What is the fear of long words and why does it arise?

Phobia

is called a strong fear that cannot be controlled or rationally explained.

If ordinary fear can be explained logically and thus get rid of it, then phobias are irrational and often arise along with panic attacks. Dealing with a phobia is very difficult, since the cause of its occurrence is often difficult to explain, but timely consultation with a psychotherapist can solve this problem and save a person from uncontrollable experiences and unpredictable actions.

The irrationality of a phobia lies in the fact that a person’s fear of a certain object or phenomenon does not correspond to the actual danger. For example, a huge, aggressive dog poses a threat, and fear for health and life in this case is rational, but a miniature lapdog in a leash and muzzle, which evokes similar emotions, defies explanation. The fear of a dog can be overcome with logical arguments (the dog’s owner is nearby and assures him of his friendliness), but if no one and nothing can calm you down and panic begins, then this is already a phobia.

The symptoms of any type of phobia are similar and resemble the signs of a panic attack:

• strong heartbeat;
• difficulty breathing, suffocation;
• dry mouth;
• increased blood pressure;
• discomfort in the stomach and nausea;
• chest pain or pressure;
• shiver;
• dizziness;
• increased sweating;
• weakness in the legs;
• a feeling of unreality of what is happening or of oneself.

Phobia concept

The concept of “phobia” is well known to everyone, but not everyone can coherently explain what exactly it is. Translated from Greek, “phobia” means “fear, fear.” In reality, fears and phobias are very close, but there are significant differences between them. Fear is a natural protective function of the body in the face of real danger, physiologically manifested in the release of hormones into the blood, rapid heartbeat, autonomic dysfunction, etc. An interesting fact can help to understand the nature of fear - a person is born absolutely fearless. Little children are not afraid of falling from a height, drowning in the bathtub, or touching fire with their finger. Only later does the feeling of fear come with experience, and, basically, these fears are useful. Basically, the feeling of such fear helps to escape from dangerous situations or prevent them. This feeling of fear is completely conscious and controlled by common sense and logic. Phobias are fears that are characterized by very significant stability, are not based on common sense (irrational) and are constantly present in the human psyche. Moreover, these fears most often are not of a real threat, but fears “within us.” Phobias, unlike fears, are very difficult to control by thinking and common sense.

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedalophobia: meaning

The name of fear really looks funny and absolutely ridiculous. Let's try to understand the meaning of these words connected to each other:

• “hippopotamus” - “water horse” (that is, a very large animal, not necessarily a hippopotamus). The Oxford Dictionary has a similar word, hippopotamin, which refers to an abstract large object;
• “monster” is a concept familiar to everyone: a terrible, monstrous creature, sometimes of unknown origin;
• "seskipedallo" - a measure of length indicating 1.5 feet;
• “phobia”, “phobos” - irrational, inexplicable fear.

This is one of the strangest phobias found in people. Patients are afraid of panic when they hear someone uttering long words in their presence. A similar condition can develop in them even when reading a long word on paper or an advertising poster. Panic is accompanied by trembling, increased sweating, palpitations and loss of self-control. Experiencing a feeling of genuine horror, the patient involuntarily draws the most terrible pictures in his imagination.

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How to distinguish a phobia from “simple” fear

Let's look at the difference between fear and phobia using a real example.
There are a sufficient number of people who are afraid to travel in the subway. If the cause of fear is fear, it must be caused by certain negative experiences in the past. For example, a person once felt ill on the subway. If the reason is fear, then the person will prefer to move around the city by ground transport, but if the need arises, he will still go down to the metro. Naturally, this will be accompanied by certain experiences, but will be controlled by common sense and logical thinking. In the case of a phobia, the problems will be much more significant, depending on the severity of the phobia. In the mildest cases, a person will still go down to the subway, but any, even the most insignificant, stops of the car between stations will cause a pre-panic and panic state. In the most severe cases, a person will not be able to force himself to go down to the subway even in case of emergency, contrary to logic and common sense, and any attempts to force this by other people can cause severe psychological trauma. Is this relevant? According to world statistics, every eighth inhabitant of planet Earth has phobias. Thus, phobias, as a type of neurotic disorders (Neuroses, depression, fears) are a widespread phenomenon.

Causes

Experts believe that the main cause of hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia is some kind of traumatic situation for a person’s psyche, which he was unable to correctly survive, psychologically safely complete, and since then long words have been a trigger that launches negative processes in the psyche. Over the years, such a phobia acquires new details, becomes stronger in the mind and interferes with personal development in all areas.

It all starts in childhood and adolescence, when some teenagers become targets for abuse due to unclear speech and difficulties in mastering their native language. The surrounding children and teenagers, without thinking about the consequences, literally poison the unfortunate person, forcing him to give up even trying to pronounce a difficult word correctly. Over time, the child no longer tries to correct his pronunciation, but is simply afraid to do so. This is how the fear of expressing oneself develops into a phobia and mental disorder.

Even one such situation can become the beginning of a phobia in especially sensitive children.

Children with such mental characteristics are poorly socialized, receive negative grades at school, and have few friends because of the fear of communicating and causing disgrace when uttering long words. The more they are shamed, the more they withdraw into themselves. Conflicts often arise with peers and teachers at school when a teenager cannot clearly explain his fear. He is simply ashamed and afraid to do it, but not every teacher knows about such a phobia and can help.

Psychologists name several causes of the disease:

• traumatic situation in the past;
• lack of self-confidence;
• low self-esteem and fear of expressing oneself in public;
• being in a toxic environment when a child is bullied for his fears;
• fear of losing social status and professional achievements.

Anxiety increases greatly in both children and adults. They become fearful, suspicious, and their mood decreases. They lose their creativity. Their thoughts constantly revolve around their fears. All this makes it very difficult to study normally, work, establish friendly, professional and even love relationships. The quality of life of such patients decreases.

If the phobia is not treated and not dealt with in any way, then gradually the person begins to be sensitive to any outside opinion addressed to him. He is afraid of other people's assessments and avoids communication. An inferiority complex may develop.

Types of phobias. Classification of phobias

Currently, more than 500 types of phobias have been described. The most common of these are social phobia and agoraphobia.

• Social phobia is a type of phobia that is characterized by a pronounced fear of being the center of attention of strangers, or of behaving in a way that will cause humiliation or embarrassment. This type of phobia manifests itself in social everyday situations - during a meeting with friends, lunch in a cafe, the need to speak at a meeting, and others.
• Agoraphobia is a type of phobia associated with “helplessness if things suddenly become bad.” This type of phobia manifests itself in the fear of traveling unaccompanied or being among strangers.

All other types of phobias are classified into the group of so-called isolated phobias.
Below are examples of just a few of them. Phobias of animals or insects:

• - cynophobia - fear of dogs;
• - Gatophobia - fear of cats;
• - arachnophobia - fear of spiders;
• - ophidophobia - fear of snakes.

Phobias associated with situations:

• - claustrophobia - fear of closed spaces;
• - ochlophobia - fear of crowded places;
• - monophobia - fear of being alone with oneself;
• - xenophobia - fear of foreigners, strangers.

Phobias associated with natural forces:

• - acrophobia - fear of heights;
• - nyctophobia - fear of darkness, night;
• - aquaphobia - fear of water;
• - pyrophobia - fear of fire;
• - thalassophobia - fear of the sea.

Health-related phobias:

• — odontophobia – fear of dental treatment;
• - bacillophobia - fear of microorganisms;
• - Cardiophobia - fear of cardiovascular diseases;
• - Hematophobia - fear of the sight of blood.

Phobias associated with conditions and actions:

• - stasibasiphobia - fear of an upright position and walking;
• - stasyphobia - fear of standing;
• - lalophobia - fear of speaking;
• - tremophobia - fear of trembling;
• - Basilophobia - fear of walking;
• - amaxophobia - fear of traveling in public transport.

Phobias associated with objects:

• - hyalophobia - fear of glass;
• - macrophobia - fear of large objects;
• - microphobia - fear of small objects;
• - computerphobia - fear of computers;
• - Belonephobia - fear of piercing objects.

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Yuri Lvovich Muchnik

Psychiatrist-narcologist

Doctor of the highest category. 35 years of experience. Works at the Clinic named after. prof. F.F. Preobrazhensky since 2001

Why does the fear of long words have such a name?

The fear of pronouncing long words is called very intricately - hippopotomonstroseskippedalophobia.

As a rule, phobias are given a name in Latin, based on the name of the object or phenomenon that causes obsessive fear, and the prefix “phobia” is added to this name (from the Greek φόβος “fear”). Meanwhile, from the name hippopotomonstrosesquipedalophobia it is completely impossible to determine what is the source of fear. Probably, this term arose thanks to the professional humor of scientists, focusing on the main problem of people suffering from it - long, difficult to pronounce words.

As follows from one common joke, thanks to just one name of a phobia, one can diagnose its presence in a person. Another scientific name for this phobia is “sesquipedalophobia,” which is a common abbreviation for its full (and completely unpronounceable) name.

Interesting information: according to official data, every twentieth person in the world suffers from sesquipedalophobia.

Formation of a phobia based on an increased level of anxiety

When a person is constantly tense and anxious, he subconsciously wants to somehow realize his anxiety. And if a convenient moment comes up, anxiety, being, as we found out, pointless, becomes objectified, choosing as an object, for example, trips on the subway or flights on an airplane. The person immediately finds many pseudological justifications for why it is dangerous to ride the subway or fly on an airplane and will sincerely believe in them.

It is worth noting that a phobia can form either as a result of some incident or almost out of the blue. But one thing will be unconditional - the level of anxiety of the owner of the phobia will be high.

How does a person with nosophobia feel?

A patient with such a phobia is constantly in an anxious state, worrying about his health. The most ordinary sensations seem painful to him; he looks for signs of the disease in himself and, to his horror, finds them. If the “diagnosis” is not confirmed, rest assured that the nosophobe has already invented a new illness, and suffers from it no less than from the previous one.

Nosophobia rarely presents itself as a separate problem and is combined with other mental disorders such as depression. Such patients exhibit the following somatic signs:

• weakness;
• various pain sensations;
• sweating;
• heaviness in the chest;
• cardiopalmus;
• nervousness;
• sleep disorders;
• shiver;
• dry mouth, nausea, digestive disorders;
• depressive moods;
• constant self-control.

Nosophobia can seriously poison the life of those who experience it. You can only cope with this uncontrollable fear of becoming sick and helpless with the help of a psychotherapist. For a person who experiences panic at the mere thought of illness, no admonitions from family and friends that everyone gets sick and most diseases can be successfully treated today will have no effect. The patient may even agree with rational arguments about the groundlessness of his fears, but he will not stop being afraid.