Are some phobias new in the passed 100 years? Phobias such as being a germaphobe seem highly unlikely to have existed thousands of years ago.
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There are certainly new phobias. For example, the fear of getting cancer from cell phone use. Not sure what the name of it is, but it’s once that only could have developed in the last few decades.
Germaphobia couldn’t exist till the discovery of germs, but similar compulsions such as the desire to stay clean (handwashing, avoiding people, etc) have certainly existed for hundreds and thousands of years.
Certainly, fear of ‘something’ doesn’t develop until we have discovered said ‘something’. You can’t be afraid of spiders if you’ve never seen or know about a spider, but once you know a spider exists, you’ll know whether or not you have a fear of them. Similar to the concept that you can’t lose something if you’ve never had it.
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