“How Your Grandparents’ Demons May Be Haunting You”
Do you suffer from a strange fear that you can’t explain? One in 10 people in the United States has a phobia, which is a crippling fear so intense that it occurs even when there is no danger. For example, people with acrophobia are terrified of heights, even if they are perfectly safe in a high-rise building. In the show Arrested Development, Tobias Fünke is “never nude” and even showers with his shorts on; he suffers from nudophobia, which really is a thing. Some other phobias include arachibutyrophobia (the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth), consecotaleophobia (fear of chopsticks), aulophobia (fear of flutes), and my wife’s kryptonite, chilopodophobia (fear of centipedes).
According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 19 million people in the United States experience diminished quality of life due to irrational fears and ...
