Phobia of the Day: Anthophobia

A phobia is an anxiety disorder involving excessive and persistent fear of a situation or object. Exposure to the source of the fear triggers an immediate anxiety response.

Most specific phobias fall into one of four major categories:

• Fears of the natural environment
• Fears related to animals
• Fear related to medical treatments or issues
• Fears related to specific situations

 Phobia of the day: Anthophobia is when the sight or even the thought of flowers causes extreme fear, anxiety and panic for a person. 

Someone with this type of phobia may suffer an intense and persistent fear of flowers or only specific types of flowers. 

Symptoms of Anthophobia may include: 

• panic and fear, which is often excessive, persistent, and an unreasonable to get away from a flower or type of flower.
• sweaty palms
• racing heartbeat
• rapid breathing
• dry mouth
• nausea
• dizziness
• shivering
• shortness of breath
• shaking

SELF-CARE TIPS FOR PHOBIAS THAT BRING ON ANXIETY

• Talk to someone you trust. 
• Learn to manage panic and anxiety. 
• Look into joining a support group. 
• Use self-help resources. 
• Take a course for your specific phobia.

THIS WEEK’S LIST:

Monday, 12 December – Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

Tuesday, 13 December – Koinoniphobia

Wednesday, 14 December – Bibliophobia

RECENT PHOBIA WORD POSTS:

Monday, 28 November – Ophidiophobia

Thursday, 1 December – Thalassophobia

Monday, 5 December – Zuigerphobia

Tuesday, 6 December – Amaxophobia

Wednesday, 7 December – Anemophobia

Thursday, 8 December – Chrometophobia

Saturday, 10 December – Globophobia

Sunday, 11 December – Chloephobia

Do you have a phobia you suffer from that you’d like to share?

If so, send an email to info@thesouthafrican.com or a WhatsApp to 060 011 0211 and we’ll publish the ones that we feel are most interesting!

You can also follow @TheSAnews on Twitter and The South African on Facebook for all the latest phobias.