There are so many wonderful things about peanut butter. It tastes good whether you eat it plain or on something else, it’s the perfect snack, it makes smoothies more delicious, and it’s actually good for you too. There aren’t many negative things about it, either… except one: getting it stuck to the roof of your mouth. It’s just obnoxious, especially if your mouth is dry and you don’t have something to drink. But if you feel really strongly about it, and you’re actually afraid of getting peanut butter stuck on the roof of your mouth, you might have this condition.
Apparently, there is a legitimate phobia for this fear. It’s called arachibutyrophobia, and it is specifically the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. As silly as it sounds, Very Well Mind says it can be rooted in a phobia of choking or of sticky textures. It doesn’t have to be connected with those fears, though.
The phobia can also come from an allergy to peanuts, which affects about three million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Many people who have this phobia have had an allergy attack after eating peanut butter as a child, and the memory of that can act as a trigger for arachibutyrophobia. It could also be traced back to a moment you may have choked on peanut butter as a child, even if you weren’t allergic, or if you simply saw someone choking on peanut butter.
Arachibutyrophobia is different for everyone.
Some people who have it can still eat peanut butter, while others avoid it completely because they’re so freaked out by it. Some people won’t eat anything that’s even made with peanut butter, like peanut butter ice cream or candies.
Like any other phobia, arachibutyrophobia is very treatable. You need to practice cognitive behavior therapy methods to relieve your phobia by helping you learn new patterns of behavior and thinking. It can even be fixed in as little as three sessions.
So, if you’ve noticed that you feel a serious fear toward peanut butter, or you worry too much about it sticking to the roof of your mouth, you could have this phobia. You can head to a therapist or psychologist if you want to be treated, but that’s only necessary if the phobia is seriously impacting your daily life.
To learn more about phobias and how they can be treated, visit GoodTherapy for additional resources.
