rational vs irrational fears

[littlebottom]

for those who dont know (i doubt theres anyone who doesnt, but who knows) an irrational fear, is for example, the fear of flying, but a rational one would be crashing in an airplane.

what fears do you have? are they more rational, or irrational? and why have you got them?

personally, i have an irrational fear of spiders, i just dont like them... ive got no real reason not to like them, other than they are freaky little things THAT SHOULD GO TO HELL!.... *ahem* but on the other hand, i have a fear of falling, not nessiarily heights (i dont mind being high up, i dont mind looking out a window of a 100th floor building, but near the edge of a 5 story roof, i cant make myself lean out over the edge)

[Mystic Muse]

Rational. Falling, Bees, Zombies.
irrational. Pain,clowns, certain dolls, Ronald Mcdonald.


also I'm afraid of this.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP6mF2JRl8g Okay not really. But say goodbye to your childhood

[Phase]

I have a fear of death as well as Anatidaephobia.

[littlebottom]

I have a fear of death as well as Anatidaephobia.

i have a fear, not one of death, or dying, but of being dead... of the nothingness after death. i wouldnt mind dying if it didnt entail being dead afterwards :smalltongue:

[alchemyprime]

Rational Fears: Falling from very high altitudes and hitting the ground violently, hitting a child with my car when somehow unable to drive properly.

Irrational fears: Mollusks (no idea why, they just freak me out), zombies, natural 1s (this may be rational, I dunno), and pit bulls. Dogs in general, but mainly pits.

When I was a kid, our neighbor raised fighting pits. They'd get out because he cheaped out on the fence. They'd chase use all around the neighborhood. Thankfully none of us got caught but the guy's daughter did once on the leg. She had a big scar from it.

[Blaine.Bush]

Cutting my hand while washing the dishes. One time I had my hand inside a glass while washing it, it broke, and I had a one-inch gash on my thumb which required 7 stitches.

...Wow. That is the lamest fear ever.

[Jacklu]

Jacklu has mentioned this before elsewhere on giant, but might as well say it again here. Jacklu has an irrational fear of windows. They are just wrong. I can't sleep in a bed that is below/against a window. If there is a window in a room, I have to have it completely covered in order to sleep there. In my bedroom I have two windows. They are covered by a thick curtain, a blind, another curtain, and a third curtain just to be sure. Basically, unless I can't tell that there isn't a wall underneath, I can't stand to sleep in the room. Why windows? No clue. :smallsigh:

EDIT: Lamest fear Blaine? I think I have the title for that one. =p

[Phase]

...Wow. That is the lamest fear ever.

Feh. For no reason, I have a fear of getting papercuts on my genitals...

Yeah.

[Mando Knight]

Although I don't fear pain in and of itself, I have a ridiculous fear of disabling injury such as broken limbs. I also have an irrational fear of drowning. Not death, but of what comes immediately before it.

[Blaine.Bush]

Feh. For no reason, I have a fear of getting papercuts on my genitals...

Yeah.

Great, I have a new phobia. Thanks. :smallwink:

[Shades of Gray]

Feh. For no reason, I have a fear of getting papercuts on my genitals...

Yeah.

So other types of cuts are okay?

[Anuan]

Rational fears; getting mugged and having to deal with the processes afterwards.

Irrational fears; Water, sharks...yeah.
Edit: also, sometimes when I close car doors I get this flash of terror that somehow, some way, despite all physical and technical logistics, it's going to slam onto my manbits.

[Hadessniper]

Jacklu has mentioned this before elsewhere on giant, but might as well say it again here. Jacklu has an irrational fear of windows. They are just wrong. I can't sleep in a bed that is below/against a window. If there is a window in a room, I have to have it completely covered in order to sleep there. In my bedroom I have two windows. They are covered by a thick curtain, a blind, another curtain, and a third curtain just to be sure. Basically, unless I can't tell that there isn't a wall underneath, I can't stand to sleep in the room. Why windows? No clue. :smallsigh

I have a bit of that. I always have the blinds drawn in my house. When they are open it feels like someone is watching me and I can never quite get comfortable, but that is only in my house if I'm at a friends or in public windows don't bother me in the least.

[Jacklu]

It applies to all windows, mine or not. They are.... Evil.

[Phase]

So other types of cuts are okay?

No, but I don't actively fear those.

[Trog]

I irrationally fear that my consciousness will suddenly be transported into another person's body when they are doing some vitally important task that involves a skill that I do not have and cannot do.

...

I blame the TV show Quantum Leap.

[Blaine.Bush]

Ah, that reminds me. Sometimes I have these daydreams where some super-devil forces me to pick one person to perform some vital task and if they fail the world will be destroyed. Also, everyone would know that I was the one who picked the person. It's always some simple task, though, like chess or wood-splitting.

...

:smalltongue:

[Starscream]

I'm terrified of ladders. Hate 'em.

This doesn't seem too irrational on the surface, until you take into account that I have no problem with heights whatsoever. I climb trees. I fly in planes. I go out on the roof of my house on nice evenings. High places don't faze me at all.

But ladders! No matter how stable they are, I can't bear to climb one. I'm always certain the thing is going to collapse on me.

[EleventhHour]

Ooh.

I have a fear of ;

Rather large spiders.
Dark spaces. (Like, when there's a dark area under a rock outcrop. Freaky.)
Giant rolling stone wheels (...I don't think me and the Flintstones got along.)
Anything that isn't a herbivore and has bigger teeth than me. (Excluding things like dogs.)

[Extra_Crispy]

Cant say I have any irrational fears. I do have rational ones that I think everyone has. You know like hearing the rattle of a rattle snake as you are hiking a trail, or hearing a cougar moving around just outside your flimsy tent.

Used to be afraid of heights, not anymore. Not even afraid of death, actuall hope there is nothing there. Sitting here trying to think of something that scares me and the only thing I can think of is (since I am at work and I work in a hospital) being left alive on machines forever, hearing what is going on but unable to communicate in any way. But that is really not much of a fear because my family knows how I feel about that situation and they would pull the plug.

[Froogleyboy]

I'm afraid of anything that could kill me before I could kill it

oh yeah, and cows. But I also love them. It sucks.

[SDF]

The most interesting one I can think of, is my friend Conor being afraid of being killed by a Predator drone. Those UAV's with bombs and stuff. I showed him the recent xkcd comic about them, and he just responds, "See?! Is my fear not reasonable and justified?"

[Lioness]

I'm rather terrified of needles. I dread ever having to get a blood test, because it will involve a painful needle. I hate immunisations as well, but they aren't so bad. I'm a little bit used to them.

Still, I break into hysterics when a needle comes near me. Even other related things, such as pins, static electricity, and tickle-jabs freak me out.

[Jack Squat]

Irrational fears; Water, sharks...yeah.

You live in Australia. You could be afraid of the plant life and I don't think anyone would call it irrational :smallwink:

I sometimes fear that everyone's opinion of me is just a facade of their real thoughts...Then I realize that I truly am just that awesome :smalltongue:

[Anuan]

You live in Australia. You could be afraid of the plant life and I don't think anyone would call it irrational :smallwink:

I sometimes fear that everyone's opinion of me is just a facade of their real thoughts...Then I realize that I truly am just that awesome :smalltongue:

The plant-life, sure, but not water in general, and considering I lived most of my life about nine hours from a beach...Sharks should be the least of my worries :smalltongue:

[Eon]

I have Claustrophobia and Arachnophobia. and possibly others.
Does anyone here have Hippomonstrosesquippedaliophobia?

[Ninja Chocobo]

Eye injuries.

Somewhat justified in that anything flying towards my face has a statistically improbable chance of landing in my eye, going on past experience.
Also if I touch them after touching a cat they turn crimson and become incredibly itchy. Which sucks because KITTY :3.

[RandomNPC]

Does anyone here have Hippomonstrosesquippedaliophobia?

fear of small words? not here.

whoever came up with that knew exactly what they were doing, and nothing at all, at the same time.

Rationally i'm spooked by unknowns, like i'm fine with bugs like a praying mantis, but if there's something smaller with obvious fangs or something i can't identify i get worried about toxins, i can identify a black widdow, one of the most poisonous spiders in the area, but that doesn't mean it's the only toxic bug. Last thing i want is to be hooked up to machines because i didn't slap a bug fast enough.

Irrationally, i'd say not being able to help. The idea of being physically restrained while friends are hurt really bugs me.

[Mauve Shirt]

Irrational: Rain, change, helplessness and failure.
Rational: Falling down the stairs and cracking my head open. Not really a fear so much as something I think about every time I walk down the stairs.
I have Hippomonstrosesquippedaliophobia when I'm playing scrabble.

[HellfireLover]

Rational fears: Falling. Heights don't bother me if I'm securely tethered, but you're not getting me near that parapet unless I'm roped onto something. No way. And dogs, I've come too close to being attacked by them too often; will people please control their animals in public. :smallmad:

Irrational fears: Spiders (really big ones only), centipedes and millipedes (now I can't look at the screen because even the word makes me shudder), touching hair. I have a hair phobia, especially if it's in my food. Ugh.

[drakir_nosslin]

A few strange fears that I have: Fear of suddenly jumping out in front of a car just on impulse 'to see what happens'. And ants. I hate those little creeps, spiders no problem, centipedes are ugly but I can deal with them, but ants... Ugh.

[Green Bean]

Rational: Getting horribly injured somehow, bad family stuff, failing miserably at what I try to do.

Irrational: My heart beating so strongly that the walls of my arteries gradually become paper thin, and then the next time I exert myself, they all erode at once, causing me to bleed into myself and die. Also, snakes.

[Eon]

ooh i forgot certain heights. I don't know why but i can't really handle climbing very well. I get scared on a ladder, secured to a wire that aircraft carriers use 50 feet in the air with multiple safety contraptions etc... but i can fly in a experimental home-built airplane without worry...