Top 10 of the most common phobias among the French
We all have our little more or less debilitating phobias on a daily basis, from the fear of speaking in public, to that of meeting twins in real life (don’t judge me!). And then there are the more common phobias, the ones that make their victims look a little weird, but not too weird, because, buried deep inside us, this unfathomable fear is just waiting for a sign of fate to ruin our lives.
1. Arachnophobia: the fear of spiders
According to a recent wet-finger study on a secret sample, around 26 million French people are terrified of spiders, of which, according to the testimonies we have collected, a large majority of women are able to turn into hysterical serial killers at the simple sight of one of these often harmless little creatures.
2. Ophiophobia: the fear of snakes
If the French, like their peers around the world, are so scared of snakes, it is undoubtedly because humans inherited from their primate ancestors a gene that allows them to spot snakes from their first movement. This theory popularized in 2006 even claims that we have a neural circuit dedicated to this task! Conclusion, ophiophobia is not an inexplicable fear, it is an integrated self-defense system!
3. Acrophobia: the fear of heights
Acrophobia has nothing to do with vertigo. In fact, it precedes it. Being acrophobic is a psychological pathology that manifests itself in strong anxiety at the idea of being confronted with emptiness. Having vertigo is the next stage, that is to say the physiological and physical manifestation when we have not listened to our brain and we find ourselves like an idiot, (too) high perched with legs that shaking and sweaty hands.
4. Stomatophobia: fear of the dentist
The fear of the dentist would concern one in two French people, or even a little more among men (55%) and the 25-34 age group. That’s good, it’s usually the age when we can tell ourselves that the dentist is for old people… before regretting it a few years later when we have to overcome our stomatophobia to repair our youthful mistakes. !
5. Aerophobia: the fear of flying
Unlike the fear of spiders, the aerophobic does not start screaming at the mere sight of an airplane. No, the aerophobic is a masochist who pushes the vice so far as to get on a plane knowing full well that he is going to have a serious anxiety attack at the slightest micro jolt, before frantically applauding the pilots as soon as the landing gear will have touched the arrival tarmac.
6. Claustrophobia: the fear of confinement
Most claustrophobes would have experienced trauma related to an event that occurred during their childhood. For me, for example, it happened in the playground of my kindergarten. Don’t ask me why, but I found myself crushed one afternoon by my little classmates who came to throw themselves on me… friendly I think. In this orgy of bodies, mine was in the process of bursting under the weight of this human mass until, in a last surge of survival, I managed to get up like a superhero extricating himself from the ruins! I was alive…but claustrophobic for the rest of my life!
7. Coulrophobia: the fear of clowns
Clowns don’t make anyone laugh anymore. Blame it on popular culture, some of whose works have made them unpopular through Machiavellian clowns like Stephen King’s in “Ca”, through Batman’s Joker, American Horror Story’s Twisty, not forgetting that crazy Ronald Mcdonalds! Between us, we understand the coulrophobics who can’t trust a guy who smiles smugly all the time, who makes drunken jokes and who wears size 58 shoes despite being 1m60 tall!
8. Achluophobia: fear of the dark
Achluophobes, lygophobes, noctiphobes, scotophobes and nyctophobes all have one thing in common: they hate the dark! A sacred handicap generally developed during childhood and which fades over time, when sleeping with a night light becomes suspicious for the person lying next to him who wonders how to get out of this ugly nightmare.
9. Cynophobia: the fear of dogs
Man’s best friend isn’t for everyone. Some people suffer from what is called cynophobia, better known as “get the dog out of here or I howl!” “. A fear which is sometimes accompanied by an apopathophobia which is manifested by the fear of dog droppings (but not only).
10. The fear of being hacked on the internet
We agree that this is more a fear than a pathological phobia. But this fear of the hacker, which would concern 1 out of 2 French people, is not there by chance since the last study carried out on the main phobias of the French people was commissioned by the McAfee antivirus brand! We can doubt the objectivity of the study which was not afraid to take us for pigeons!