Obesophobia: The Fear of Gaining Weight

Obesophobia or Pocrescophobia is the abnormal fear of gaining weight. This phobia is listed as a rare disease by the Office of Rare Diseases of the National Institutes of Health.

This phobia begins with a simple desire to lose weight and then it turns into a compulsive desire to avoid all things that will cause weight gain. The more these things are avoided, the more they are feared. Gaining weight is seen as a failure to those with Obesophobia and therefore they experience an abnormal fear toward anything that will cause them to fail.

This phobia is life-threatening. Not eating properly can have devastating effects on your health. If anyone suffers from this phobia, how has it affected your life?