Character isn't inherited. One builds it daily by the way one thinks and acts, thought by thought, action by action. If one lets fear or hate or anger take possession of the mind, they become self-forged chains.

—Helen Gahagan Douglas

ablutomania: 1. An obsessional pre-occupation with cleanliness, washing, or bathing, often accompanied by compulsive rituals. 2. A morbid impulse to wash or to bathe, or an incessant preoccupation with thoughts of frequent hand-washing, or bathing; often seen as an obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Compulsive rituals are enormously time-consuming. One woman had a compulsion to wash her hands in a certain way after touching “unclean” objects—namely, from fingers to wrist, from wrist to elbow, and from elbow to upper arm—and then to repeat the performance until her anxiety was over, which could be several times. As a result, her hands often became painfully raw.

A young man had the compulsion to wash in a certain order whenever he had a bath. He said, “When I wash clothes or clean anything—floor, carpet, windows and so on—I have to clean them in a certain manner to make sure I do not miss anything. I can never hurry because I would not feel that it has been done properly.”

When the thoughts and rituals of
obsessive-compulsive disorders are intense,
the victim’s work and home life disintegrate.
With severe compulsions,
endless rituals dominate each day.

—Judith L. Rapoport, M.D.
The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Washing

alektorophobia: An abnormal fear of chickens which may be a result of the fear of feathers, of winged creatures, or of flying animals or birds. Such fears may also include eggs and live or dead chickens. A few reasons include fears of being pecked, swooped upon, and because they roost above eye level or that they eat food from the ground or manure piles which apparently may contaminate the bird. Such fears usually involve relative closeness to live chickens, but usually donšt include cooked chickens.

alethophobia: An abnormal fear of the truth.

algophobia: An excessive fear of pain. Mankind has suffered and feared pain since the beginning of time. Although a wide variety of drugs are now available to ease pain, it is still a fearful topic, and the prospect of having pain makes many people extremely anxious; especially, when they can not explain its cause to their doctor or to others around them.

alkaline soils (plants): basiphobia, basophobia

alliumphobia: An abnormal fear of garlic that may extend to a variety of plants characterized by their pungent odors, including onions, leeks, chives, and shallots.

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