Medical Dictionary Definitions A-Z List
Medical Dictionary Definitions A - Z - «F»:
-
Fear of joy
Fear of joy: An abnormal, excessive, and persistent fear of experiencing joy or pleasure. Sufferers with this most puritanical of phobias typically feel guilty about experiencing pleasure even though they usually realize rationally there is nothing at all wrong with taking pleasure. Their guilt usua...
-
Fear of loneliness
Fear of loneliness: An abnormal and persistent fear of loneliness, of being alone. Sufferers of this fear experience undue anxiety even though they realize that being alone does not threaten their well-being. They may worry about being ignored and unloved, or they may worry about intruders, strange ...
-
Fear of marriage
Fear of marriage: An abnormal and persistent fear of being married. Sufferers of this phobia experience undue anxiety even though they may rationally realize that the married state itself poses no threat to them. They may fear the challenge of living with another person and the responsibility of re...
-
Fear of men
Fear of men: An abnormal and persistent fear of men. Sufferers experience anxiety even though they realize they may face no real threat.
Fear of men is termed "androphobia," a word derived from the Greek "andros" (man)
and "phobos" (fear). "Andro-" enters into a number of other biomedical terms su...
-
Fear of mirrors
Fear of mirrors: An abnormal and persistent fear of mirrors. Sufferers experience undue anxiety even though they realize their fear is irrational. Because their fear often is grounded in superstitions, they may worry that breaking a mirror will bring bad luck or that looking into a mirror will put t...
-
Fear of money
Fear of money: An abnormal and persistent fear of money. Sufferers experience undue anxiety even
though they realize their fear is irrational. They worry that they might
mismanage money or that money might live up to its reputation as "the root of
all evil." Perhaps they remember well the ill for...
-
Fear of new things
Fear of new things: An irrational fear of anything new, of innovation, of new situations, places, or things. Also called neophobia. In animal behavior, neophobia refers to the tendency of an animal to avoid or retreat from an unfamiliar object or situation.
All phobias are unreasonable sorts of ...
-
Fear of nudity
Fear of nudity: An abnormal
and persistent fear of nudity is called gymnophobia. Sufferers of this phobia
experience undue anxiety even though they realize their fear is irrational. They
may worry about seeing others naked or being seen naked, or both. Their fear may
stem from anxiety ...
-
Fear of oneself
Fear of oneself: An irrational fear of oneself, an intense self-fear that is groundless. Fear of oneself is termed "autophobia" which comes from two Greek words: "autos" (self) and "phobos" (fear) = literally, self-fear, fear of oneself. "Autos" has given us many English words such as "automatic" an...
-
Fear of pain
Fear of pain: An abnormal and persistent fear of pain. The fear is excessive, beyond that which is expected under the circumstances, producing an anxiety reaction.
Fear of pain is termed "algophobia," a word derived from the Greek "algos" (pain) and "phobos" (fear). Note that an "algometer" is an in...
-
Fear of pleasure
Fear of pleasure: An abnormal, excessive, and persistent fear of pleasure. Sufferers with this most puritanical of phobias typically feel guilty about experiencing pleasure even though they usually realize rationally there is nothing at all wrong with taking pleasure. Their guilt usually arises from...
-
Fear of public places
Fear of public places: This irrational fear is called
agoraphobia. It applies to open areas, especially those from which
escape could be difficult or help not immediately accessible. Persons
with agoraphobia frequently also have panic disorder.
People with agoraphobia characteristically become an...
-
Fear of self
Fear of self: An irrational fear of oneself, an intense self-fear that is groundless. Fear of oneself is termed "autophobia" which comes from two Greek words: "autos" (self) and "phobos" (fear) = literally, self-fear, fear of oneself. "Autos" has given us many English words such as "automatic" and "...
-
Fear of sexual intercourse
Fear of sexual intercourse: An abnormal and persistent fear of male-female sexual intercourse. Sufferers of this fear experience undue anxiety because they are preoccupied with failing in some way while having heterosexual intercourse. Among the symptoms of coitophobia are failure to achieve an erec...
-
Fear of sharks
Fear of sharks: Excessive and persistent fear of sharks is termed galeophobia. Sufferers from this phobia experience anxiety even though they may be safe on a boat or in an aquarium or on a beach. Hollywood films depicting sharks as calculating, vengeful diabolical monsters have no doubt enkindled t...
