BLOOMINGTON - If you're a paraskavedekatriaphobic, you'll probably want to stay in bed all day with the sheets pulled over your head.

After all, today is something you fear the most - Friday the 13th.

Of course you might not want to put the covers over your head if you are claustrophobic, or afraid of confined spaces.

And you obviously won't consider hiding in bed if you have clinophobia, the fear of going to bed.

You'll also be in trouble if you have climacophobia and your bedroom is upstairs. Climacophobia is the fear of stairs.

You could buy a new house that was on one floor, but that's only if you don't have chrometophobia, the fear of money.

The house couldn't be white if you're leukophbic. It also couldn't be near a cemetery if your have coimetrophobia or surrounded by trees if you're dendrophobic.

You'll really be in a jam if you have domatophobia - a fear of houses or being in a house - or if you suffer from panophobia - the fear of everything.

The list goes on and on, although those who suffer from logophobia (the fear of words) or hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (the fear of long words) probably would never know.

"If you look hard enough, you can find someone with a fear of hats," said Chris Cashen, a licensed clinical professional counselor for Carle Clinic Association. "In the true clinical sense, it's an anxiety disorder … an excessive desire to avoid whatever the fear is linked to."

It only becomes a problem, Cashen said, when it affects a person's daily life.

"If you have a fear of clowns, it's not a problem unless you're living next door to a clown," he said. "It's not a problem unless it's a problem."

Cashen estimated about 10 percent of the American population suffers from some anxiety disorder at one time. He admits to having some fear of heights - yet he goes hiking in Colorado on vacation.

Carolyn Treadway, a counselor and life coach, encourages people to get help if they spend a lot of time worrying about their fears.

"Worry takes a lot of energy," she said. "There's no need to suffer like that alone and endlessly. Help is available and help can help."

While there's been no proof, some experts believe phobias tend to run in families, Cashen said. Growing up with parents who have fears also can lead to fears, said Treadway.

"The fear of spiders is more prevalent in people of European decent," Cashen said. That could be traced back to the false beliefs people had about the cause of plagues, he said.

Some of the more common phobias - ones that Cashen and Treadway are more apt to see in their practice - are degrees of agoraphobia, the fear of being in crowded, public places; fear of flying; fear of heights or fear of being dirty.

"It's rare that someone with one of the unusual phobias is going to run into my office," Cashen said.

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Find your phobia

Hundreds of phobias are listed on www.phobialist.com. You can even buy a poster. Some of the more unusual phobias include:

Alliumphobia: fear of garlic

Aulophobia: fear of flutes

Cacophobia: fear of ugliness

Cathisophobia: fear of sitting

Chaetophobia: fear of hair

Ergophobia: fear of work

Euphobia: fear of hearing good news

Geniophobia: fear of chins

Lachanophobia: fear of vegetables

Logizomechanophobia: fear of computers

Octophobia: fear of the figure 8

Phobophobia: fear of fear

Pogonophobia: fear of beards

Pteronophobia: fear of being tickled by feathers

Tremophobia: fear of trembling

Xanthophobia: fear of the color yellow or the word yellow