List of Adrian Monk's Phobias

Monk and Stottlemeyer spot a loose snake.

The following is a partially-complete list of Adrian Monk's many phobias.

Super Mega Fear

• Dentist (Note: was implied that the fear was heightened after he was kidnapped and tortured by Dr. Bloom and his assistant in Mr. Monk Goes to the Dentist).

Greatest Fears

In order of priority, Monk's greatest fears are:

1. Dentists
2. Germs (mysophobia)
3. Needles (trypanophobia)
4. Milk (lactophobia) (Implied that it started after having milk spilt on his shirt seen in Little Monk and the Rubber Ball)
5. Death (necrophobia)
6. Snakes (ophidiophobia)
7. Mushrooms (mycophobia)
8. Heights (acrophobia)
9. Crowds (enochlophobia)
10. Elevators (liftophobia)

The "miracle of birth" (Mr. Monk and the Very Very Old Man), (Mr. Monk and the Red Herring)

Other Fears

Monk's other fears, in no particular order, include:

Concepts

• Disorder
• Fear itself (Mr. Monk Goes to Group Therapy)
• Imperfection
• Risk
• Changes(Mr. Monk, Private Eye)

Environmental

Mr Monk in a Hot Air Balloon, even though he is scared of heights. (Mr Monk and the Leper)

• Bees and hornets (Mr. Monk Bumps His Head)(Apiphobia)
• Bees in blenders
• Cats (Ailurophobia)
• Caves (Mr. Monk Gets Married) (Speluncaphobia)
• Clouds (Nephophobia)
• Dogs (Cynophobia)
• Darkness (Mr. Monk and the Candidate)(Achluophobia); (Mr. Monk Can't See a Thing)
• Dirt (Mysophobia) Mr. Monk Gets Cabin Fever
• Dust (Mr. Monk Is on the Run, Part 1)(Amathophobia)
• Soccer riots
• Enclosed spaces (Claustrophobia) (Note: Is implied in Mr. Monk and the Magician to have been heightened after the events of Mr. Monk and the Buried Treasure when he and Troy Kroger were buried under a construction site by Steve Connoly.) (Mr. Monk vs. the Cobra) Was later quelled by Monk and Harold in Mr. Monk Goes to Group Therapy. (Could have been started or heightened, hinted when Jimmy states that there will be psychological scarring after Adrian was locked in a locker while in school seen in Mr. Monk and Little Monk)
• Fire (Arsonphobia)
• Faces
• Frogs (ranked in the same bloc as Possums, Soccer Riots, and Hailstones)(Mr. Monk Is at Your Service)
• Glaciers (Mr. Monk and the Astronaut)
• Hailstones (ranked in the same bloc as Possums, Soccer Riots, and Frogs) (Mr. Monk Is at Your Service)
• Infections
• Ladybugs
• Lightning (astraphobia)(Mr. Monk Gets Cabin Fever); (Mr. Monk's 100TH Case)
• Mice (Mr. Monk and the Captain's Marriage)
• Monkeys (Mr. Monk and the Panic Room)
• Nature
• Noise
• Places (Mr. Monk Gets Cabin Fever)
• Possums (ranked in the same bloc as Hailstones, Soccer Riots, and Frogs) (Mr. Monk Is at Your Service)
• Rabbits (Mr. Monk's 100TH Case)
• Rats
• Rivers
• Round things
• Slime
• Spiders (arachnophobia) (Mr. Monk's 100TH Case)
• Tigers (Mr. Monk Joins a Cult)
• Tsunamis (Mr. Monk, Private Eye)
• Wind (Mr. Monk's 100TH Case)

Vehicles and Machines

• Airplanes (Mr. Monk and the Airplane); (Mr. Monk Is on the Run, Part 1)
• Blenders
• Boats (Mr. Monk, Private Eye); (Mr. Monk's 100TH Case)
• Buses (Mr. Monk Visits a Farm); (Mr. Monk Is on the Run, Part 1)
• Driving
• Trains (Mr. Monk Is on the Run, Part 1)
• Trucks (Mr. Monk Is on the Run, Part 1), although he drove a Garbage Truck when he was experiencing a mental breakdown in Mr. Monk and the Garbage Strike.
• Taxies (Although he has ridden in three, in Mr. Monk Is Up All Night, Mr. Monk Gets a New Shrink <we don't see it, but he says he took a taxi to Dr. Kroeger's house because Natalie wouldn't drive him>, and Mr. Monk And Sharona )

People and Cities

• Beautiful women
• Blankets
• Bridges (Mr. Monk and the Other Detective); (Mr. Monk's 100TH Case);
• Bullies (Mr. Monk and the Bully)
• Chalk (Mr. Monk Goes Back to School)
• Clowns (coulrophobia) (Mr. Monk Goes to the Carnival)
• Dirty Hands
• Disappointing his father (Mr. Monk Goes to Group Therapy)
• Dryer Lint
• Feet
• Germs (Mr. Monk, Private Eye)
• Harmonicas
• Kissing
• Ladders (Mr. Monk Bumps His Head)
• Laser light (Mr. Monk and the Astronaut)
• Lepers
• Naked people (gymnophobia) (Mr. Monk Goes to the Ballgame); (Mr. Monk and the Naked Man); (Mr. Monk's 100TH Case); (Mr. Monk and the Hypnotist)
• Public Speaking (Mr. Monk Goes to the Theater); (Mr. Monk and the Astronaut)
• Puppets
• Rodeos (Mr. Monk and the Astronaut)
• Soccer Riots (ranked in the same bloc as Possums, Hailstones and Frogs) (Mr. Monk Is at Your Service)
• Spitting (Mr. Monk Gets Drunk)
• Touching
• Tunnels (Mr. Monk's 100TH Case)
• Underwear (Mr. Monk and the Three Julies)
• Vomiting

Food

• Charcoal (Mr. Monk Joins a Cult)
• Decaffeinated coffee (Mr. Monk's 100TH Case)
• Egg whites (Mr. Monk's 100TH Case)
• Milk/Creamer (Mr. Monk and the Astronaut)
• Mixed veggies (He likes his vegetables separated) (Mr. Monk and the Lady Next Door)
• Multi-colored Pills
• Mushrooms

This list is not comprehensive, especially since it is constantly being added to. Monk's assistant, Natalie Teeger is required to carry around a list and make additions when prompted. (Mr. Monk Is at Your Service).

It is also possible that the ranking of Monk's fears shifts around constantly. In "Mr. Monk's 100TH Case," Randy Disher guesses that Monk's fear of naked people (gymnophobia) is ranked immediately below his fear of death. Likewise, in "Mr. Monk and the End, Part 1," Monk seems to prefer dying quickly if it means not having to vomit before he dies.

Interestingly, one fear that Monk does not seem to share is his brother Ambrose's agoraphobia (fear of wide, open spaces). However, psychologists often classify a fear of crowds as an offshoot of agoraphobia

Background Information and Notes

• In "Mr. Monk Goes to Group Therapy," Monk cures himself (and Harold Krenshaw) of claustrophobia.
• Also, in "Mr. Monk and the End, Part 2," he seems to have at least partially conquered his fear of needles.
• In "Mr. Monk and the Daredevil", Monk copes with his fear of heights to save Natalie when they are fighting against Joey Krenshaw on a hospital's helicopter landing pad.
• Monk's gymnophobia was alluded to in Mr. Monk Meets the Playboy when he was reluctant to even open an issue of Sapphire Magazine to page 53 (where a murdered accountant for the magazine's portfolio was located), causing the accountant's maid to wonder if Monk was religious.
• Monk once inadvertently invented a new phobia, the fear of pillows.Fear of driving.
• At one point, Monk made a list of phobias he had, totaling 103 (although he claimed he had more).
• At another point in time, he established that he had 312 phobias.