Philematophobia: the fear of kissing

By Hayley Birch

What's so scary about it?
Well that all depends on who you're kissing. But it seems some people find the idea of lips on lips completely intolerable, while others are afraid of having their tongues bitten off. Some are scared about picking up bacteria from someone else's filthy cakehole.

What do the scientists say about it?
Not a lot. Despite finding its way all over the web, this condition hasn't been cited by a single academic paper. I did come across one psychiatrist's comments, however, who seemed to suggest that treatment centred on getting the patient to understand how ridiculous they were being.

Philematophobia: True or False
Nobody gets through their adolescence without worrying just a teeny tiny bit about snogging and the longer you wait, the harder it gets. So I suppose it's entirely possible that there are people out avoiding lip-on-lip like it's tongue-on-poo. At the risk of being set upon by some never-been-kissed uglies... True.

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