Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — We're all afraid of something. My greatest fear is losing my tongue, but small spaces and spiders faze me not. One of my daughters has a really strange aversion to flies, but she can climb onto the tallest, skinniest surfaces fearlessly.
Fears are called phobias and some seem more rational than others. Maybe it's like beauty — in the eye of the beholder.
QR Code Generator analyzed Google search data in the U.S. for the past 12 months to figure out who's afraid and what they fear. Their list included terms I've never heard and a couple I wish I could forget.
To figure it out, the company examined search volume for key terms like "how to overcome (phobia)," or (phobia) definition. They looked for searches for the phobia itself by name, fear of (phobia) and how to get over (phobia) to come up with a ranking based on average monthly searches.
Utah is reportedly the state where people search online for phobias the most, receiving the highest average monthly search volume of 842.71 per 100,000 people. Washington and Nevada are second and third.
The top 10 most searched phobias and their average monthly search volume, per the company:
- Trypophobia, with 536,828 searches each month. This is basically the fear of holes. The Cleveland Clinic expands the definition to "an aversion or repulsion to objects like honeycombs or sponges that have repetitive patterns of clusters of small holes." The study found it's the No. 1 searched phobia in all 50 states.
- Agoraphobia, with 363,826 searches. This is a fear of leaving familiar, safe environments like one's home. According to the Better Health Channel, it's actually an anxiety disorder.
- Misophonia, with 241,833 searches. While it is not actually a phobia, and is a sensory disorder, it's a problem for people who are hypersensitive to sounds, like how someone else chews, drinks or breathes.
- Thalassophobia, with 157,577 searches. This one's a fear of deep water, such as that found in lakes or oceans. QR Code Generator staff noted that people in Hawaii search for this more than those in other states.
- Emetophobia, with 143,228 searches. This fear centers on vomit and a fear of throwing up. The report says that "notable celebrities who suffer from the phobia include Bella Ramsey, Frankie Bridge and Zoe Sugg," and that New York is one of the top states where people search for the phobia.
- Claustrophobia, with 104,861 searches. This is a well-known fear of enclosed spaces and the report said that Ryan Reynolds and Uma Thurman have both publicly discussed their claustrophobia.
- Acrophobia, with 75,046 searches. If heights terrify you, you have acrophobia.
- Arachnophobia, with 75,046 searches. Spiders, anyone? I thought not.
- Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, with 69,323 searches. Appropriately, this one is a fear of long words, according to Very Well Health. There's a shorter version of that, by the way: sesquipedalophobia. It says, "This ironically named phobia is based on a Latin term that means 'long word.' And the phobia centers of mispronouncing long words."
- Thanatophobia, with 42,071 searches, is an intense fear of death or dying.
"This study highlights that some phobias receive more attention than others, and it's fascinating to see which ones have the highest search volumes across America," said QR Code Generator's CEO, Marc Porcar in a news release. "Trypophobia being named as the most searched-for phobia can be linked to the number of celebrities who have openly discussed suffering from this fear, such as Kendall Jenner, who previously discussed her experiences of trypophobia via a viral blog post."
Porcar said that phobias sometimes have life-altering effects that can limit what someone can and cannot do. "It's encouraging to see people turning to the internet to seek support and online resources about overcoming phobias."
My daughter's fear didn't even make the list, but it turns out that fear of flies is a recognized issue called pteronarcophobia. The Cleveland Clinic says it's a type of entomophobia, which is a fear of insects in general. Bugs don't bug her, though. Just flies.
And I can't seem to find the proper name for my fear of losing my tongue. The closest one I found was glossophobia, No. 18 on the list, which is an intense fear of public speaking — which doesn't actually scare me much. Go figure.
If you have a phobia, you're in good company. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 12.5% — that's more than 1 in 8 — U.S. adults experience specific phobias at some point in their lives.
