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Alliumphobia


Alliumphobia is the fear of garlic. The word allium is Latin for garlic bulb and phobia is Greek for fear. Anyone who fears garlic “may also avoid other plants that have pungent odors, such as chives, onions, or shallots”.

Causes of Alliumphobia
Phobias are usually a result of a “combination of external events (i.e. traumatic events) and internal predispositions (i.e. heredity or genetics)”. A large number of specific phobias are usually traced back to a specific traumatic event. This traumatic event is usually the triggering point that began the phobia within the individual. Usually, these traumatic events begin at an early age. People who have alliumphobia probably could have had a traumatic experience with garlic and are now scarred from that horrific event in their life.

Symptoms
People with alliumphobia react in a fearful manner whenever they are confronted with garlic. However, “the symptoms vary by person depending on their level of fear”. Some reactions people with alliumphobia have include loss of breath, dizziness, shakiness, becoming mad or losing control over ones self, unable to speak, getting an uncomfortable fear that you are going to die, becoming detached from reality, having a massive panic attack, “rapid breathing, irregular heartbeat, sweating, excessive sweating, nausea, dry mouth, inability to articulate words or sentences, dry mouth, and shaking”.

Treatments
There are two options for curing alliumphobia. A person suffering from alliumphobia can either take prescription drugs or they can take treatments that help cure phobias.

Medications
Prescription medication can help a person with alliumphobia but medicine cannot completely cure a person of alliumphobia. Instead, medicine at best can “only temporarily suppress the systems”. Prescribed medication to help a person with alliumphobia may also give that individual some side effects.

Hypnoanalysis
Hypnoanalysis, also known as Hypnotherapy, is a type of therapy that has been “approved as a method of therapy since 1958 by the American Medical Association”. With Hypnoanalysis, a person has a trained specialist open up the individual’s subconscious mind. By opening up an individual’s subconscious mind, the trained specialist can change “one or more behavior patterns” within that individual. The trained specialist may be able to find what is triggering the individual’s phobia and can, therefore, “introduce new ideas and positive suggestions”. By introducing new ideas into a person’s subconscious mind, the individual’s mind can attach a different feeling towards the item that they fear. Hypnoanalysis is an extremely safe therapy and, it also works quickly. An individual will be cured of their phobia much faster by using Hypnoanalysis. However, some people don’t like the idea of their minds being played with which is why not everyone uses this form of therapy to cure them of their phobias.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming
Neuro-Linguistic Programmming (NLP), deals with the words an individual uses to describe things and the individual’s body language. NLP is “the study and practice of how we create our reality”. The word’s an individual uses is believed to reflect the inner, subconscious perception of an individual’s problems. With NLP therapy, a Neuro Linguistic Therapist carefully analyzes every word and phrase an individual uses in order to describe their symptoms and concerns regarding their health. This therapist will also keep a close on the individual’s “facial expressions and body movements”. After analyzing these aspects within an individual, the therapist will help that individual understand the root cause to their phobia. Once the root cause has been revealed, the therapist will help the individual remodel their thoughts and views on the issue.

Energy Psychology
Energy Psychology is a type of therapy, though controversial, that helps individuals deal with phobias. This type of therapy uses a variety of techniques, which include acupressure, yoga, energy medicine, and much more. These techniques “teach people simple steps for making changes in their lives”. Energy Psychology stimulates energy points on the surface of an individual’s skin, which can “shift the brain’s electrochemistry”.

Vampires
While humans are the ones diagnosed with alliumphobia, they aren’t the only ones who have a fear of garlic. Vampires are said to have an enormous fear of garlic as well. This superstition of vampires being terrified of garlic first came about when Bram Stoker wrote the Gothic novel, Dracula. The concept was first popularized in the West and then spread. One excerpt for Bram Stoker’s, Dracula states:

''We went into the room, taking the [garlic] with us. The Professor's actions were certainly odd and not to be found in any pharmacopeia that I ever heard of. First he fastened up the windows and latched them securely. Next, taking a handful of the flowers, he rubbed them all over the sashes, as though to ensure that every whiff of air that might get in would be laden with the garlic smell. Then with the wisp he rubbed all over the jamb of the door, above, below, and at each side, and round the fireplace in the same way. It all seemed grotesque to me, and presently I said, "Well, Professor, I know you always have a reason for what you do, but this certainly puzzles me. It is well we have no sceptic here, or he would say that you were working some spell to keep out an evil spirit." ''"Perhaps I am!" He answered quietly as he began to make the wreath which Lucy was to wear round her neck.'' Some theories try to determine why vampires are afraid of garlic. One theory connects vampires with rabies. This theory “relies on the idea of rabies sufferers becoming fixated on its smell" .'' Another theory connects vampires with mosquitoes. The idea of this theory is the fact that mosquitoes “suck blood and in doing so spread disease. So do vampires” . Along with the fact that mosquitoes and vampires suck blood, symptoms of malaria such as exhaustion, anemia, and fevers, “are reminiscent of the reputed effects of being bitten by a vampire without being totally drained or turned” . Finally, garlic is known as a possible repellent for mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are afraid of garlic and because vampires and mosquitoes are deemed similar, vampires must have alliumphoia as well. In other words, vampires must have a terrible fear of garlic as well.

Mosquitoes


Just as vampires and humans, mosquitoes are also known to have alliumphobia. However, garlic “is more effective at repelling some species of mosquitoes than others”. In order to keep mosquitoes out of a certain area, an individual can purchase garlic sprays, which are primarily made out of garlic extract. With these garlic sprays, an individual can spray them on plants “as an alternative botanical pesticide to chemical pesticides”. The sulfurs in these garlic sprays have been very effective on a wide variety of insects, mosquitoes being one of these insects. Also, the “lingering odor” from the spray “can deter mosquitoes from the area for weeks”. Not only can garlic be used as a pesticide, it can also be a mosquito repellent for humans. One study in India showed that garlic could be used as a mosquito repellent. In this study, “a preparation made of one percent garlic oil, petroleum jelly, and beeswax was rubbed on the arms and legs of study subjects”. This mosquito repellent was found to be highly effective and ended up preventing mosquito bites for a total of eight hours. Also, heavy consumption of garlic, either through well-flavored foods or through a supplement, can be effective in warding off mosquitoes. Once garlic is consumed and “its components are metabolized, compounds are released from the body through the skin and the breath”. In order for mosquitoes to locate their hosts, they smell. If an individual doesn’t eat garlic, they usually release carbon dioxide and lactic acid through the breath and these are the two components that mosquitoes smell and look for. Mosquitoes can smell a host forty yards away. However, the smells garlic gives off, tend to ward off mosquitoes. Although garlic has been proven to ward off mosquitoes, people still aren’t entirely sure as to whether or not it is completely effective. All in all, the best way to still ward off mosquitoes is by using mosquito repellents that contain DEET. In one study, subjects “were asked to consume either garlic (one visit) or a placebo (the other visit)”. These subjects were then exposed to laboratory-reared mosquitoes. “The numbers of mosquitoes that did not feed on the subjects, the number of mosquito bites, the weights of the mosquitoes after feeding and the amounts of blood ingested were determined” among all of the subjects. The recorded data showed that garlic is not entirely a reliant mosquito repellent.