Phobia:  ”A persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that leads to a compelling desire to avoid it,” as defined by dictionary.com.

Phobias can make people scared out of their mind. When people are faced with one of their phobias their heart begins to pound, the trembling begins and breath gets short as their inherent natures kick in and they decide to either stay and fight or run away as fast as possible. I believe all of us have at least one thing we’re terrified of.

I have come to realize I have two phobias – fear of flying, aviophobia, and tornadoes, lilapsophobia.  I am not sure why I am so scared of those two things (which is probably how most people feel about their phobias), nor can I name one as being worse than the other. I have never flown in an airplane, but just the thought of flying makes me nervous. Even being in an airport causes my palms to become clammy and my heart to start racing. When it comes to my fear of tornadoes, people make fun of me. If it is windy and cloudy outside, I get a little paranoid about there being a tornado, which is one reason why I hate the wind!

A few fears that are commonly heard of are those of snakes, heights and spiders. Leti Lemus is one who has ophidiophobia, fear of snakes: “I get chills and start running!”Mayra Castañeda, who has a phobia of cockroaches, explains that she tries avoiding them by staying out of her yard at night. If a cockroach makes its way to her, Castañeda said, “I freak out and try to get away.”

Odd fears that are just as frightening, but uncommon are:

• Trichophobia – fear of hair
• Telephonophobia – fear of the telephone
• Syngenesophobia – fear of relatives

 Having irrational fears can hold people back from living normally.  According to the latest phobia statistics, nearly 3.2 million Americans suffer from agoraphobia, the fear of being in crowds or public places.  This can have a devastating affect on their ability to succeed in life and their health.  Experts also tell us that twice as many women are prone to have an irrational fear than men. People with phobias are often told to simply face their fears, but that is not easy to do without psychiatric help.