Genuphobia

Genuphobia is a fear of knees. There is a range of what triggers the panic in people with this phobia. For some it may be seeing only their knees, while other's may fear seeing anyone's uncovered knees. Some experience panic only seeing knees in person, though others may panic even from seeing them in a movie or a picture. Some people may be fine seeing knees but be terrified of kneeling. This phobia may be the result of a traumatic knee injury, observing someone receiving such an injury in person or on film, or a religious upbringing involving conservative clothing or possibly the act of kneeling when praying.

Papaphobia

Although quite rare, there are those individuals who have an extreme fear of the Pope or the authority of the papacy. The world Papaphobia comes from the Greek word for father, pappas. This type of phobia is closely related to several others including hierophobia or the fear of sacred objects or holy people, hagiophobia or the fear of saints and holy things, and ecclesiophobia or the fear of church. Papaphobia is thought to be the result of a real or imagined trauma associated with the Pope. While this phobia doesn’t usually interfere with an adults daily life, it can be a problem in observant Catholics. For others with the phobia, even if they are estranged from the Catholic Church, having thoughts of the Pope or even hearing his name mentioned can be enough to cause a panic attack.

Omphalophobia

Omphalophobia is the irrational fear of the navel. People experiencing this phobia fear having their navels touched and will not touch another person’s navel. The fear can often be traced to an association with the umbilical cord.

Ergophobia

A convenient phobia to have, Ergophobia is the fear of work or the workplace. Experts believe that the phobia is a combination of the fear of failing at work related tasks, social anxiety and fear of public speaking.

Phronemophobia

Phronemophobia is the fear of thinking. This may seem like an impossibility since phobias involve an attempt to completely avoid what is feared and you can’t avoid thinking completely. The disorder is related to mnemophobia which is the fear of memories. One cause of this problem may be thoughts and ideas that the person finds unacceptable and abhorrent and would never act upon, but the person can’t get the thoughts out of their head. The more the person has these types of thoughts the more they become convinced that they may act upon them and do something unforgivable.