Uncontrollable, irrational and long-lasting fear of a certain object, situation or activity is by definition a phobia. Although my skills do not encompass mental health, this definition simply means that you are scared of something.

Movie producers have made bags full of money by filming scary movies to titillate our senses, based on the trauma created by the phobias of a small percentage of our population. Some of these are recognizable, but the scientific names are not, such as Arachnophobia (fear of spiders), Ophidiophobia (fear of snakes), Acrophobia (fear of heights), Aerophobia (fear of flying) and many others. These are major phobias that are the scariest and often need professional assistance to overcome.

However, there are a number of minor phobias that have not been declared, yet. I wish to help medical science by offering my contributions with the following.

When using a credit or debit card, it matters not how much money is in your bank account, there is always this apprehension of “Will my transaction complete?” In addition to wondering if there are adequate funds in my personal account, other factors play into the equation such as modern scams, technical difficulties and even human error (theirs or mine). Therefore, my proposal for introducing a new phobia is creditcardphobia. This covers the anxiety coupled with submitting your personal credit card and wondering if the transaction will clear or am I about to be embarrassed because the transaction was rejected.

Another case is the elevator.  Ever since Mr. Otis’ invention as a major advantage to changing floors in a building, particularly for elderly or those of handicapped status, there has not been an invention that is more socially unacceptable. Everyone has stepped onto an elevator car and wondered if, before I reach my designated floor, “Will I be crammed into the back with many other people breathing my air and invading my space?” Also, the uncertainty of mechanical operation leads to the fear, “Will I be trapped in this car with these total strangers for an unspecified amount of time?” So, here is my coining of a new word: Elevatorphobia.

For number three, so many companies are asking for personal information to conduct business telepathically. All of a sudden, I wonder if my personal information is going out over the internet to someone in Budapest or any other foreign country who can be maxing out my credit cards. This minor phobia, I wish to identify as personalinformationphobia. I think all of us have had a case of this at least one point in time.

A personal phobia that haunts me is Topicphobia. This is the fear of not developing a topic that the readers of the Southern Standard will be interested in reading for next Wednesday’s guest column. This can certainly be traumatic.

Obviously, I do not suffer from Hippopotomonstro-sesquippedaliophobia. This is the fear of long words.

Standard contributor Don Alexander can be contacted at dalexander@southernstandard.com