Encyclopedia of Aberrations--our Fears

Ever since I picked up Oxford Press' Encyclopedia of Phobias, Fears & Anxieties (1989; rev. ed. 2000), I have been fascinated with the words that we invent for various fears that we may or may not have. As I have argued previously, there are economic and pharmacological reasons for "discovering" or "inventing" fears--it keeps people employed, it keeps drug companies doing research, it keeps insurance companies reimbursing, it makes the economy hum. It may, as a side benefit, also improve the lives of a few people in the process, but the American economy has not always been interested in in promoting the wealth or health of the many. Well, I argued that there were about 29 "classic" or "historic" phobias or fears, and I listed them in this essay, with dates of first attestation. But I knew that when the 1989 Encyclopedia came out, about 500-600 fears were listed. Maybe, with duplicate spellings and synonymns, that would narrow down to about 300 of them. But how do you get from the 29 "classic" fears (i.e., those attested before 1925 in English) and the 300+ fears of 1989? Well, I did some research and found the delightful Encyclopedia of Aberrations, edited by Dr. Edward Podolsky in 1953. This Encyclopedia is obviously quite dated now, and very few libraries even have it, but I decided to study it not to get absolute truth (you are barking up the wrong tree if you think that psychology will give you that, anyway) but to see what the list of fears included in 1953. Thus, I figured I would have some kind of "bridge" between 1925 and 1989. I also am fascinated by some of the aberrations they list there, which I will turn to in another essay. But, let's use this and the next essay to expand our list of fears.

The Fear List in Encyclopedia of Aberrations (1953)

Of the 29 phobias I have discovered which were attested in English by 1925, the Encyclopedia of Aberrations lists 15. They overlapping fears are: 1. aelurophobia (the classic spelling is ailurophobia), 2. agoraphobia, 3. algophobia, 4. astraphobia, 5. brontophobia, 6. claustrophobia, 7. gynephobia (classically spelled as gynophobia), 8. mysophobia, 9. nosophobia, 10. nyctophobia, 11. ochlophobia, 12. pathophobia, 13. thanatophobia, 14. triskaidekaphobia, and 15. xenophobia. [On 3/20/07 I found another one--lyssophobia, first attested in 1889.]

That means that the 14 "classic" phobias not mentioned in the Encyclopedia of Aberrations are: 1. acrophobia, 2. aerophobia, 3. anthrophobia, 4. arachnophobia, 5. bacteriophobia, 6. cynophobia, 7. erythrophobia, 8. hema (hemato)phobia, 9. homophobia, 10. hydrophobia, 11. phonophobia, 12. phthisiophobia, 13. psychrophobia, 14. pyrophobia. Some of these are not mentioned because there was a more "modern" form of them, such as ereuthophobia for erythrophobia; some of them may have been omitted, such as homophobia, because in 1953 it was not an aberration to be homophobic; some may no longer have been real fears (like the classic symptoms of hydrophobia or phthisiophobia).

Additions in the 1953 Encyclopedia

In the midst of presenting lots of other "aberrations," the 1953 Encyclopedia lists the following fears which were not attested before 1925. I don't know when they actually reared their heads; someone else might have to help me there. One of the problems with the Encyclopedia of Aberrations is that it doesn't give a historical treatment of anything. Like most professionals, the editors of this journal probably think that the things they describe are part of the structure of the universe, not realizing, however, that until words are actually attached to things, those things may never really have existed. Let's go in alphabetical order:

1. Aichmophobia, an unreasoning fear of pointed objects. This fear has morphed or become more refined in our day, so that now an entire Wikipedia article is devoted to trypanophobia, the extreme fear of medical procedures involving hypodermic needles. I wonder if they treat the fear by injecting you with something.

2. Amathophobia is an abnormal fear of dust, but one wonders why this wasn't included under mysophobia, which had been hanging around for at least 70 years by the time of the 1953 Encyclopedia.

3. Amaxophobia, the fear of being in vehicles, probably only developed in the 20th century, since cars were not in service before then. But you wonder if the fear, attested here, is really just the fear of being in cars or can include the fear of being in other kinds of conveyances. In addition, since cars are so much a part of our lives, you would think that this fear has subsided. We now have a new fear, cyberphobia--the fear of computers, but this doesn't seem to affect many people under 20 years of age.

4. Apeirophobia is defined in 1953 as the "morbid dread of infinity." I wonder who feels this. Pascal said something to the effect that the boundless spaces of eternity frightened him (anyone know the precise quotation?), but I am nonplussed about this one. Does someone just come into the shrink's office, shut the door, put down his head, wipe his brow, sigh and say, "Doc, I have this morbid fear of infinity"? Then, does the doctor say, "My dear man, you are an apeirophobic"? I suppose that if someone fears infinity then someone else must love it, so are there also aperiophiliacs? If so, they ought to get together in a conference with the apeirophobics, share their space so to speak and see if they can just get the fears to a manageable level--like the fear of mountains tumbling on top of you or rivers bursting their course and drowning you as you sleep.

5. Basophobia is defined as a "hyterical fear of standing up or attempting to walk." Phew. If basophobia also included a fear of sitting, you might have a combined fear of leaning to the right, leaning to the left, standing up, sitting down and fighting fighting fighting. I think I need to know more in order to embrace this fear in a sympathetic manner. Maybe it only affects alcoholics after they have thrown away their inhibitions and engaged in excessive inbibition.

6. Bathophobia is the fear of depths. I suppose that if you have baso, you might as well as batho. But the kind of depths indicated are never described. Well, there is one more line. Bathophobia is the fear of falling to one's death. I suppose the old term was acrophobia, a fear of heights, but this one includes the fear of falling to one's death. But does bathophobia therefore include something about heights because you have to be up pretty high to fear falling to your death? So, what is the nature of the fear here..of heights, of depths..of falling from the height to the death.of dying..of going splat. What? Lack of precision is killing me.

Well, I see I need one more essay to go through the other 13 or so "new fears" that the Encyclopedia includes. Thanks for joining me on the journey.

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