Fear of joy
Fear of joy: An abnormal, excessive, and persistent fear of experiencing joy or pleasure. Sufferers with this most puritanical of phobias typically feel guilty about experiencing pleasure even though they usually realize rationally there is nothing at all wrong with taking pleasure. Their guilt usually arises from the fact that they are participating in a pleasurable activity while others around them or in the world at large are experiencing nothing but illness, grief, economic hardship and other painful problems. Their guilt may also arise from the belief that life is best lived ascetically (similar to the idea that, for a medicine to do good, it must taste bad).
Fear of joy is termed “hedonophobia,” a word derived from the Greek “hedone” (pleasure, delight) and “phobos” (fear). Other words derived from “hedone” include “hedonism” (a philosophy that emphasizes pleasure as the main aim of life) and “hedonist” (a pleasure-seeker).
Read Also:
- Fear of loneliness
Fear of loneliness: An abnormal and persistent fear of loneliness, of being alone. Sufferers of this fear experience undue anxiety even though they realize that being alone does not threaten their well-being. They may worry about being ignored and unloved, or they may worry about intruders, strange noises or the possibility of developing a medical […]
- Fear of men
Fear of men: An abnormal and persistent fear of men. Sufferers experience anxiety even though they realize they may face no real threat. Fear of men is termed “androphobia,” a word derived from the Greek “andros” (man) and “phobos” (fear). “Andro-” enters into a number of other biomedical terms such as, for example, androgen (a […]
- Fear of marriage
Fear of marriage: An abnormal and persistent fear of being married. Sufferers of this phobia experience undue anxiety even though they may rationally realize that the married state itself poses no threat to them. They may fear the challenge of living with another person and the responsibility of rearing a family. Or they may worry […]
- Fear of mirrors
Fear of mirrors: An abnormal and persistent fear of mirrors. Sufferers experience undue anxiety even though they realize their fear is irrational. Because their fear often is grounded in superstitions, they may worry that breaking a mirror will bring bad luck or that looking into a mirror will put them in contact with a supernatural […]
- Fear of money
Fear of money: An abnormal and persistent fear of money. Sufferers experience undue anxiety even though they realize their fear is irrational. They worry that they might mismanage money or that money might live up to its reputation as “the root of all evil.” Perhaps they remember well the ill fortune that befell the mythical […]