobic individuals associate the
holes with some kind of danger. The kind of danger one senses or imagines it
yet to be established. The fear of holes not only covers holes in the form of
images, the individual may also fear
holes in meat, clusters/pores on the skin, on vegetables or fruits or even
those in sponges, wood, honeycombs etc.
For some people, even the mere verbal mention of “fear of small holes”
is enough to trigger trembling and shuddering. The reaction displayed by each
trypophobic individuals is different: some feel their skin ‘crawling’, others
may shudder, a few report feeling itchy while still others report feeling
physically sickened or disgusted. Some phobics also report thoughts of falling
into the holes triggering major panic attacks.
Causes of trypophobia
A group dedicated to the fear of holes on a popular social
media site has tried to establish the causes behind this as yet unexplored
phobia. Often people are completely unaware that they have a latent form of
trypophobia until they actually see images of holes. Individuals in the group
have volunteered the following probable causes behind this unusual fear:
- Deep rooted emotional problem-Some object associated with
childhood that triggers traumatic memories associated with holes. Possible bee
stings in the past that led to a swelling wherein the swollen skin displayed
every pore.
- Scientists have also reported that evolution may be one of
the major causes behind the fear of holes. They explain this fact by giving the
example of “pockmarked objects” which do not seem “quite right or completely
normal”. Some primitive portion of the
brain perceives or associates these ‘pockmarks’ with something dangerous.
- Holes also tend to be associated with organic objects like
rashes or skin blisters that typically follow an episode of measles or chicken
pox.
~
Merinthophobia is the fear of being bound. The origin of
the word merintho is Greek (meaning string) and phobia is Greek (meaning fear).
Merinthophobia is considered to be a specific phobia.
Causes of Merinthophobia?
Those who suffer from this phobia suffer also fears loss of
control. They may experience feeling of passing out, difficulty of breathing or
feeling of defencelessness. This fear may stem from a regrettable incident in which he/she was bound either as a joke or intentionally. The trauma of such
occurrence often stays with an individual for the duration of their lives. Observing
someone who is bound and engaged in a panic attack can also leave a lasting
impression, even if the individual is someone you do not know and more so if
the individual you observed was someone close to you. An individual with
Merinthophobia will be very uncomfortable watching an illusionist escape from
being bound. They may feel sick to their stomach and leave quickly. They may
feel as if they can’t catch their breath. It is generally accepted that phobias
arise from a combination of external events (i.e. traumatic events) and
internal predispositions (i.e. heredity or genetics). Many specific phobias can
be traced back to a specific triggering event, usually a traumatic experience
at an early age. Social phobias and agoraphobia have more complex causes that
are not entirely known at this time. It is believed that heredity, genetics,
and brain chemistry combine with life-experiences to play a major role in the
development of phobias.
Symptoms of Merinthophobia?
As with any phobia, the symptoms vary by person depending
on their level of fear. The symptoms typically include:
- Extreme anxiety
- Dread
- Shortness of breath
- Rapid breathing
- Irregular heartbeat
- Sweating
- Nausea
- Shaking
~~~~
And the final part of this post as I feel it's going to be a long one, I'd rather all the information was in here rather than in individual posts. How I will try and visualise each phobia.
Iron Maiden:
- Claustrophobia -
- Haemophobia -
- Cleithrophobia -
Pear of Anguish:
- Aichmophobia -
- Mechanophobia -
- Agliophobia - .
Rat Torture:
- Merinthophobia - There will be a lot of binding with this image to attempt to play off this phobia, I imagine a lot of binding around vital places on the body could would such as wrists, arms and legs, I want the character to look like they have ripped the device off them and damaged themselves in the process. I want to work with the loss of control which is a feeling that sufferers of this phobia can have, this is also the essence of torture, where the person being tortured loses all control.
- Musophobia - Obviously with a piece devoted to the rat torture there will be rats in the image, I am going to hyper-extend these rats and make them a bit more horror genre, I really hate to make rats the bad guys because I really love rat, but I am going to go all out with the demonised view of rats, being vermin and diseased. I feel like I could do something plague wise with this angel and make the character a bit black death style.
- Trypophobia - To get this I will have several boils and buboes that will be clumped together, also bite marks playing with the rats biting the character will be in several places together, this should get people with the phobias skin tingling for sure (even typing it down is making my skin crawl, how am I going to paint this!)
