“I’m phobic of meat,” said Caius Schneider, 20 a mechanical engineering major at Washtenaw Community College from Berkley, Mich. “I have been a vegetarian for like seven years because of it.”
Schneider’s carnophobia, or her fear of meat, would be considered a phobia by most. But in psychology, the phobia label would only be used after the fear passed the specific diagnostic criteria of the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition). The DSM-IV is the psychology world’s bible for diagnosing mental disorders.
“People that see a spider might freak out then, but it will pass. That’s not a phobia,” said Ann Jones, a WCC part-time psychology faculty member. “With phobias, it can last hours, days, weeks — it can last your whole life.”
You'll have to read the article yourself to see what proctophobic means.