Lesson #4: Aquaphobia is The Correct Term, not Hydrophobia

All these while, I thought that the term applied to people who are afraid of water and drowning is hydrophobia. But I was wrong! The correct term is Aquaphobia.

According to the Wikipedia, Aquaphobia is an abnormal and persistent fear of water. Aquaphobia is a specific phobia that involves a level of fear that is beyond the patient's control or that may interfere with daily life. People suffer aquaphobia in many ways and may experience it even though they realize the water in an ocean, a river, or even a bathtub poses no imminent threat. They may avoid such activities as boating and swimming, or they may avoid swimming in the deep ocean despite having mastered basic swimming skills. This anxiety commonly extends to getting wet or splashed with water when it is unexpected, or being pushed or thrown into a body of water.

Whereas hydrophobia on the other hand, may refer to rabies, especially a set of symptoms of the later stages of an infection, in which the victim has difficulty swallowing, shows panic when presented with liquids to drink, and cannot quench his or her thirst.

Many people, including myself have mistakenly refer aquaphobia as hydrophobia. Thank God I finally knew the correct term for the condition. And for people who didn't know, I myself is an aquaphobic as a result of series of drowning events during my childhood. I have given up learning how to swim almost 3 years ago. I think not able to swim is not pissing me off at the moment and I also think that I am good with the way I live my life now. Yes, able to swim is really cool. But not knowing it doesn't make me a loser. There are a lot of other ways to enjoy myself and live life to the fullest.

So that was it. After quite some time of not updating. I finally had my 4th lesson to be written!