fracas

Never let it be said that fracas is all fluff.

Fracas brings to you, groundbreaking information and truth amid controversy.  When you need to know what to believe, fracas can tell you what to believe!

Take this recent bruahaha over Alliumphobia.

Yes folks, there is one. It’s been keeping some people awake nights, causing folks to kick their mates out of the bed and into the doghouse, and causing a real riffle in the financial world as sales of mouthwash plummet all over the globe.

Alliumphobia.

The word itself is an ominous sounding thing, but what is it really?

According to the number one search result at google, Alliumphobia is the fear of garlic. From the website of that number one search result, we “learn” this:

“Your fear of garlic can result in the following symptoms:
breathlessness, dizziness, excessive sweating, nausea, dry mouth, feeling sick, shaking, heart palpitations, inability to speak or think clearly, a fear of dying, becoming mad or losing control, a sensation of detachment from reality or a full blown anxiety attack.You are not the only one to suffer from alliumphobia. Most sufferers are surprised to learn that they are far from alone in this surprisingly common, although often unspoken, phobia.

Alliumphobia is an intense fear of something that poses little or no actual danger. While adults with alliumphobia realize that these fears are irrational, they often find that facing, or even thinking about facing, the feared situation brings on a panic attack or severe anxiety.”

Imagine my utter shock to find out that site number one search result had an offer on it… an offer that I too, can be cured of my fear of garlic by enrolling in their course. Though I imagine the throngs of people afraid of garlic out there most certainly explains the hit to Listerine stocks on the market, it doesn’t explain what the controversy is.

You see, fracas is not about just posting willy nilly, information without verifying it. Well, ok.. sometimes I do post willy nilly… even silly, but I do like to make sure I have something straight before I make fun of it. This case was no different.

In checking through some of the other results, I came across another site (and my but what a surprise if that site wasn’t also trying to sell something or make an income off of people with irrational fears), and that site told me that Alliumphobia was something else and not a fear of garlic. They said:

“Defined as “a persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of opinions or beliefs”, each year this surprisingly common phobia causes countless people needless distress.

To add insult to an already distressing condition, most alliumphobia therapies take months or years and sometimes even require the patient to be exposed repeatedly to their fear. We believe that not only is this totally unnecessary, it will often make the condition worse. And it is particularly cruel as alliumphobia can be eliminated with the right methods and just 24 hours of commitment by the phobic individual. “

Imagine how thrilled all those people suffering with this fear will be now that they know the other “professionals” were wrong and this is the key to a better life for them. Imagine, in 24 hours even! And gee, all they have to do is attend their Alliumphobia Clinic or use their home study program. Well, of course I’m sure it’s not free, but really, what price could you place on freedom from your fears, especially when you now know you’ve found the real professionals.

Praise be to each person’s own individual source of spiritual strength!

Well, because the fracas is usually a fairly anal sort of person, she can’t stop there. No.. fracas really wants to know what the definition of Alliumphobia actually is.

Over at The Phobia List, they do list it simply as the fear of garlic. I’m almost tempted to stop there, since the good fellow who owns the site isn’t trying to sell anyone any kind of phobia treatements. In fact, the first thing you see when his site loads, is this disclaimer:

“I have been working on this list for several years. It started as a lark one day and grew from there.
Please don’t ask me about curing phobias because I know little about them. My interest is in the names only.“

Kudos for that, my friend!

I visited several mental health sites, medical sites and other assorted legitimate-because-they’re-not-selling-you-a-miracle-cure type places and could only find very general information on anxiety disorders and the like.  Deciding to make one more stop which will be the defining definition, I visited plain old Dictionary dot com and found this:

Main Entry: alliumphobia
Part of Speech: n
Definition: a fear of garlic
Etymology: allium ‘garlic’

So there you have it. Controversy solved, life can go back to normal and because I’m going to include a link below, to a legitimate source of information on mental health issues, the world can rejoice and know that for those of you out there who really do suffer from Alliumphobia, help is as close as your local mental health professional… found by simply going to your good old family doctor.

I’m sure all of this will be a tremendous relief to the following folks. I’m happy to, once again, have been able to help people on all sides of this issue. Well, perhaps except for this chap. I’m not a miracle worker you know…

Garlic Canada
The Garlic Store  (equal time for you American Garlic Lovers)
The History of Garlic
Garlic Recipes

More Helpful links on Alliumphobia:

National Institue of Mental Health
List of phobias with links to movies including them in the plot.
Wikipedia Listing on Phobias

[Garlic Image: Source and Great Recipe]