What is your Phobia?

[Pavbat666]

Hello! So, I was sitting in my room, and I was wondering about something, and that turned into something else, which finally ended up with me thinking about my very irrational phobias. :smallbiggrin: I have three, that are really funny, but true for me.
#1: The fear of spiders. I know that is called arachnophobia, and I know many people who have it as well. When I see a spider, I pull back, and I just can't think straight. When it moves, it makes me very nervous.
#2: (Don't laugh), the fear of Farris Wheels. When I was a little kid, I used to go on all the rides, except one. I had no problem going on roller coaster, but when I was one the Ferris Wheel, I always would feel SO unstable, especially when it gets close to the top. Does anyone know what the fear of Ferris Wheels are? Please tell me if so.
#3: (I am dead serious about this one)... Sunscreen... It is not that I am scared of it exactly. I won't be worried if someone holds up a bottle of sunscreen. It's just when I apply it to my skin, it bothers me, and makes me shudder. I feel like it digs so deep into my skin, that I would never be able to get it out. Again, I have never heard anyone have the same problem, so if anyone knows, what is the fear of sunscreen called?

Finally, share some of your phobias here. What type of fears do you have?

[Peelee]

Snakes. To hell with snakes. If I was Dr. Jones, Ark of the Covenant woulda stayed in the Well of Souls.

[Keltest]

I could quite happily live in a world where spiders are not and were never a thing.

[Fri]

I have a phobia of worms. Not just worm actually. Maggots, caterpilars. Ugh, even typing them give me the creeps. But once they turned to bugs it's okay. Snakes are also okay. Centipedes are okay. It isn't really logical, really. Basically, if I saw something squiggling in my drinking water, I will check. Does it have legs? If there is, it's okay, it's just a bug. If there's not, I'll kill myself.

This was quite problematic because I used to work subtitling, and one thing I used to subtitled a lot was the show Fear Factor. And they quite like to make the contestants swim in ****ing worms or such. **** them. Subtitling those shows was torture, I have to take break often (usually to puke). A trick was to tape cover to the middle part of my screen, so only the lower part where the subtitle appear that I can directly manipulate are shown. Those were the days.

[Peelee]

That sounds kind of cool, actually. How do you get a job subtitling?

[Fri]

I apply :smallbiggrin:?

It's the usual office job. I saw job opening on job site, sent my cv, got invited for test and interview, and such. The company I work on use freelance translators, but the actual subtitling job is done in-house.

I'm still in the company actually, but I'm now supervisor instead of doing actual subtitling. So I don't have to deal with those worms again.

[Peelee]

Well, imean, yeah. I just don't even know what kind of company does subtitles. I imagine it'd be the production company, since that makes the most sense, I just never really thought of it before.

[Domino Quartz]

My phobias are:

1. Mirrors in the dark. I used to have nightmares about them.

2. Heights.

3. Water - specifically, putting my head under. I think it's because I nearly drowned in a spa pool when I was two years old.

[Remmirath]

Dogs. I'm every bit as afraid of dogs as a lot of people are of spiders, and -- while I am constantly trying to work on it -- that's often a big problem for me. There are other things that make me uneasy, but I'm not sure that any of them amount to a full-blown phobia other than this one.

[Iethloc]

Bees. Anything that flies and stings freaks me out, really. Even just hearing a fly buzzing around puts me on edge.

I used to be afraid of thunder, too, but that's faded as I've aged.

[Bulldog Psion]

I'm deathly afraid of not have a $1 million bank balance. Take heed, lottery officials of the world! :smallbiggrin:

[RabbitHoleLost]

Pregnancy. Most particularly, getting pregnant
Heights. Uncontrolled heights - an extension of this is, for some reason, flying kites
exposure therapy fixed my previous needle phobia.

[AvatarVecna]

Heights is the only serious phobia that comes to mind. Being up high isn't a huge problem, I guess, but the possibility of falling. Flying in an airplane is fine, but climbing up a rickety spiral staircase to get to the top of a zipline tower has left me catatonic about halfway up. Rollercoasters are fine once I get past the first hill, but the whole way up I'm always shaking from the fear.

[Peelee]

I'm deathly afraid of not have a $1 million bank balance. Take heed, lottery officials of the world! :smallbiggrin:

I can arrange a paper sack with $35,000 to be left in your driveway.

[Bulldog Psion]

I can arrange a paper sack with $35,000 to be left in your driveway.

:smallbiggrin:

[TechnOkami]

I think the only phobia I have is heights. I'm not sure I'd even call it a full blown phobia though because I can do roller coasters and spiral stair cases and look out planes just fine. I do, however, get vertigo something fierce when I'm forced to look down over a long ledge, like a cliffside or on the railings of a balcony.

I'd also say that I have a fear of water, aka drowning, but its more that I'm a terrible swimmer and fat, and all I end up doing is floating, and its just not really that enjoyable to me.

Spiders are fine.

I just don't really care for dogs, but I do like the large lumbering docile ones.

I think a fear of needles is in there... I've just learned to combat it by not looking at it when they put it in.

So, heights, water/drowning, and needles.

Perhaps fear itself? I never liked scary movies. Screw jump scares and slow build up psychological horror.

[Jon_Dahl]

That Man will exist forever.

[Murk]

Starfish.

Seriously, those things creep me out. Those subtle, neverending creeping legs. Look up a time lapse clip of starfish creeping on the ocean floor. It absolutely has something zombie-like.
Even worse is how and what they eat (mainly mussels). Now, mussels can of course not move. They can only trust in the strength of their shells. Starfish "hunt" them - they creep closer and closer sloooooowly, and when they reach the mussel, they slooooooowly wriggle open their shell. Then they put in their stomach inside out and digest the mussel while still alive!
A group of starfish can massacre an entire mussel colony (up to thousands) in a few days.

It just has too high a level of Borg or Zombie. There's nothing you can do. Resistance is futile. You can only wait while they creep closer. Just close your eyes and let yourself be digested.

Brr.

[Pendulous]

I have a weird one that I can't fully explain. When I was younger, we had this short series of books that were probably 50 pages or less each, each about a specific aspect of space. Each planet, our moon, whatever. One was called something like "Phasars, quasars, and black holes". It was full of very colorful images of these types of things. Now, I know that all this stuff, in reality, is very colorless, and that the images are changed to add the color. But ever since I was young, I've been unable to look at very colorful images of space. I mean, a real-life image of Earth, fine. Animated stuff like Futurama? Fine ,and also hilarious. But all those colorful gases and galaxies and stuff, I have to look away. If I don't, I get this weird feeling that I can't in any way explain. I call it a fear, because I don't know what else it could be, and it has prevented me from reading certain articles that I might otherwise find interesting.

[Conradine]

Butterflies.
Don't ask.

[HopefullyThisGy]

I used to be deathly scared of the dark. That's gone now, but it's been replaced by a really weird reaction I get with needles. I'm fine whilst it's in; doesn't bother me that much, but the instant it gets removed I go really light headed. Fainted once, now I really hate needles in general.

[BWR]

No phobias. A few serious dislikes, like spiders, heights, enclosed spaces, but no actual phobias.

Not like a friend of mine who is a genuine arachnophobe, who will literally shriek at the sight of spiders and run out of the room. This also applies to daddy-longlegs because they look sufficiently arachnomorphic. He can stand to look at them if he knows where they are ahead of time and has a window between them, but even this is very uncomfortable for him.

Or my girlfriend who is spheksophobic, though recovering. She will freeze in panic if they come close and try to exit the area if they aren't. Though bees and bumblebees are fine, until she can identify them as being not-wasp, she's in full freeze mode. Shutting herself in another room while home alone in hopes it will fly out is not unheard of. She's getting better, but it has been a hard slog.

[Starwulf]

Spiders, and most recently I get really nervous/short of breath/lightly dizzy when I travel up steep mountains that I can clearly see the drop-offs of. It's weird because I've never had this issue before, AND I live on top of a mountain(said issue does not trigger on my mountain).

Other then that, a few dislikes, but nothing to the point of irrationality.

[TESffaa1]

Heights :(

[FinnLassie]

Mine is definitely heights. I can't stand on a chair if there isn't someone to aid me down. Nowadays I can go to some higher places if I know I'm safe and sound behind a glass or something, but it still affects me alot.

[Corlindale]

I don't like spiders and heights, but I don't think it's at real phobia levels.

I consider fear of heights (to some extent) to be fairly rational, because falling can genuinely kill you (and every year a couple of people in my city die or get injured because they weren't suitably afraid of heights when walking the cliffs around this city).

My fear of spiders is irrational, though, because I've never lived in countries with actually dangerous spiders.

I don't like needles, but I'm becoming a bit better at dealing with them. I handled my last blood test really well, but in high school I almost fainted after I did a blood test on myself for Biology class.

When I was younger I was really afraid of dangerous chemicals. Acid, poison, stuff like that. I didn't even like to read or hear about them - and I was even uncomfortable if I had to pass the aisle with cleaning articles at the supermarket. Now it's faded into more rational levels - I still don't like to use really strong chemicals, but I consider that pretty rational from both a personal safety and environmental safety point of view.

[Peelee]

I consider fear of heights (to some extent) to be fairly rational, because falling can genuinely kill you (and every year a couple of people in my city die or get injured because they weren't suitably afraid of heights when walking the cliffs around this city).

I don't think fear of heights means what you think. Like, I won't get near a slippery rock cliff by a waterfall, because i know risk. But I have no problem looking out from the Empire State Building. Similarly, I would not want to be near a live crocodile without some sort of safety mechanism, but I can watch Lake Placid without feeling the least bit squeamish. But I can't watch Snakes on a Plane or Anaconda without being seriously creeped the **** out.

Healthy fears are just that; healthy. They make sense, most people have them, and most people are reasonable about them. Phobias, even if they make sense at some level, are far more intense.

[Corlindale]

My fear of heights is tied to the risk I perceive of falling down, but the reason it might veer a bit into phobia territory is that I sometimes overestimate said risk. Even with a very tall fence between me and a drop off, I will sometimes think "what if someone bumped into me really hard and I somehow managed to topple over the fence? Better move a bit further away!".

I have absolutely no problem with being on an airplane, however.

[Peelee]

My fear of heights is tied to the risk I perceive of falling down, but the reason it might veer a bit into phobia territory is that I sometimes overestimate said risk. Even with a very tall fence between me and a drop off, I will sometimes think "what if someone bumped into me really hard and I somehow managed to topple over the fence? Better move a bit further away!".

I have absolutely no problem with being on an airplane, however.

Man, I know how you mean, and it's weird. If I look out the window of a really tll skyscraper, and look straight down, i feel more apprehension than if I look down an airplane window from thousands of feet up.

[BWR]

I consider fear of heights (to some extent) to be fairly rational, because falling can genuinely kill you (and every year a couple of people in my city die or get injured because they weren't suitably afraid of heights when walking the cliffs around this city).


Cliffs? In Denmark?

Anyway, heights is probably not the problem, it's not having solid ground underneath my feet, which includes airplanes. Strange thing is, when I was a kid I had no problems with airplanes. Now I find them distinctly unpleasant.

[Corlindale]

I'm in Greenland atm, I just never got around to changing the profile. Denmark is extremely lacking in natural hazards, I agree.

[Murk]

I always feel very safe the higher I get, and just as irrational. I think it's because whatever is below me can't hurt me - if I stand on top of a large mountain, I'm safe from pretty much everyone and everything. Or that's how it feels.
That's why I always have a hard time understanding fear of Heights.

(Though both are clearly irrational, mine is of course slightly less irrational, because as monkey's we were supposed to live in high trees. I'm just more in touch with my inner ape! :smalltongue:)

[neriractor]

Jellyfish, if I see a dead jellyfish in the sand I definitely won't swim on the beach that day, they just creep me out.

[Winter_Wolf]

Actual phobias? None. Things I dislike, things I have a degree of fear of, sure. Crippling irrational fear? Nope. I just ain't got time to indulge my fear that much.

[Kid Jake]

I myself don't really have any phobias, I mean I hate heights but I can deal with them if need be, but my sister has a few strange ones. She's terrified to the point of terror-vomiting of zombies and midgets. The first one is extra hilarious because my little niece LOVES zombie movies and there's nothing she can do about it because to turn the movie off she'd actually have to listen/see part of it to get to the dvd player; so she's forced to go into another room until it's finished. I once shuffled towards her moaning "Braains!" and she feinted for about 30 seconds. She's got it bad, and strangely she blames Shaun of the Dead for it. For some reason before that movie she was fine with zombies, after it she's terrified.

The second one would obviously have more impact since they're actually real. Several times I've witnessed a height-impaired individual walk into a store that she's shopping in and she literally drop her basket and sprint to the car to hide and cry. I once grabbed her by the collar so she couldn't run out and make a scene and she responded by just dropping to her knees and crying/trying to hide there. I've never been able to understand this one because she can't even begin to explain it.

[Fri]

I must say that, beside how I was physically nauseous just by typing my previous posts, it actually gave me flashbacks in the office, and I almost puked a couple of time. I didn't make that up. Really.

I'm also not sure when this started. I remember that as a very small child I don't have this phobia. I think there might be a specific movie that I watched as a very young child that started this phobia, but I cant' remember what.

[randman22222]

Marine invertebrates. Tubeworms and sea slugs and urchins and ****. The less mammalian in appearance, the worse it gets. If you wanna see me flip the **** out, just chuck a sea slug or something at me.
I studied forensic biology, so didn't have to really deal with them ever, pretty much, except for one undergrad lecture where they were referenced, and pictures shown of them in the slideshow, without warning! I had to excuse myself for a few minutes and let the nausea die down.

[Serpentine]

I don't really have anything much. In fact, in a few cases I have the opposite problem, where I seem to be missing that "rational fear" mentioned upthread to the point where it's actually probably dangerous. Like, for example, I love snakes (obviously), and if I see one in a park or whatever, my first instinct will be to go over and pat it and cuddle it and admire its prettiness. The only thing stopping me from doing that isn't fear of getting bitten; it's fear of having to explain to the paramedics how I got bitten.
I used to have a bit of a thing about earwigs, but then I found out they're really good mothers. It's kind of hard to be too scared about something that's a good mother. The main thing I have now is ticks. They give me the wibbly-jibblies. I have a reputation among my family for being the one what doesn't afraid of anything, so when I randomly leapt up from the table with a squeal and fled to the sink and brushed myself off and madly washed my hands and arms their first thought was that there must have been something really bad going on. I just spotted a tick crawling up my arm.

I'm pretty neurotic about not leaving meat uncovered. Dunno if it counts as a phobia, but I'm pretty paranoid and authoritarian about it. I think I have a pretty good reason for that, though.

I got a couple of cooked chickens a while ago, one BBQ and one smoked. We had a very lovely lunch of it, but there were a few flies around, so we put a tea towel over them when we weren't eating. Apparently not well enough, though...
Later that afternoon I was starting to put the leftovers away, and absentmindedly grabbed a bit of the smoked chicken to snack on. I felt my tasty morsel moving at about the same time I noticed that the leftover carcass was moving too.
I then spent the next half an hour or so spitting, gagging, scrubbing my teeth, gagging and spitting some more.

My mum has a good one: frogs. Not toads, she's fine with toads. But frogs. Especially the nice, smooth, pretty green tree frogs that are completely harmless. She'll scream and run away from them.

[randman22222]

I don't really have anything much. In fact, in a few cases I have the opposite problem, where I seem to be missing that "rational fear" mentioned upthread to the point where it's actually probably dangerous. Like, for example, I love snakes (obviously), and if I see one in a park or whatever, my first instinct will be to go over and pat it and cuddle it and admire its prettiness. The only thing stopping me from doing that isn't fear of getting bitten; it's fear of having to explain to the paramedics how I got bitten.
I used to have a bit of a thing about earwigs, but then I found out they're really good mothers. It's kind of hard to be too scared about something that's a good mother. The main thing I have now is ticks. They give me the wibbly-jibblies. I have a reputation among my family for being the one what doesn't afraid of anything, so when I randomly leapt up from the table with a squeal and fled to the sink and brushed myself off and madly washed my hands and arms their first thought was that there must have been something really bad going on. I just spotted a tick crawling up my arm.

I'm pretty neurotic about not leaving meat uncovered. Dunno if it counts as a phobia, but I'm pretty paranoid and authoritarian about it. I think I have a pretty good reason for that, though.

I got a couple of cooked chickens a while ago, one BBQ and one smoked. We had a very lovely lunch of it, but there were a few flies around, so we put a tea towel over them when we weren't eating. Apparently not well enough, though...
Later that afternoon I was starting to put the leftovers away, and absentmindedly grabbed a bit of the smoked chicken to snack on. I felt my tasty morsel moving at about the same time I noticed that the leftover carcass was moving too.
I then spent the next half an hour or so spitting, gagging, scrubbing my teeth, gagging and spitting some more.

My mum has a good one: frogs. Not toads, she's fine with toads. But frogs. Especially the nice, smooth, pretty green tree frogs that are completely harmless. She'll scream and run away from them.

Wow. That'd definitely make a person more cautious with meat. :smalleek:

[Serpentine]

Indeed.

Oh, marriage, maybe? I've had actual nightmares about it before, and if I think about it too much as a thing I might actually do it starts to whig me out. Not like I can't attend a wedding, though.

[Balmas]

I don't really have a phobia, I don't think. Not in the psychological-disorder sense of the word. I just have a normal fear of losing those I love.

That, and I'm squicked out by needles. I'm fine when I'm the one getting stuck, but I could never be the one on the other end of the syringe.

[Maryring]

Other people.

Not joking. Whenever I'm around in public I feel like I have to constantly check over my shoulder. If I hear someone behind me I have to turn and look to know who and where they are. In public rooms, I always keep an eye on the door, and ideally myself as near the exit as possible so I can bolt if I feel the need. I really don't feel safe around other people.

[tomandtish]

Dentists for me. Of course mine was triggered when a dentist put a needle through my cheek when I was 7...

Since then, it takes a megadose of valium to even get me in for a cleaning, and full sedation for anything else.

[Icewraith]

Water rides with drops.

Normal heights, not really an issue. Roller coasters, fine. Log rides? I got up the courage to go on one, we got off the ride, the group I was with saw my facial expression in the picture they take of you at the top of the big drop, and nobody has questioned me not going on those rides since.

I think it's because I know the bottom's not attached to anything?

I can even go to waterparks and go on most of the slides and whatnot without issues, even ones where you ride a little inflatable raft. But if it's a proper floating boat and a channel of water instead of a track, and there's a drop, I have problems.

[Jerry]

Heights in general and flying in particular. 35,000 feet up in a metal tube? No thanks, buddy.

[themaque]

WASPS.

I'm not sure if this is really a phobia since I'm pretty sure fear is a rational reaction to flying hypodermic needles that hate you for being alive.

If I see a wasp near me I am somewhere else very quickly.

[Serpentine]

Water rides with drops.

Normal heights, not really an issue. Roller coasters, fine. Log rides? I got up the courage to go on one, we got off the ride, the group I was with saw my facial expression in the picture they take of you at the top of the big drop, and nobody has questioned me not going on those rides since.

I think it's because I know the bottom's not attached to anything?

I can even go to waterparks and go on most of the slides and whatnot without issues, even ones where you ride a little inflatable raft. But if it's a proper floating boat and a channel of water instead of a track, and there's a drop, I have problems.
Out of curiosity, would this apply to canoeing or whitewater rafting too?

[KillingAScarab]

Looking through what has been posted so far and I seem to be doing well. I really did not like the concept of Fear Factor, though, and after seeing what Fri posted, I like it even less. *goes back in time and convinces NBC to produce King of the Nerds (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_the_Nerds) instead*

[Arcbound]

Heights are a big issue for me. I have a healthy fear of stuff like spiders and snakes that, depending on the type, could reasonably hurt me, but even getting on top of a ladder is difficult. My legs go weak and I get terrified. The higher up, the worse, though really only if I can see how high up I am. I remember going to Chicago on a field trip and having a panic attack on the Sears Tower.

[Icewraith]

Out of curiosity, would this apply to canoeing or whitewater rafting too?

I don't know. The closest I've done to that on a river is a speedboat through moderate rapids and there was never anything close to the sort of long drop you get in a thrill ride. I don't remember having issues.

I've been ocean kayaking and in various ocean-going boats and ships in rough conditions and not had issues aside from getting sick a couple of times- it's hard to keep your food down when everyone ELSE is already vomiting.

[Oneris]

Pendulums

When I was 4, my mum bough me a toy wind-up grandfather clock with a pendulum, and I recall being terrified of turning my back on it, lest my life end with the last swing of its pendulum.
I ended up jamming the damn thing with a toothpick before I went to bed, and refused to let it swing ever again when I didn't have my eyes on it.

I think I've mostly gotten over it after 20 years but even now I feel somewhat uneasy unless I can manually stop a ceiling fan or a swingset before it comes to a natural standstill behind my back. Oddly, non-pendulum clocks don't factor into this phobia, despite being a far more obvious omen of the eventual end of a life.

[xyz]

Hello! So, I was sitting in my room, and I was wondering about something, and that turned into something else, which finally ended up with me thinking about my very irrational phobias. :smallbiggrin: I have three, that are really funny, but true for me.
#1: The fear of spiders. I know that is called arachnophobia, and I know many people who have it as well. When I see a spider, I pull back, and I just can't think straight. When it moves, it makes me very nervous.
#2: (Don't laugh), the fear of Farris Wheels. When I was a little kid, I used to go on all the rides, except one. I had no problem going on roller coaster, but when I was one the Ferris Wheel, I always would feel SO unstable, especially when it gets close to the top. Does anyone know what the fear of Ferris Wheels are? Please tell me if so.
#3: (I am dead serious about this one)... Sunscreen... It is not that I am scared of it exactly. I won't be worried if someone holds up a bottle of sunscreen. It's just when I apply it to my skin, it bothers me, and makes me shudder. I feel like it digs so deep into my skin, that I would never be able to get it out. Again, I have never heard anyone have the same problem, so if anyone knows, what is the fear of sunscreen called?

Finally, share some of your phobias here. What type of fears do you have?

Spiders. **** spiders.

[Remmirath]

Thinking about it more, there may be some degree of fear of crowds and/or fear of open spaces that I have. It's difficult for me to separate a possible fear of crowds from my general sociel anxiety and the overwhelming aspects of noise and so many people, though, so I'm not sure about that one -- just that the times in my life I've had minor panic attacks have all been either in a crowd or due to medical anxiety. As terrified as I am of dogs, that just makes me want to run as far away as possible (although I don't know what would happen if I were trapped in a room with a loose dog and couldn't get away or hide).


Pregnancy. Most particularly, getting pregnant


I guess this does technically count as a phobia, although I keep thinking that it's completely logical and nobody would not be a combination of terrified and deeply repulsed by the notion... but obviously a good many people aren't, so yeah. Add that one to my list. :smallyuk:


The main thing I have now is ticks. They give me the wibbly-jibblies. I have a reputation among my family for being the one what doesn't afraid of anything, so when I randomly leapt up from the table with a squeal and fled to the sink and brushed myself off and madly washed my hands and arms their first thought was that there must have been something really bad going on. I just spotted a tick crawling up my arm.

Ticks wig me out. If I ever got one on me, I imagine I might react in a similar fashion. It's not that it's a tick, it's the fear of getting some awful and/or deadly disease from the tick... I'll admit that I've done things like wear long-sleeved shirts while hiking around in 80 degree weather just to make sure that I don't get any on me. If I knew that the disease thing wasn't a possibility, I wouldn't care about them, so I'm not sure that counts as a fear of ticks so much as it falls under my general medical anxiety problem (which I definitely have, fairly badly, but it's somewhat different than a phobia).


Heights in general and flying in particular. 35,000 feet up in a metal tube? No thanks, buddy.

Ooh, yeah, I guess flying probably counts. It's not the being up high part, it's that I can't get my head around there being essentially no chance of survival should there actually be a crash. Other modes of transport, I can convince myself that there might be something I could do to survive if there is one, but not airplanes. The chances of that crash being exceedingly low is not as reassuring as it should be. I get something of the same problem when I'm going sufficiently fast in a car (freeway speed or above), although that I can cope with better (and I partially blame my driver's ed experience of both being a car that was clearly on its last legs and then having to abruptly merge onto another freeway when I thought I was leaving the freeway).

[nyjastul69]

I don't think I have any actual phobias, but being around horses bothers me. I don't like horses much.

[LeighTheDwarf]

Scared of bugs. Especially moths. Icky! However, it's not really severe enough to be a phobia.

[Tentreto]

I have a few dislikes, such as needles and wasps, but I can work around those.
My main two are big suited figures like you see Mickey Mouse at Disneyland, and heights. Suited ones have always scared me, so taking me to festival events and similar was usually a disaster. Heights get me when I can see the ground distinctly, so aeroplanes don't get me. As I sometimes remark, I'm not scared of falling, merely of hitting the ground.

[KillingAScarab]

Scared of bugs. Especially moths. Icky! However, it's not really severe enough to be a phobia.I hadn't heard of mottephobia until I found Kevvl (https://www.youtube.com/user/kevvl14)'s perfect runs of the Mega Man X series. All of the boss fights are against anthropomorphs and the second game of the series has a moth-based boss.

[RoyVG]

I myself am pretty afraid of Heights when I'm directly exposed to it. I can manage when I'm behind some sort of safety glass but when I'm actually exposed to the air, no thank you. I also severely dislike quite a couple of bugs, at least when they're in the open. I also have a fear of being abandoned and alone.

My girlfriend is afraid of birds with the only exception to this being penguins. Our second date to a zoo was hilarious :smallbiggrin:

[Feytalist]

Deep water, is my one.

I know exactly why, too. I almost drowned twice when I was quite young; once when I was 2ish, and once when I was about 6 (some idiot kid thought it would be funny to push me into the deep end of an olympic-size diving pool). And now even the idea of deep water makes me severely uncomfortable. I'm fine with the beach or your average swimming pool; I can swim (and quite well), and I'm fine with having my head under water. It's just really deep water like the open ocean, or that diving pool deep end, that freaks me out. Even those pictures of divers with whales, like this one:
http://cdn.onegreenplanet.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10//2014/05/whale-1-e1399612671491.jpg
gives me a mild panic attack. And it's not the whale; whales are awesome. It's the deep pit of unending nothingness underneath them.

[Masindi]

Heights,
It has got to have some good safety barriers for me to go higher than a certain point.

[Slay33]

Wasps, Can't stand them. Anything else i'm fine with, justs, not wasps.

[goto124]

My girlfriend is afraid of birds with the only exception to this being penguins. Our second date to a zoo was hilarious :smallbiggrin:

I knew it! Penguins are just too adorable for anyone to dislike! :smalltongue:

[No-Kill Cleric]

Pretty much every insect that isn't a butterfly or dragonfly, and dragonflies are iffy.

I'm really jumpy when I hear strange noises, especially when I'm outdoors.

I can't stand having my blood drawn. I've never donated blood, since one time my mom tried to take my blood sugar and I spent at least 30 minutes running away. Having things injected into me freaks me out too.

I was bullied a lot throughout my public school days, so I'm really unsure about people, especially when they have certain tones to their voice that sound like their pretending to be nice so as to set up a prank.

I'm terrified of being alone.

A lot of sexual stuff makes me uncomfortable. My mom took me to "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" and I was sick to my stomach the entire film. The scene where Fauntine becomes a prostitute in "Les Miserables" still haunts me. Her expression when she closes her eyes and starts whimpering as the guy finishes deeply unsettles me. I had an emotional breakdown when my family went to the shadier part of Vegas. Sex, especially unpleasant or rape, really dig into my skin.

[The Bandicoot]

I have an extreme fear of owing anybody/anything anything. I mean money, favors, anything.

It doesn't have anything to do with a fear of being poor or a fear of not having enough, I just can't stand the idea of owing anyone anything.

[KillingAScarab]

A lot of sexual stuff makes me uncomfortable.
...
Sex, especially unpleasant or rape, really dig into my skin.I don't think this is unreasonable, especially the latter half of that quote. Please know that I write that out of empathy, not in some sort of, "we're veering off-topic," way. I think culture can be a factor here, but there are people far more qualified than I to write on the subject, so I will leave it at that.

[No-Kill Cleric]

I don't think this is unreasonable, especially the latter half of that quote. Please know that I write that out of empathy, not in some sort of, "we're veering off-topic," way. I think culture can be a factor here, but there are people far more qualified than I to write on the subject, so I will leave it at that.

I was picturing the Fauntine scene and how unhappy she looked. Her grimace sent chills down my spine. I have to at least give Anne Hathaway due credit for that little touch.

[Quild]

I'm willing to say that I'm among those without phobias, but... I'm afraid of being rejected and I somehow hate being on pictures. Dunno if it counts.
Ironically I don't mind much once rejected. The apprehension of being rejected is way bigger than how it concerns me when I'm actually rejected. Funny.
My hate of being on pictures comes from two things. I usually don't like pictures of me (while I'm fine with seeing myself in a mirror) and because I can get jealous of my younger past selves (even if I do look younger now than 2 years ago according to several people).

I can be afraid of dangerous things, but never panicked so far. For instance I can take spiders or snakes in my hands but would be cautious around a 7" spider or a king cobra.
Very long time since I hadn't a good fright, I miss that.


Also fun fact, my mother recently reminded me that I wouldn't eat red apples when I was a kid because of Snow White. Which made me realize that even now, I do avoid red apples.
Hungry for apples? Well, only if they're green or skinned.

[Asmodean_]

Heights.

Hey, you know everything you've been working towards in your entire life and all your friends and your goals and dreams? Yeah, just two and a bit centimetres in that direction and you'll never see any of them again.
If I'm at a balcony or something I will always sit down or lie down. I can't stand since it would be so easy for someone to just haul me over and goodbye everything.

[Alent]

Bees, Wasps, Yellowjackets, and other insects with Stingers; Social Interaction; some others.

I've mostly outgrown the dramatic fear of bees, oddly, but the others? Hieee. You see, in third grade our teacher decided to do group reading and read us a book I've forgotten the name of, but the basic pretense was that the main character and unnamed(?) narrator was a child whose best friend had been swatting at a bee only to fatally discover what it meant to be allergic to bees, and the rest of the book was the main character coping with the loss of his best friend, attending the funeral, etc.

Being allergic to most seasonal pollens and receiving weekly allergy shots as early as I can remember, about the first thing I did when I got home was check to make sure we had more than one epi-pen, and I pretty much freeze up when anything with a stinger comes around.

Social Interaction should be pretty obvious- The typical story of a bullied nerdy shy kid who couldn't seem to figure out social interaction. The agonizing part is my IT job is basically just a customer service job, so I get to put on the customer service mask and answer the phone/go to people's houses and pretend to be social and some times it leaves me an inner quivering wreck that literally can't start writing a forum post without going "... nope" and clicking back. The internet worked as a refuge for a long time, then I had repeated bad experiences in MMOs and now I can really only take internet interaction in bursts.

There's a few others, but those stories probably aren't suited to this venue.

I guess one last one would be failing to accomplish anything with my life? I don't mean something like "do something to benefit the world" (although my parents want me to find something that would), I mean more in the matter of failing to accomplish anything that I feel satisfied by in the grander scheme of things. One can only format/reinstall Windows so many times before they realize just how regrettably transitory achievements really are.

[Peelee]

I'm willing to say that I'm among those without phobias, but... I'm afraid of being rejected and I somehow hate being on pictures. Dunno if it counts.
Ironically I don't mind much once rejected. The apprehension of being rejected is way bigger than how it concerns me when I'm actually rejected.

........

Also fun fact, my mother recently reminded me that I wouldn't eat red apples when I was a kid because of Snow White. Which made me realize that even now, I do avoid red apples.
Hungry for apples? Well, only if they're green or skinned.
Anticipation is often worse than the actual event. You may just feel it to a larger degree. Which would suck.

Also, red apples just aren't that tasty. In with you on this. Fiji and gala for life!

[Keltest]

Anticipation is often worse than the actual event. You may just feel it to a larger degree. Which would suck.

Also, red apples just aren't that tasty. In with you on this. Fiji and gala for life!

Can confirm, it does suck.

[Grek]

Crinoids. They're clearly evil. Just (http://i.imgur.com/hZ1VraM.jpg
) look (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Fossile-seelilie.jpg) at (http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Fossil_Galleries/Crawfordsville_Crinoid_Gallery/Barycrinus_stellatus/Barycrinus_stellatus.jpg) them! (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/NOAA_stalked_crinoid.jpg)

[Number Seven]

Electricity. One of my first memories was being almost electrocuted to death. I have a scar in the shape of a four-pointed star on my left hand because of that. Up until a few years ago I couldn't even flip the breaker in my home without my hands trembling almost uncontrollably.

[golentan]

People. More specifically, social settings. If I can't keep track of all the people and conversations in a room, I start to panic. A little at first, a lot if it is really loud, sustained, or strongly... scented, I guess is the word I'm looking for (I can pick up people's moods by smell, and in a place like a dance or casino where there are a lot of strong emotions and a lot of sweating, I get incredibly overwhelmed to the point I need to go outside). The strongest thing I can say about how much I love and trust my close friends and immediate family is that talking to them for a couple hours is doable. Even my cousins who I've known since I was a kid I get anxious and sometimes have to see myself out of the room if we're spending a long time together.

[Lex-Kat]

Fears:

1} Spiders- I don't mind looking at spiders... from a distance and outside. In a way, I find them fascinating. But when one is crawling along the ceiling over my head, or even worse, drops down right in front or directly above me..... :eek: I run like it's attacking me.

But here is my most irrational fear.... :smalleek:

2} My thin shoulder blades- This fear stems entirely from when I was a lot younger. And thinner. You know when you set your shoulders back, as if you are trying to touch your arms together behind your back? And your shoulder blades pop out? When I was younger, they popped out to the point where I could see them clearly enough, I could imagine someone grabbing hold of them and... breaking them off. Seriously, I use to make sure no one was following too close behind, because I feared some stranger would decide, "Hey, wouldn't it be fun to break this kids thin shoulder blade off?" *shivers* I can still remember the fear even to this day.

[Grey Watcher]

Dogs. I'm every bit as afraid of dogs as a lot of people are of spiders, and -- while I am constantly trying to work on it -- that's often a big problem for me. There are other things that make me uneasy, but I'm not sure that any of them amount to a full-blown phobia other than this one.

Ditto for me. Maybe not quite as badly as your typical aracnaphobe, but on bad days it can be up there. On those days, I will cross the street to avoid an oncoming person walking their dog. Size of the dog doesn't matter much, because what small dogs lack in sheer size and strength, they tend to make up for in... what most people read as "exuberance", but my reptile brain insists on reading as "ferocity". (It's seriously a weird experience to have the rational part of my mind telling me "That dog is barking because she's excited and happy to see people," while the instinctual part is saying "DANGER! RUN! RUN FAST, RUN FAR!"

Cockroaches don't quite cross the line into a full on phobia, but since I moved to the city, they squick me out more than any other pest. I actually learned to tolerate millipedes because I read somewhere they prey on cockroaches.

My fiance is claustrophobic, which is fun living in a city where subways and elevators are a daily reality (he's gotten a bit better, but if he has to go to a building he's never been to before, he will scout it out a day or two before his appointment to scout out the building.

My mother, on the other hand is acrophobic (fear of heights). Barriers help somewhat, but not as much as you'd think. I recall her helping to chaperone a school visit to a museum when I was a kid. Some of us were leaning over a balcony to look down and, despite the substantial railing that I was barely tall enough to look over, she fretted about the whole thing somehow giving way and sending me tumbling onto the stone floor below (it's called an irrational fear for a reason).

Had an odd experience once when my parents were visiting: the subway in our neighborhood is about three or four stories above ground, and then goes underground just before passing under the river into Manhattan. It was, in its own way, funny to watch my mother relax and my fiance tense up as we went down into the tunnel. :smallamused:

[Illven]

Heights, and some claustrophobia.

[TheChelaxian]

Funny in retrospect, but Egyptian mummies (or similar types) scared me beyond belief as a kid ... still kinda do. Clowns are a toss-up, depends how they look. Spiders too.

But the mummies are the worst for me by far.

[TheChelaxian]

Marionettes also creep me out. Not just any old puppet, its got to be a wood and fabric marionette complete with strings.

[freezingfox]

wasps bees and movie hights

[Aldarin]

-oxymorons

-jocks

-gastrointestinal illnesses

[BLC]

WASPS.

I'm not sure if this is really a phobia since I'm pretty sure fear is a rational reaction to flying hypodermic needles that hate you for being alive.

If I see a wasp near me I am somewhere else very quickly.

I'm right there with you. I got hit by a couple Bald Faced Hornets last year and one puncture became infected. Like the surface area of a playing card sized infection. Very angry looking. I really don't wanna deal with potential Staph.

I also have an intense fear of swimming in murky water. And being in a boat near snags makes me just about hyperventilate, too.
My mom got me and my two brothers stuck on a snag during a thunderstorm during a fishing/camping trip when I was 12. She was the comforting, loving, unselfish type that that just totally put my panicky little brain at ease. We were surrounded by a small grove of these snags and they were decorated with old fishing line and rusty hooks. The rain and lighting overhead was just icing as we were rocked precariously by our mother in the little metal boat in an attempt to slip off the snag.

And blades near my face. I'm getting queasy and tense just thinking about it. I don't know why.

My youngest brother has a phobia of anything on his neck and particularly around where a buccula would form because my mom would heedlessly catch his skin with zippers and helmet clips.

[Cedar]

Spontaneously committing suicide. Depths in which you can be pushed or fall or even jump over a fence. Trains passing at high speed (But I'm fine when travelling inside the train). Unlocked doors in a car. Windows opening to outside at higher floors. Mostly morbid curiosity about what would happen if I die and how it feels to free-fall. Although with depths and trains I also get so nauseous and terrified about the situation that part of me wishes to end that feeling by just giving in to it, making the fear even worse.

Also afraid of things which visibly breach my skin, like needles and leeches.

[rajgupta]

faux hawks and pink t shirts

[TheNotoriousSMP]

I'm afraid of falling from the top of a ladder. Years of my dad telling me to climb to the top of rickety ladders in order to do whatever job he had that he didn't want to do himself may have contributed to this.

[Yael]

Cheating, y'know, from my partner. It's not lack of trust, just that it kinda of depresses me every time I thinkof the remote posibility... Do I suffer from distrust? :smallfrown:

[Lazloki]

Not all spiders, just Daddy Long-legs Spiders. Their extremely common here in New Zealand, and I'm aware they are utterly harmless. Can't touch them, or abide their presence. Similarly disturbed by Crane Flies, which look like flying spaz versions of the aforementioned spider.

Water of swimming depth. I had multiple near drowning experiences as a child, and still can't swim as an adult. When I had to be in a Kayak for a course it terrified me, a life vest made it easier, but I still freaked out during a sea kayaking session.

Heights used to cause significant vertigo when I was younger. I'm still nervous around precipices, but if I'm in a safety harness I'm completely without fear.

Plus various social anxieties.

[lovablepal]

Worms and heights! Uuugh....

[siati]

Melongenophobia. I used to be really scared of spiders.. Still kinda creep me out. :smalleek:

[Brion]

I was thinking that I have no phobias, but I think I came up with one: having kids. I don't like them, don't want them, have no interest in interacting with them. When I have dreams about, or try to relate to having kids, I get major anxiety and have had panic attacks just thinking about it.

[2D8HP]

Automobiles and driving.
Some of the other City plumbers ask me why I work in the decidedly unpleasant Jail instead of driving around, fixing Fire and Police Stations.
I tell them truthfully, that it's because I'm more afraid of traffic than the inmates.

[Velaryon]

I have a mild trypanophobia (which is what Google tells me the fear of needles is called). I have to tense up, turn my head away, and close my eyes for something as simple as getting blood drawn. It's not a fear of pain because I have been punched and kicked many times in the course of 20+ years of studying martial arts, but something about being pierced by a needle squicks me out something fierce. One more reason I will never get a tattoo I suppose.

On a probably related subject, I have a deathly fear of things jabbing into my eye. I can touch my own eyeball with my bare fingertip like nothing, but the very thought of anyone else doing so, let along a needle or blade or anything, absolutely terrifies me. This would probably count as just a healthy rational fear if it weren't for the amount of time I've spent thinking about it when there's no chance of it actually happening.

Heights is a weird one for me. I don't have a true phobia of heights I think, but if I'm by a railing I have a tickling feeling in the back of my mind like I'm going to fall/jump/be pushed/be pulled over the railing. This can happen even in a relatively minor place like an average stairwell. I can shrug it off and move on, but I'm a little more comfortable walking along the outside railing of a stairwell as opposed to the inside. I don't typically end up in situations where I'm by a drop without a railing, so I don't know whether the feeling would happen there, nor do I care to find out.

Bugs are also not exactly a phobia, but they gross me out a bit and I dislike them. I can tolerate spiders because at least they eat bugs so I think of them as on the same anti-bug team as me, though I dislike them anyway and their webs. There are a few types of insect that I have a stronger aversion to, but that's less a phobia and more a pathological hatred. Especially flies. If ever I obtain ultimate, godlike power I will use it to make all forms of fly extinct, and fill their place on the food chain with something less disgusting and annoying.

[Malacronious]

1. I have arachnophobia which, ironically, started shortly after I watched the move Arachnophobia as a child. I blame that movie for all my creepy crawly fears.

2. I also have an extreme fear of sharks. The irrational part of it is when I am swimming in a lake where there couldn't possibly be any sharks and I still get anxiety. I also had to close my eyes just to get through the Sewers of the Imperial City mission in Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire and still have a tough time with anything underwater related in movies or video games. Needless to say, I don't go in water much. Pools are ok though.

[Generic-Guy]

1. Jellyfish
2. Life-like puppets
3. Goo... less phobia than the others than just... urgh...

[togapika]

I almost drown as a kid in a swimming pool. To this day I love showers and baths, but avoid any actual swimming.

[Flemkopf]

I have a very specific fear of the floor falling out from under me. It's odd, but I kind of seek out heights, and I love being on top of a mountain or tall building and just looking over a landscape, but if I can see that what I'm standing on is less than a good six inches to a foot, I get really nervous. I was in a college library a few weeks ago, and they'd bored some some holes in the concrete floor to string wiring through, and my fear of floors collapsing suddenly struck when I saw that it was only about three inches thick.

[neverjust]

Woman with little ears.....

[Smitemeister]

I'm scared of heights. There's no specific reason really; it has always been that way. If I am standing on a firm structure it's not really a problem but if things get shaky I'm wrecked. You don't want to sit next to me on a plane. D:

[Laylyn]

I fear the loss of an internet connection.

/salute

[Angelika Tatsu]

The sight of my own blood.

[JeenLeen]

I have a few minor ones that I think are all linked to lack of control (or perceived lack of control.)

Minor, conditional claustrophobia. I can be in a small space fine, but if I get the feeling I can't get out, I start to panic. Not full-on freeze and hyperventilate panic, but freaking out some. I remember a few years ago I tried to scare a roommate by hiding in a closet, and was gonna jump out when he came by. I was fine in it. When I jumped out, though, he slammed it back shut and held me in. I started to freak and eventually got him to let me out by saying how I was minorly claustrophobic and was freaking out. I don't try doing anything in the crawlspace under my house since I'm sure I'd freak out.

Fear of uncontrolled bleeding. I'm fine with blood and bleeding, but if I'm bleeding and I can't get it to stop, I start to panic, get light-headed, and (if I don't lay down) tend to faint. Had a bad cut I just wrapped when it needed stitches; I went to change the bandage (causing it to bleed a lot), then realized I was out of bandages. Panicked, and woke up a few minutes later. Another time I got my finger with a potato peeler, and wound up hitting my head on the bathroom floor. (Thankfully not badly.) I tend to tense and get a little light-headed at needles now unless I keep my thoughts focused, due to a bad experience when giving blood (the person drawing it screwed something up and then told me about it in a bad way, which actually caused no big problem but made me really nervous.)

Used to be afraid of ladders. Not heights, but ladders. But I've overcome that with experience. Still uncomfortable on them and panic a bit if they get wobbly.

--
Not a phobia, but minor paranoia that now that I have published this it will some day be used against me. :smallbiggrin:

A friend of mine told me he dislikes heights due to a fear of wanting to jump off them. Not in suicidal sense, but I guess a 'would be cool to jump off a roof' sense, and worried he'll act on the impulse.

[Quild]

Automobiles and driving.
Which reminds me...

Is it a phobia if there's no way I'm going on a motorbike or scooter in big towns even with someone who hasn't had any accident in his entire life?
Consider that when I'm proposed to, I'm usually wearing a suit and the only protection I would have is a helmet. But even with a solid leather jacket, I avoid it.


It looks like mere prudence, but I'm not specifically cautious otherwise. So I'm not sure.

On another hand, even in a car, as a driver or as a passenger, I'm stressed by how people drive.

[2D8HP]

Is it a phobia if there's no way I'm going on a motorbike or scooter in big towns even with someone who hasn't had any accident in his entire life?Phobia? Perhaps.
Prudence? Definitely.
I worked seven years at a motorcycle shop in Oakland, California in the 90's.
Nine people that I knew were killed by traffic.
This is one reason that I mentally re-labeled people I know as "acquaintances" instead of "friends". It was easier that way.

[tantric]

there are two types of insects i really don't like. praying mantises, the large green kind, give the willies. it's how they turn their heads and look at you - evaluating you as possible food. i partially dealt with this by keeping a pet orchid mantis, which was tiny, but no way in hell would i let one of the big ones near me.

http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/12089688353_95407f4b8a_h-640x427.jpg

when i was a kid, i was utterly terrified of these little beauties:

http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/Sphinx/Hemarisdiffinis1EttrickTrempealeauCountyWisconsinJ uly152012ds.jpg

it's actually a moth, but they are diurnal and hover like hummingbirds. just creepy.

note that this is coming for a guy who had a class whose textbook was 'a field guide to southeastern wildlife diseases'

[AuthorGirl]

Hello! So, I was sitting in my room, and I was wondering about something, and that turned into something else, which finally ended up with me thinking about my very irrational phobias. :smallbiggrin: I have three, that are really funny, but true for me.
#1: The fear of spiders. I know that is called arachnophobia, and I know many people who have it as well. When I see a spider, I pull back, and I just can't think straight. When it moves, it makes me very nervous.
#2: (Don't laugh), the fear of Farris Wheels. When I was a little kid, I used to go on all the rides, except one. I had no problem going on roller coaster, but when I was one the Ferris Wheel, I always would feel SO unstable, especially when it gets close to the top. Does anyone know what the fear of Ferris Wheels are? Please tell me if so.
#3: (I am dead serious about this one)... Sunscreen... It is not that I am scared of it exactly. I won't be worried if someone holds up a bottle of sunscreen. It's just when I apply it to my skin, it bothers me, and makes me shudder. I feel like it digs so deep into my skin, that I would never be able to get it out. Again, I have never heard anyone have the same problem, so if anyone knows, what is the fear of sunscreen called?

Finally, share some of your phobias here. What type of fears do you have?

May I ask whether the Ferris Wheel thing is to do with heights, or the ride in particular?

I have so many phobias. Maybe it will help to get them out there:

Fear of needles. SO BAD. I see a needle, think about a needle, even catch a glimpse of something that glints sort of like a needle? I freak out. I cry. I need to get out of that room right now. After my immunizations (yeah, those are fun) I can never con myself out of the idea that the needle broke off in my arm and it will always be inside me forever. It's not just that, though; even when I know that nobody is going to stab me, I can't stop my heart rate from skyrocketing. I have nightmares, even. I'd like to know the word for this so I can just use that word, not be some wimpy kid who never stopped crying during flu shots.

Fear of sunscreen. (Yes, I have this too.) It makes me want to tear gaping holes in my skin and peel myself down to raw flesh.

Fear of heights. Yeah, kinda mundane.

Fear of beetles and funny-looking alien bugs. All normal bugs, including spiders, are okay; even most beetles, actually. But large beetles and unidentifiable, malevolent-looking bugs make me tremble from the inside out, if you know what I mean.

Fear, and I'm not even kidding about this, of taking off my glasses. I literally cannot stand the feeling of vulnerability. The room has to be dark, so I don't notice my lack of vision.

[AuthorGirl]

there are two types of insects i really don't like. praying mantises, the large green kind, give the willies. it's how they turn their heads and look at you - evaluating you as possible food. i partially dealt with this by keeping a pet orchid mantis, which was tiny, but no way in hell would i let one of the big ones near me.

http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/12089688353_95407f4b8a_h-640x427.jpg

when i was a kid, i was utterly terrified of these little beauties:

http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/Sphinx/Hemarisdiffinis1EttrickTrempealeauCountyWisconsinJ uly152012ds.jpg

it's actually a moth, but they are diurnal and hover like hummingbirds. just creepy.

note that this is coming for a guy who had a class whose textbook was 'a field guide to southeastern wildlife diseases'

OMG a bee-moth! Not to be insensitive, but I love those!

[Prince Zahn]

I have some phobias, I think.
Since I was a child I have a big fear of bees. I've been stung by them at an early age and have kept my distance from any flying beast with a stinger ever since. It's been a little better in recent years but I'm still not at ease if there's a bee or wasp in the room.

In recent years, I find that I have a strong fear of silence (I think it's called Sedatephobia). When I am alone I listen to music, I talk or write for myself, text somebody up or make a phone call. It makes me especially anxious when I speak my mind or voice my feelings, and don't hear a response. That's when thoughts overcome me and I tend to imagine the worst - that I said something hurtful, or that the person on the other end of the line is judging me, or even hates me. It happens often that when I don't get an answer, and usually I just keep talking anxiously or apologize until somebody else responds. :smalleek:

[darkrose50]

Thinking about things that should not be thought about witch causes one to think about them.

-----

Flowers and anything perfumed as I can be allergic.

-----

Being sticky, mostly from food or drinks. If I have to use a napkin, then I am extremely likely to go wash my hands. This occurs often when one has kids.

Solutions:

[1] An advantage of drinking water is that one can use water rinse ones hands if they get sticky.

[2] Also I drank from Gatorade Bottles for many years (rinse and wash them out) because they have a screw top that stops spills (that can be sticky), they are perfect for drinking out of as they are designed to drink out of quickly (good for guys).

Now that my kids are in first and fourth grade I have gone back to drinking out of glasses and cups. I should really go back to drinking out of Gatorade bottles as they often spill my drinks, but to a lessor extent.

-----

Girls used to scare me in high school as I am rather bad at reading body language. Mostly I did not know what to do when they made advances. The girl voted most attractive in my class chased me for several years. I would have gone out with her if she came out and asked me directly.

For junior prom I needed a date, and my best friend suggested that I should ask his sister. I thought that this would not be accepted, and would break some social convention, and so I never considered it. I always liked her, I found her to be intelligent, fun to talk with, and attractive. She agreed to go with me to prom because her friend was also going. We ended up getting married. This was definitely the best thing that ever happened to me. I joke that I owe my wife's best friend and her brother livestock. My friends would joke that I made her in my basement.

In and around college I would accidentally ask girls on dates. I have Asperger's Syndrome, so this was an odd side effect. The girls I accidentally asked out were quite attractive, smart, and well educated. It was odd showing up with my girlfriend to what was expected to be a date. So many slashed tires. After this happened a few times I made sure to bring up my girlfriend (or fiance) in conversations with women.

-----

Sometimes I do not want to deal with people when shopping. I find it annoying or intrusive to be approached in stores and to be asked if I need help. Wearing overalls seems to keep people at bay. So I wear overalls when I want to be left alone. Khaki pants and a button down shirt attracts sales associates like crazy. When going to a museum a Chinese tourist was fascinated by my overalls, and I do not think she expected to see any on vacation.

-----

As a child I would handle tarantulas with my bare hands. I am not so sure that I would do so now.

An interesting fact is that Australia banned an episode of Peppa Pig that teaches that spiders are our friends. Being Australia . . . where everything can kill you . . . this was not a good thing to teach children.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2952569/Australia-bans-episode-Peppa-Pig-features-friendly-spider-case-encourages-children-approach-deadly-arachnids.html

-----


Butterflies.
Don't ask.

https://www.google.com/search?q=lunesta+butterfly&rlz=1C1CHXU_enUS712US712&espv=2&biw=1163&bih=738&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwif-bbiztrQAhUD24MKHfUMCvUQsAQIGQ

That Lunesta butterfly is creepy. It sucks your life force and makes you sleep.

-----



A lot of sexual stuff makes me uncomfortable.

Infidelity can ruin a movie of television show for me.

[KillingAScarab]

Fear of needles.
...
I'd like to know the word for this so I can just use that word, not be some wimpy kid who never stopped crying during flu shots.It seems there are multiple (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_needles) terms (http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/features/beyond-white-coat-syndrome?page=2) for that, but needle phobia (http://www.needlephobia.com/) seems to be accepted. Might want to be careful looking around that last link, if you follow it. However, that TED talk by Dr. Amy Baxter had at least one eye-opening moment for me (warning, there are pictures of both needles and wasps in it).


In recent years, I find that I have a strong fear of silence (I think it's called Sedatephobia). When I am alone I listen to music, I talk or write for myself, text somebody up or make a phone call. It makes me especially anxious when I speak my mind or voice my feelings, and don't hear a response. That's when thoughts overcome me and I tend to imagine the worst - that I said something hurtful, or that the person on the other end of the line is judging me, or even hates me. It happens often that when I don't get an answer, and usually I just keep talking anxiously or apologize until somebody else responds. :smalleek:This was new to me, but looking into it some more, it seems as valid as any anxiety disorder I had heard of before. Thanks for sharing that.


[2] Also I drank from Gatorade Bottles for many years (rinse and wash them out) because they have a screw top that stops spills, they are perfect for drinking out of as they are designed to drink out of quickly.

Now that my kids are in first and fourth grade I have gone back to drinking out of glasses and cups. I should really go back to drinking out of Gatorade Bottles as they often spill my drinks, but to a lessor extent.I may have to share this tip with others. Thanks!

[Prince Zahn]

This was new to me, but looking into it some more, it seems as valid as any anxiety disorder I had heard of before. Thanks for sharing that.

Thank you even more for listening, and taking the time to respond. I appreciate it very much, and it feels good to get something like that off my chest :smallsmile:

[Strigon]

Spiders is a big one. Although, really, anything with more than six legs is right out for me (except for squids and the like.)

Also, anything medical. At all. Eye exams, dentists, routine checkups, you name it; I take ridiculous precautions to avoid having to ever see any of them.

Pretty sure I can trace both of them back to their (thankfully separate) roots in my childhood.

[dascarletm]

Like many many other, I was afraid of spiders for a long time. Being forced to deal with them since being married has desensitized me though. My phobia wasn't acute or anything.

I still get the jibblies when a black-widow gets on me. Happens almost everytime i go in my shed... I need to purge that thing.

[Lemmy]

I don't know if it counts as a phobia... But ever since I almost suffocated when molten cheese got stuck in my throat while I was eating a cheeseburger (luckily, I was able to stay calm and pull it out with my bare hands), I always eat anything viscous and/or sticky with utmost care and make sure to take small bites.

[2D8HP]

Years ago, when I was a first year plumber's apprentice the foreman ordered me to do something dangerous/stupid. When he saw me trying to take steps to prevent myself from falling to my death (actually using the body harness we were issued) he said "What's a matter with you? You afraid of heights?".
I said yes, and also:
poison,
lightning,
fire,
bullets,
motor vehicles,
knives,
rabid dogs,
"and pretty much anything else that can cripple or kill me sir".

He was not pleased.

[Celestia]

I am afraid of needles and dying alone.

[Protaygo]

Fear of heights and bugs with multiple legs, like ugh, roly pollies.

[nyjastul69]

I'm afraid of life and look foward to the oblivion of death.

[nyjastul69]

Fear of heights and bugs with multiple legs, like ugh, roly pollies.

Are there bugs that don't have multiple legs?

[Professor Chimp]

Fear of hypodermic needles. Even though I'm well aware they are pretty much harmless, seeing one I know is meant for me makes my blood pressure drop like a meteorite. Kind of complicates having blood drawn.

Used to have a fear of dogs after I got attacked and mauled by a German Shepherd as a 6 year old. I still have large scars on my back and right leg from the bites. I got over it after my parents got me a Cocker Spaniel puppy as a Christmas present. Nowadays I love dogs. No fear whatsoever.

[Ieagleroar]

Only thing I'm afraid of is Chuck Norris...like we all should be!

[Kio]

I kind of agree with the sunscreen. Anything that's kinda pasty and comes out of a tube just weirdos me the heck out. Which has made hygiene a tough issue my whole life, because I hate being dirty, but the only cleaning products available are slimy and gross XD

[nyjastul69]

I kind of agree with the sunscreen. Anything that's kinda pasty and comes out of a tube just weirdos me the heck out. Which has made hygiene a tough issue my whole life, because I hate being dirty, but the only cleaning products available are slimy and gross XD

Toothpaste weirds you out?

[Iden Elric]

I get pretty messed up by heights, spiders, and deep murky water. But the thing that really gets my heart racing is when I hear noises that sound like they're made by something intelligent (such as breathing, foot steps, or even the intentional or unintentional movement of objects that shouldn't move on their own.) and I know that I'm the only one around. Just gives me a sinking feeling in my stomach, even though it doesn't bother me as much as I used to.

[Salieri]

Other people and heights. I'm just fine climbing anything up to an essentially arbitrary height, but seeing anyone else near an edge that's even five or six feet tall seizes me with the utmost dread.

[LordVonSteiner]

I have a strong phobia for spiders. (Who doesn't?)
Also for the deep sea and space.
A shameful phobia of dolls.

And (this is linked to space and the sea) a phobia for gods, cosmic entities, giant monsters. Note: I don't believe these exist. Yet i can't watch drawings of these without instantly putting it away. (Thanks Lovecraft.) It's fun to write horror stories about though.


And heights. Can't forget that classic.

[DallerMan]

Cats and mouses :annoyed:

[mr-mercer]

I have a massive problem with insects and arachnids, which is a strange cross between fear and aggression (one time I tried to dropkick a spider, if you can believe that). I do also have a slight fear of the dark, but nowadays it isn't too bad so long as I'm not suddenly plunged into the inky blackness of an unlit room at night.

[veti]

I used to be terribly phobic of spiders. But very, very slowly I grew accustomed to the idea that they're always around, and they eat flies, which are objectively more harmful/dangerous than almost all spiders, and now I can accept most of them.

I'm fine with the ones that have small bodies and long, fine legs, which is the commonest type around here. The ones with larger bodies, which scuttle about and jump - those still give me the creeps to some extent, although not so much that I can't handle them. (When you're the head of a family, you don't get the luxury of "not being able to deal with things". At the very least, I can either kill them or throw them out of the house.)

[Razade]

I used to be deathly afraid of seriously powerful thunderstorms, mostly out of concern for tornadoes. Now that I live in a place that has really big storms but no real risk of tornadoes I've mellowed out but I can't say honestly I wouldn't revert if I moved back to somewhere where that's a concern.

[flumph machine]

mirrors. because i see wierd stuff. dont question it.

[Prospekt]

Bees. When I was two or three years old, I was playing in the driveway and I got stung on the throat by a bee. It started to swell up so bad that I began suffocating. The obvious conclusion is that I was deathly allergic to them. I've been stung a few times after that it's never been that serious, but still knowing that I almost died at an absurdly young age because of that kinda haunts me whenever I see them buzzing about their day.

Also cockroaches because they freak me the hell out, though at least I moved to a part of the US that they don't inhabit.

[Pogona]

Funnily enough, I love snakes, spiders, crocodiles, toads, all those animals people are usually afraid of, but can't handle Pigs.

When i was a kid we lived in Papua New Guinea and my dad was a government vet. One day he took little 7 or 8-year-old me to a pig farm and we had to walk in between the stalls where these enormous, loud and smelly creatures were kept, and as we walked, they would hurl themselves at the sides of the stalls, thinking, maybe, that we were going to feed them.
We also lived on a cocoa plantation while there, and there were wild boars in the plantation. i still remember the talk our parents would give me and my brothers before we went for a walk in the plantation, about if we ran into a wild boar, to turn and walk casually away, and if it charged, to climb the fence or a tree and to 'help your little brother climb' as he was only 4/5. And i remember all the times we did run into wild boars and how HUGE and horrifying they were.

So now pigs, even little domestic piglets like Babe, put my teeth on edge and make me break out in a sweat.

[WhovianBeast]

Water where I can't find the floor/ground. Effing terrifying.

[Strigon]

Water where I can't find the floor/ground. Effing terrifying.

Yeah, fair enough.
I've been on a few short cruises, and I remember one time walking around when it was dark and there was nobody around.

I was suddenly very much aware that there were quite possibly kilometers of pitch black water beneath me, lurking in which could be almost anything.

[Gnomish Wanderer]

1. Heights
2. Mirrors in the dark
3. Closet doors

[WhovianBeast]

Yeah, fair enough.
I've been on a few short cruises, and I remember one time walking around when it was dark and there was nobody around.

I was suddenly very much aware that there were quite possibly kilometers of pitch black water beneath me, lurking in which could be almost anything.



I'm fine with being ON boats, even small ones in coastal ocean waves, but if I'm in deep water with or without a life jacket, I'm most definitely not fine.

[Ravens_cry]

Spiders. Especially small ones. I've held big ones in my hands while in a Spiderman costume. 'But Ravens Cry!' you all type, why small spiders? Why not big ones?'
Well, I am glad you asked, as I will tell you.
It's because they could be on you, and you might not even know it!
Also, watching me walk through a spiderweb is hilarious fun . . . for everyone else.

[Cola]

For me, it's insects and other arthropods in general. The bigger and fatter they are, and the faster and more unpredictable they move, the less I like them. Of course, there are some more or less random exceptions: I have no problem with crustaceans. Also common house flies, because those things are so ubiquitous, and cellar spiders, because they never ever leave their web under the ceiling.

Too bad I live alone, so whenever a big ol' bug enters my apartment, I have to fight an epic battle of life and death, one versus one, woman versus monstrosity. :smalleek:

Also, injection needles and the deep, dark ocean make me uncomfortable, but I couldn't call that a phobia.

[Smithsguild]

My only personal phobia 'Heights' not the distance from the ground but a perception of instability. I have no problem looking over a steep drop -IF- the footing is solid...

Visit the Grand Canyon and lean out past the safety rails? No problem. Step up in a chair and if it sway or flexes I start sweating bullets. The anxiety gets worse the higher off the ground and the less solid it feels under my body. It has gotten so bad that in fact my body refuses to cooperate climbing any higher (a pseudo-nervous paralysis where my legs locked and I could step down but struggle as I might I could not raise my foot an inch from the step to go higher).

Working around the house on a 8' aluminum ladder I brace my feet and lock them against the ladders frame so you could more easily knock the ladder over than you could drag me off it, resulting in such muscle tension that 5 minutes on a ladder drains me as much as 30 minutes of the heaviest exertion.

[Sajiri]

1. Phones. Phones, microphones, radios, anything I have to talk into. No idea why and it started sometime after I finished high school, if the phone would ring my heart would start racing, if nobody else picked it up immediately I would break down crying. I would hyperventilate at the prospect of having to make a phonecall. Didnt help that my birds at the time all started imitating the sound of a phone ringing. I've gotten a lot better with it these days, still cant stand it but my boss of my last job was really patient with me when I had to make phonecalls, and I started regularly getting on discord to talk with just 1-2 people at a time on voicechat to get myself used to it.

2. ....Aliens. Not sure where this one came from either, I let my imagination get the better of me sometimes. When I used to have my bed next to the window and would leave it open at night, I'd stare outside at the sky as I was falling asleep and would just imagine seeing a UFO flying by or something, then would freak myself out so much I had to hide under my blankets. I try to expose myself to more (scary) sci fi media nowadays in an attempt to desensitize myself to it.

3. Roaches. I can handle snakes and spiders (See: Australian), but cockroaches just freak me out beyond belief. Wetas are right up there too whenever I've gone to New Zealand to visit family, I blame my dad for telling me various horrible stories about them when I was a little kid that may or may not have been true.

[Tentreto]

My most major phobia is needles. They terrify me.
I was mostly ok, until due to a hockey (the real one, not the one on ice!) injury, I needed to go to hospital and have an operation. The procedural injections were bad enough, but the block given for anaesthetic was the most painful in my life.

I also have minor fears of wasps and heights, but needles make me go crazy.

[Briton]

Bees....Just.....NOT THE BEES!

[aloysius]

The Left Big toe.

[Blackjack3004]

I have a phobia of blood.

It is called blood injury phobia. I won't give a detailed description of this phobia, because anyone of you can Google it.

[arcas]

I dunno if its technically a phobia, but I really don't like talking to people on the phone unless its someone I know really well. If I have to call a business or something I always have to kind of psych myself up for it first, or sometimes I find myself procrastinating just because I don't want to talk on the phone... :\

[Goaty14]

I fear the ocean (you'd be surprised at what could maul your face off before you drown), but part of that is that I don't know how to swim...

Oh, and I also fear injuries larger than a scratch or a splinter. I mean, what do you do if you're not a doctor?


Pregnancy. Most particularly, getting pregnant

I also fear getting pregnant as a guy :smalleek:. However, having kids might be worse :smalltongue:

[Zollqir]

I have haemophobia (fear of blood). Seeing people bleeding, or pools of blood, gives me the heebie-jeebies.

[Elanasaurus]

I'm not afraid of blood, but I do feel faint when I see it or hear someone talking about it. I've actually fainted on four occasions.

I'm also afraid of golems. Specifically those woven from yarn, and infused with dark energy.

Basically thread necromancy.

:elan: