Ochlophobia Ochlophobia Ochlophobia ("Fear of Crowds") and demophobia ("Fear of Unruly Mobs") are terms for types of social phobia or social anxiety disorder whose sufferers have a fear of crowds. Sufferers may offer various rationalizations of the phobia, such as the fear being trampled in a crowd, getting a deadly disease from people within the crowd, getting lost in the crowd, or feeling insignificant when surrounded by a crowd. People who are shy and introverted are most likely to experience ochlophobia, but not all introverts have anxiety problems. Ochlophobic people are often unable to handle situations involving parties, going to theaters,
The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was their wedding, the boy's continuing complaints annoyed his wife to no end. Reaching her wits' end, she sent for a bucketful of stream water, complete with gudgeons. She tossed the freezing water onto her husband while he was asleep. As he awoke, shuddering, he exclaimed that while he had finally learned to shudder, he still did not know what true fear was. The fairy tale is based on a tale from the German state of Mecklenburg and one from Zwehrn in Hesse, probably from Dorothea Viehmann, as told by Ferdinand Siebert from the area of the Schwalm. In the first