Aichmophobia () is a kind of

specific phobia Specific phobia is an anxiety disorder, characterized by an extreme, unreasonable, and irrational fear associated with a specific object, situation, or concept which poses little or no actual danger. Specific phobia can lead to avoidance of the o ...

, the morbid fear of sharp things, such as triangles, stars, squares, pencils, needles, knives, darts, prickly plants (like thistles and similar weeds), cactus trees, pine needles, broken glass, broken porcelain, sharp pieces of wood, a pointing finger, hexagons, or even the sharp end of an umbrella and different sorts of protruding corners or sharp edges in furnitures and building constructions/materials. It is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''aichmē'' (point) and ''phobos'' (fear). This fear may also be referred to as belonephobia or enetophobia. Sometimes this general term is used to refer to what is more specifically called

fear of needles Fear of needles, known in medical literature as needle phobia, is the extreme fear of medical procedures involving injections or hypodermic needles. This can lead to avoidance of medical care, including vaccine hesitancy. It is occasionally refe ...

, or needle phobia (trypanophobia). Fear of needles is the extreme and irrational fear of medical procedures involving

injection Injection or injected may refer to: Science and technology * Injective function, a mathematical function mapping distinct arguments to distinct values * Injection (medicine), insertion of liquid into the body with a syringe * Injection, in broadca ...

s or

hypodermic needle A hypodermic needle (from Greek ὑπο- (''hypo-'' = under), and δέρμα (''derma'' = skin)), one of a category of medical tools which enter the skin, called sharps, is a very thin, hollow tube with one sharp tip. It is commonly used w ...

s. Not to be confused with similar condition (

Avoidance behavior Avoidant personality disorder (AvPD) is a Cluster C personality disorder characterized by excessive social anxiety and inhibition, fear of intimacy (despite an intense desire for it), severe feelings of inadequacy and inferiority, and an overre ...

) the

Visual looming syndrome ''Looming'' is a term found in the study of perception, as it relates directly to psychology. Looming occurs when an object begins moving closer to the eye. As the resulting image becomes increasingly larger on the perceiver's retina, i.e., when ...

, where the patient does not fear sharp items, but feels pain or discomfort at gazing upon sharp objects nearby.

References

{{reflist Phobias

See also

References