Got a Phobia? Share it!

Situational fear:

I am afraid of blindness or of anything becoming embedded in my eye. An insect, a coworker waving a pencil around, etc. I got an acute eye infection when I was a child; my parents couldn't afford to take me to the doctor, and so they tried home remedies. The infection spread to my other eye and they both swelled shut for 12 hours or so before someone gave my parents money to take me to a hospital. I never forgot how helpless I felt, how afraid of every mysterious noise, and knowing I'd never read again.

Social fear:

I have a recurring fear of being blamed for a situation beyond my control. Whether it is the economy, someone else's mistake, or because I "should have known," I spend a lot of time trying to prove myself as a good person.

Even though I know these fears are irrational, I have them anyway so I know it's all between the ears. I have three and they are as follows.

thalassophobia: Fear of the ocean.

I can't get into ocean water past my waist and I don't even like to go that deep, convinced I will be swallowed up by a shark. You may think I have a fear of sharks but it is the ocean because if sharks didn't exist I would be terrified of another sea creature or by being swept out too see. The thought of dangling in the ocean with my feet not touching the bottom horrifies me.

Acrophobia: Fear of heights

After more than 6 feet, the common size of a ladder, my brain turns to mush and I will do anything to get down, my body stops working involuntarily, my muscles lock up and I become convinced I am going to fall, it really sucks sometimes, can't get on the roof to get at the damn dish.

Arachnophobia: Fear of spiders

The thing I hate most in the world. The thing that terrorizes my life on a daily basis and the only fear that that me doing things in daily life that most people don't worry about. This one I have to deal with on a daily basis and it can be overwhelming sometimes. There are activities I enjoy but avoid, there are rituals I perform before showering, going to bed, putting on shoes, turning on a light in a dark room, etc etc. 50% of all my nightmares involved spiders and I can't seem to shake it no matter what I do.

Funny thing is outside of those three things and my government, I am not scared of anything else, hell, Id welcome the zombie Apocalypse tomorrow with a big smile but get anywhere near a spider.... screw that lol.

reply to post by Helious


It is interesting that many on this thread have a fear of heights and spiders. Seems to be very common and I have wondered why these 2 specifically? If anyone knows, please share.

Thanks for your input.

reply to post by jude11


Spiders,bumblebees,wasps,hornets,high places,
casket like places and long needles.

Originally posted by mamabeth
reply to post by jude11

 

Spiders,bumblebees,wasps,hornets,high places,
casket like places and long needles.

WOW! You've got it all! lol

We have to laugh at ourselves tho. So advanced yet, scared of spiders.

Thanx!

reply to post by jude11


I'm not real sure about heights but I think with spiders, it really is a combination of things. I think they were probably slightly more menacing to our ancestors as they were larger back then because there was more oxygen in the atmosphere allowing them to grow bigger. Along with snakes, spiders seem to be a basic fear with people having having varying degrees of fear towards them. Funny thing is, I am not scared of snakes at all.

Spiders although largely non aggressive towards humans will almost always bite if they feel they can not run out of self defense, they will bite out of accidental contact to skin if they feel threatened and can not escape and a rare few, including wolf spiders can be outright aggressive towards humans.

Spiders can cause necrotic wounds on rare occasions such as the brown recluse and Hobo spiders and bites can result in flesh decay and huge open wounds, even amputation in very rare cases. They also appear menacing because of the eyes, fangs and legs, the spiders movement is fast and and is unlike most creators because it has eight legs so it seems unusual too us. There is the fact also in how it eats it's food, by cocooning, biting and paralyzing and then liquefying and sucking up it's victim, pretty horrendous if you ask me, no shock so many people are scared of these things.

Anyone see Starship Troopers? If spiders were the size of large dogs, you would run away from it for your life, faster than you ever ran before I'm guessing lol. That being said, not everyone is afraid of them, I seen a guy on the show Logmen on History, pick up a brown recluse and eat it, so, who knows haha.

reply to post by Helious


Good theory and that might explain the height fear also. Back then, the highest we probably ventured would be a tree to sight game or other tribes, signaling etc. But now we have 100 story buildings. Ain't natural to us!

Thanx for the insight.

I've always been afraid of really confined spaces. Not like an elevator, that's fine, but like something so small that you're trapped and can't move... man! I start freaking out if I can't stretch my arms and legs out. Also the ocean, I just don't like all the fish and whatever else swimming around in there with me, especially if I can't even see that they're there!

reply to post by dr_strangecraft


I feel I must commend you on your awareness of your social phobia.

I think people would generally get even more sucked into their guilt, rather than identifying that their situation is something that is not at the CORE of who they are, but something they have.


Around about the age of 5, I had a really intense phobia of the pool cleaner. No, not the guy that comes around once a week and throws chlorine into the pool
The Creepy Crawler!


That fear left me after a while. It probably helped that I forced myself to get into pool while making sure I swam on the OPPOSITE side of pool, far away from 'danger' of being sucked in

Arachnaphobia stayed with me for maaaaany years to come. 3 years or so ago, I learned a technique of releasing fears from my body, and that helped considerably. I am now able to let the little spiders touch my skin and I am able to get up close to the biggies, but in the latter case, I have to be FULLY aware of what they are doing at all times. I'd freak out if I saw a huge-ass spider on the wall one second, the next I look back and they're gone!

I've played around with the spider fear. I look at a spider and attempt to identify what scares me the most about it. I'm cool with looking at the body only. If it had little ant legs I'd be very comfortable with it (I guess). But when I expand my vision to include all the long pointy legs.. Ughhhhh thats where my fear is. Irrationally on the other hand, if I look at each leg separately up close (kinda like blocking out what the legs are attached to), I'm totally cool with it. Add them all up to one package and the fear says HELLO!

If any are interested in the technique I used, that does not involve any direct physical interaction with your phobia, I shall post the method here for all to use

I really fear great hights!!!

Was scared of spiders as a kid, couldnt sit down in a room if there was a spider on the ceiling, i just catch n' release em' now.

Scared of dogs as a child, grew up and got a job where i had to confront that fear, now i see a dog ye can't keep me away from em'. If i visit a friend with a dog, it's the dog that i bring a gift for, the dog that get's a fuss, the dog that get's enquiries over health and wellbeing.

Headset's/microphones, quite new to computing and it seemed i needed a mic/headset. For some reason i just can't use them (bought a few but they just gather dust). I tried once, i lasted 10 seconds before i ripped it off my head. I have no issues with telephones though.

Heights, i've tried tackling this one on several fronts but it's for life. Tried work on building sites, tall ladders, cherry-pickers, constructing/dismantling scaffolding, no dice just a stressful days work.
When i was young my parents would take me to visit Castles around the country, something i was fascinated by, but when i reached the battlements i would always be struck with fear, practically crawling around and yet i would not leave. Maybe i was killed by an arrow through the skull in a past life as i manned the walls, who knows?

Anyways good topic jude

I have fear of some insects, not all insects, and of toads, I don't know why, but I find them so disgusting. I like spiders, but for example, I hate cockroaches, they are so...

Originally posted by jokerzwild
Also the ocean, I just don't like all the fish and whatever else swimming around in there with me, especially if I can't even see that they're there!

Yeah I feel you! I would be afraid of a submarine under me

large bodies of water, heights, sharks, severe emetophobia, ...eh I better stop there's too many lol.

Originally posted by Avyuir
large bodies of water, heights, sharks, severe emetophobia, ...eh I better stop there's too many lol.

Wow! That's messed up! lol

But seriously...Wow!

Ok, really seriously now. How many do you have? Very interesting as I thought having 2 was getting up there and a few have posted 4 or more.

Curious.

I have a fear of larvae, maggots, any grubby sort of worm that I think must count as a phobia. If I find that I have come close to any I have a panic attack. I'm pretty shy, so the few instances where I saw them and another person was present were super embarrassing. The last time I saw them, I had an asthma attack, then had to wash my hands 5 times, and change my clothes even though it never touched me. I then had to replace all hand towels with new ones although they had nothing to do with the incident. After a few hours of cleaning up, I was just happy to go home and shower!

I have difficulty drinking water from a glass. First, I think that if the glass is upside-down in the cupboard, then the top is contaminated from touching the board. If it is right side up, I'm afraid that dusty germs may have landed inside. So, of course I have to rinse the glass first, at least 5 times. But if I think about the water I used to rinse it, I feel like it's also contaminated just from touching the glass, so I can't put new water in to drink until I rinse a few more times or dry it with a clean towel. However, before rinsing the glass, I must let the water run for at least a full minute because I think that the water sitting in the pipes is contaminated.

I'm afraid of parked cars on a hill. I cannot sit inside. This is because when I was 6 years old, my mom left us in the car for a minute because she forgot to grab my brothers diaper bag. We were on a hill of course, and I got out of my seat to try and take the front seat from my sister. In our little scuffle, one of us must have kicked the stick and made the car roll downhill. Fast. I broke the windshield with my head, but I don't think I actually felt it because I panicked and thought that it was my sister who broke it. Only remember a few minutes after, and nothing of the hospital visit.

I have a fear of house fires at night. I check all appliances each night before bed, and will even get up at night to make sure the stove is off. Most appliances make me uncomfortable if they are left plugged in even when they are off.

I also have a good old fashioned, childish fear of the dark. Crazy, but probably the most "normal" fear I have.


Oh, and P.S. I am NOT afraid of spiders, as long as they aren't on me, and I kinda like snakes. Just don 't forget to wash your hands after handling them!

Originally posted by jokerzwild
I've always been afraid of really confined spaces. Not like an elevator, that's fine, but like something so small that you're trapped and can't move... man! I start freaking out if I can't stretch my arms and legs out.

this. so this.

i almost went into a full blown panic attack when i had to get an mri. i BEGGED to be drugged, but since it was a brain mri, they told me i couldnt. i was eventually placed in an open mri, and that was a huge ordeal. i will give the staff credit as they tried their hardest to comfort me. after placing my arms and legs spread on pillows, wearing a mask and earplugs, and 45 mins of softly weeping with my head in a cage, it was done. i also cannot be wrapped too tightly in blankets. when i see tight situations on tv (like watching cities of the underworld) or in movies, i get the panicky feelings.

its gotten much much worse as ive gotten older. my sister used to lock me in a closet (more like a cabinet or wardrobe) when i was smaller. its prob also why im not too fond of the dark.

At least these quirks give us character, right?

Originally posted by Niecedenise
At least these quirks give us character, right?

Absolutely!

The reason I started it is that I wanted to get to know other members and laugh at ourselves. Also the curiosity of what else is out there in the way of Phobias.

After having read the entire thread since I started it, it seems that it may also be a 'Dumping' place of our secrets so to speak. Even a Confessional of Phobias of sorts.

I have a feeling that a lot of people have not told others of their Phobias but did here because of the security of being Anonymous.

Very interesting replies.

I'm claustrophobic, afraid of heights, can't stand crowds of any kind whatsoever, extreme fear of surgeries and needles, and i have a psychotic hatred of canines.

And yet I play violent videogames like Mortal Kombat and Team Fortress 2, full of gibs and blood..

I also can't sleep without any kind of background noise whatsoever. I'm afraid of total silence.