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Are you scared of the number 13?

SOME OF US might have a favourite number while others do not believe in such ‘superstition’ and view them simply for their numerical purposes.

However, some people have much stronger feelings about some digits, especially the number 13.

Triskaidekaphobia is the rare phobia associated with an irrational fear of the number 13. The people, who suffer from this problem, try to omit anything related to 13 from their lives. The 13^th day, 13^th floor, buying 13 items, addresses, phone numbers and even seat numbers and travel dates are rearranged if necessary.

Triskaidekaphobia has roots in Persian, Babylonian, Christian and Viking cultures as well as some of the knights in France.

However, in other cultures, we find that there are phobias towards other numbers. For example, 17 is an unlucky number in Italy, because in Roman digits, if rearranged, 17 in Latin can be a euphemism for ‘I am dead.’

Tetraphobia, fear of the number 4, has been found in Korea, China and Japan as well as in many other East-Asian countries, because phonetically it sounds similar to the word ‘death’.

While these suspicions towards numbers are relatively rare, there are other more common irrational fears, or phobias, that affect people’s lives quite seriously, and cause tremendous anxiety.

Therefore a phobia is an intense fear of an object, person or place (or number) that in fact poses little or no threat at all. Those people who suffer from phobias will actually go out of their way to avoid the feared object at any cost.

Listed below are the 10 most common types of phobias:

1. Arachnophobia — The fear of spiders.

2. Ophidiophobia — The fear of snakes.

3. Acrophobia — The fear of heights.

4. Agoraphobia — The fear of situations in which escape is difficult.

5. Cynophobia — The fear of dogs.

6. Astraphobia — The fear of thunder and lightening.

7.Trypanophobia — The fear of injections.

8.Social Phobias — The fear of social situations.

9.Pteromerhanophobia — The fear of flying.

10. Mysophobia — The fear of germs or dirt.

Common phobia signs and symptoms:

- Shortness of breath or smothering sensation

- Palpitations, pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate

- Chest pain or discomfort

- Trembling or shaking

- Feeling of choking

- Sweating

- Nausea or stomach distress

- Feeling unsteady, dizzy, lightheaded, or faint

- Feelings of unreality or of being detached from yourself

- Fear of losing control or going crazy

- Fear of dying

-Numbness or tingling sensations

- Hot or cold flashes

- Fear of fainting

When exposed to the object or situation they fear, people with phobias experience symptoms that are both emotional and physical. The symptoms of anxiety and fear can range from slight feelings of nervousness to a very severe panic attack. Just the mere thought of what they fear could elicit thoughts of a catastrophic and incredibly dangerous circumstances, without any rational or logical justification. Unfortunately, the more a person avoids what he fears, the more frightening it is likely to become.

Weather an individual is fearful of the number 13, a clown (coulrophobia), long words (hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia) or has a social phobia, there is effective treatment, known as cognitive-behavioral therapy where systematic desensitisation or exposure therapy is used to try and eradicate the fear.

Sometimes a single session may prove to be effective, unless you suffer from a fear of doctors and hospitals (Iatrophobia) … in which case it might take slightly longer!

So the good news is that according to the National Institute of Mental Health, about 75% of people are able to overcome their phobias through cognitive-behavioral therapy, if they are diagnosed and treated by a qualified mental health professional.

Samineh I Shaheem is an author, an assistant professor of psychology, currently lecturing in Dubai, as well as a cross cultural consultant at the Human Relations Institute. She has appeared on numerous radio programs and conferences and has studied and worked in different parts of the world, including the United Sates of America, UK, Netherlands, and the UAE. Please forward your thoughts to OutOfMindContact@gmail.com.