It's time for an updated version of my first diokophobia
definition since I am too stupid to figure out who to edit the old one- if there's even a way to do so, and it needs more information then what I wrote before.
Diokophobia (Pronounced
DEE-Oh-Koh POH-Bee-Uh) is the irrational and extreme fear of being chased. It is the action of being chased by someone or something that frightens you, perhaps to the point of freezing, curling up defensively, or lashing out (verbally or physically). Diokophobia is not the fear of the thing chasing you, or what it will do when it catches up, it is the fear of the
chase itself.
For example, a
game like tag or
football would be impossible do, due to the possibility of someone chasing you, even though you know they will not harm you (depending on the version of
football you play, but you get my point). Video games
may even scare you as phobias do transfer to games, but they might not always if you're able to separate yourself from the character.
And a little bit of an origin story of why I even made the term back in like- 2018 or something for my example:
Person 1: Hey, do you know what the
fear of being chased is called?
Person 2: Oh, yeah, it's Diokophobia.
Person 1: Thank you so much, I've been trying to find out what's it's been called for ages. I can't seem to find it anywhere online. How did you know what it was called?
Person 2: Oh, I just made it up. Using the base for most phobia names, greek. Dioko is the word for pursuing something in a hostile manner but also means to follow someone without hostility. A bit of a contradictory word, so I thought it was
perfect for Diokophobia since we
may not be getting chased by something hostile but our brains somehow think it is.
Person 1: Wow... you spent way too much
time on this.
Person 2: Yeah... I know... but if it gives some
people closure on finally having a name for this after seeing forum after forum on the topic without a name, then whatever, I'm
happy.
