Everyone’s afraid of one thing. Whether we’re speaking about one thing as arch as killer clowns, or one thing as commonplace as intimacy, there’s most likely not an individual alive with out some form of idiosyncratic phobia nestled deep of their unconscious.
Though the trimmings of fame and fortune can insulate an individual from a few of life’s hardships, many celebrities appear to fall sufferer to uncommon – and generally even downright weird – phobias. Take US TV character Tyra Banks, as an example, who admitted to a lifelong concern of dolphins (delfiniphobia), which manifested as a recurring nightmare. Or One Direction star Niall Horan, who has confessed to a crippling concern of pigeons – one thing corroborated by ex-bandmate Harry Styles. “I think pigeons target me,” Horan confessed, after an incident through which one of many feathered fiends flew in by means of his rest room window.
There’s an opportunity Stephen King could also be accountable for extra nightmares than some other human on the planet, however he himself was not proof against a scare: the Shining writer has confessed to having triskaidekaphobia, a concern of the quantity 13. “When I’m writing, I’ll never stop work if the page number is 13 or a multiple of 13,” he as soon as stated. “I’ll just keep on typing till I get to a safe number.”
These and different movie star phobias are explored in The Book of Phobias and Manias: A History of the World in 99 Obsessions, a brand new non-fiction e-book by Kate Summerscale. Walking us by means of 99 distinct examples of both phobias or manias, the e-book mixes psychological perception with intriguing case research – lots of that are lifted from popular culture.
Which got here first: alektorophobia or ovophobia? (The concern of chickens, or the concern of eggs?) I’m unsure anybody is aware of, however Alfred Hitchcock claimed to undergo from the latter. “They revolt me,” he instructed Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci in 1963, earlier than describing the foodstuff with an virtually extra-terrestrial sense of repulsion. “That white round thing without any holes, and when you break it, inside there’s that yellow thing, round, without any holes… Brr!”
One of the stranger fears to have been pathologised is taphephobia – a concern of untimely burial. Several cultural figures had been famend for this, together with composer Frederic Chopin and Hans Christian Andersen, who left a word by the facet of his mattress each evening specifying that he was solely sleeping. Brazilian entrepreneur Freud de Melo even constructed an elaborate crypt with “air vents, a fruit pantry, a television and megaphones”, in case of such an eventuality.
Johnny Depp, in the meantime, has spoken about his concern of clowns (coulrophobia). “There always seems to be a darkness lurking just under the surface… a potential for real evil,” he as soon as stated. “I guess I am afraid of them because it’s impossible – thanks to their painted-on smiles – to distinguish if they are happy or if they’re about to bite your face off.”
Often, the very thought of phobias comes throughout as extra amusing than sinister. But it’s not at all times so innocuous. Macaulay Culkin spoke about changing into agoraphobic after the success of Home Alone. Doctors classify agoraphobia as a “complex phobia” (not like, say, a concern of a specific animal or object), which, per the NHS web site, “tend to be more disabling than simple phobias”. “It felt like the buildings were going to eat me,” Culkin instructed Larry King in 2004. “There was always photographers in the bushes and things like that.” He’s definitely not alone on this concern: Summerscale notes that agoraphobia has change into more and more prevalent throughout the Covid pandemic, with signs typically exacerbated in these already struggling.
The artist Salvador Dali had a horrible concern of bugs and bugs (entomophobia), and as soon as sliced his again with a razor blade after mistaking a pimple on his again for a tiny flea. (Scarlett Johansson shares an identical ailment, as soon as disclosing to a journalist that she had a mortal concern of cockroaches.)
Some phobias will be detrimental to a star’s profession – not least glossophobia, the concern of public talking. The Book of Phobias and Manias recollects the actor Ian Holm being “paralysed by fright” throughout a efficiency of The Iceman Cometh on the Aldwych Theatre in 1976, prompting him to withdraw from stage appearing for 15 years.
Sometimes, nonetheless, a concern will be boon. Not in an evolutionary sense – although I suppose a wholesome concern of grizzly bears should have saved many a prehistoric wanderer. But take Steve Jobs, the late co-founder of Apple. Supposedly, Jobs was stated to undergo from koumpounophobia: a concern of buttons. This each resulted in his signature turtlenecked look, and – if design engineer Abraham Faraq is to be believed – the buttonless pc mouse which might change into a key design function of his computer systems.
Roald Dahl suffered from pogonophobia – a concern of beards – and channelled his disgust into literary gold. Mr Twit, the bearded grotesque from his kids’s basic The Twits, was one such instance; Dahl even wrote an essay on the topic through which he described the facial accent as “disgusting” and “hairy smoke-screens behind which to hide”. Margaret Thatcher was additionally stated to have shared the affliction, although the trigger could have been much less congenital and extra to do with the beard’s affiliation with counterculture and the political left.
What are we to do with this info? Are we, as a species, doomed to have our lives domineered by fears and neuroses? Maybe not. The vibrant facet of the phobias phenomenon is that they will normally be handled. Whether it’s by means of publicity remedy, speaking remedy (counselling, psychotherapy, cognitive behavioural remedy) or treatment, phobias rank among the many most efficiently treatable psychological issues round. So earlier than you go constructing a live-in crypt to satiate your concern of burial, perhaps attempt speaking it by means of with somebody first.
‘The Book of Phobias and Manias: A History of the World in 99 Obsessions’ by Kate Summerscale is out now, printed by Profile Books
Source: www.unbiased.co.uk