Blennophobia Fear of slime
Blennophobia is an irrational and extreme fear of all things that are slick, gooey, and slippery slime. Slime can be found in both nature as well as being man-made and are usually transparent, sticky and viscous. This fear could may have been triggered by seeing slime or slimy things on television such as in the horror movies where people might be attacked by aliens when the alien is destroyed the aliens belly is opened to reveal the person still whole and covered in thick gooey slime. It is also possible that the slime can have an offensive smell or it can have germs in it so suffers can get anxious when they see it.
This fear may have also been caused by fear of ghosts and spectres. An example of an initial sensitising experience might have been the film Ghostbusters. This film features ghosts with slime and
There are also examples in nature of creatures that create slime. An example would be snails which produce copious amount of slime. Additionally, some people might have tried eating escargot in restaurants and have found the experience unappealing thus they develop blennophobia.
Sufferers get extremely anxious when exposed to slime. Like with other fears sufferers may have an elevated heart rate, shakes, shortness of breath or may feel physically sick when they see escargot or anything else associated with slime.
