Page "Clown" Paragraph 36

The term coulrophobia has been proposed to denote an abnormal, exaggerated, or irrational fear of clowns.

The term is of recent use but is not commonly used in psychology, and according to one analyst, " has been coined more on the Internet than in printed form because it does not appear in any previously published, psychiatric, unabridged, or abridged dictionary ".

In particular, the term is not recognised as a specific disorder by the American Psychiatric Association in its latest categorisation of disorders, nor is it recognised by the World Health Organisation as a valid disorder.