Just about all of my fears are irrational. Doesn't make them any less real. *Needles *Heights *Water *People (I have terrible social anxiety) *Children *Ants *Dirt/germs (I also have OCD) *Not knowing what's going to happen ahead of time (I need to plan things in advance--spontaneity terrifies me) *Rejection *Being watched/mocked (falls in with the social anxiety) *Looking/doing something stupid (ditto) *Breaking rules/doing something wrong I'm sure there are tons more... I'm kind of scared of the dark but mainly because I always think there are murderers and rapists wandering around out there, or I might trip and fall in a hole or something.
Belly buttons. I even got mine pierced to see if it would help me but it just made it worse. Can't stand knowing that mine's even there. Ugh! I hate people touching my neck too.
My medication does wonders. I can make phone calls and drive on freeways again. I still have some residuals though. 1. Cockroaches 2. Touching dirty things (like dishes in the sink etc.) 3. Making a mistake/ getting into trouble 4. Singing in front of people (though I can do public speaking or dance just fine) 5. Rest homes/Convalescent Hospitals (early childhood traumas...gotta love 'em)
I used to have a bizarre fear of sewing thread and playing cards. Maybe fear is the wrong word, more like I would get the heebie-jeebies if I had to handle either item. There was something about the thinness of thread and playing cards that made me not want to touch them. I had a dream once that I was carrying a spare tire in a sort of sling made of sewing thread and the thread was cutting into my hand.
Whenever I get a headache or random pain in a body part...I automatically think.....TUMOR! I also hate wolf spiders and seals and public speaking.
I don't really think spiders is an irrational fear. I mean, don't get me wrong, spiders scare the crap out of me, but that's just a fear of being bitten and then having my skin deteriorate and fall off... Okay, maybe that's irrational, but spiders are a VERY popular fear.
I agree with Kyle. Spiders isn't an irrational fear. Not being afraid of spiders is what seems irrational to me. My fears that are more in the irrational category. Clowns -- Maybe 11 was too young to read It Cats -- No idea why -- they just seen sinister and sneaky Talking to a answering machine or voice mail Having appliances plugged in when they aren't in use
Needles bother me. I think if I was doing it myself it wouldn't bother me, but the fact that someone ELSE is sticking a needle into my arm freaks me out. But I am getting better about it. Tiny dogs irritate me more than freak me out, but they do bother me which doesn't make sense because I can deal perfectly fine with larger dogs.
Actually did you know that most irrational fears, like the fear of spiders, snakes, and dogs aren't that irrational. Those fears come back from our ancestry. When we were just cave men in a cave. We had to worry about those things, the things that were going to harm us. It kept us out of harms way, back when we were cave men.
I don't know if these really count as irrational fears... -rare and deadly diseases -heights -people hearing my thoughts (yes i know that one's weird) -doing something weird, like really weird, that I would never do normally but not being able to stop myslef (yes that's another strange one) -being on of the outcast people at school/not having friends (and that just sounds shallow....)
Me too! I wasn't sure to call it a fear or some kind of hyper sensitivity or something. If someone even puts a hand on my shoulder I pretty much freak out. At least now I know I'm not alone!
I'm with you. My friend sometimes comes up behind me and puts his hands on my shoulders. It creaps me out soooooooo much. I also have the irrational fear of walking over bridges. Especially over a highway. I always feel like its going to collapse from under me.
Back in the day when I had extremely bad anxiety I used to be afraid of moving, I'd think if I got up and moved around, even a little bit, my heart would explode and I'd, well, die. Lol. Yeah, looking back on it now, it's like, man, how was that ever considered rational to me?
This is the catch though. The fears were rational at one time ("cavemen days") but, in many cases, no longer are. Even fear of heights and of water can be considered rational on some level, because of the danger of falling or drowning. (In fact, I'm not so much afraid of HEIGHTS and WATER as I am of...well, falling or drowning!) But over time, as the real danger ceases, the fears become irrational. Fear of spiders made sense back when we had no understanding of which ones were dangerous and which ones weren't, and when we had no access to decent health care. Fear of spiders in a modern society now, including harmless ones and with our excellent access to health care, is irrational. Think of soldiers trained for war. In combat, it's rational to react to every sound and motion, to always be on your guard, to be hypervigilant and ready to kill someone at any moment should the need arise. Not in combat, it's irrational, and can become PTSD. If the threat of death is not realistic, then the fear is irrational. (But no less real. Please note I am NOT ridiculing any sort of fears, no matter how irrational. Look at my own list earlier on. I mean, seriously. Ants? :redface: )
I hate needles and spiders, that makes me a wimp, oh well. Now a spider with needles for legs, that would be pretty nightmarish.
I have a fear of heights though...I was just saying at one point in time the irrational was rational. And I don't like being touched in water, kids ruined that for me. When we were in the pool they thought that they could drag me along under water. We were down there longer then what I wanted and when I wanted up they didn't let me up. I scratched them, left the pool in an angry huffy. No one can touch me in the water, that is just a fear of mine.
THE OCEAN. Nothing is scarier. My grandmother lives off of the Gulf of Mexico, and we usually get to see her once or twice a year. She lives right on the beach. It seems the older I get, the less deep I allow myself to go into the water. When I was two? Fully submerged. Ten? Head above the water. Fifteen? Knees. I'm nearly eighteen now, and last Spring Break, I was able to get up to my ankles, and that's because my best friend pushed me in; to catch myself from falling, I got my hands in the water! (I wanted to kill her; it's not funny.) It. Was. Terrifying. I think we're going to see her this summer, and there is no way I'm going to get near that ocean; in fact I'd prefer to avoid the beach completely (sand is irritating, and you find it on your body two weeks after you get home! Ugh!). I have this recurring dream about the ocean, too. (By the way, it's called thalassophobia.) I'm on a cruise ship, and I fall into the ocean. I dont get eaten by all the crazy animals, nor do I freeze to death or just die of exhaustion... I just die of sheer terror; it's such a big place! Besides the fact that it's just a huge, huge place, I'm also afraid of the things in it. I'm a huge science dork, and I love that we find ocean discoveries every day; I really do (in fact, I just finished watching a special on the History Channel about a specific species of Squid in the Sea of Cortes), but they found spiders the size of dinner plates on the ocean floor of the Antarctic Circle last year. You know what, I dont care that it's on the ocean floor thousands of feet beneath me, nor do I care that it's thousands of miles away from me; IT'S IN THERE, AND I WILL NOT BE IN THE SAME BODY OF WATER AS IT IS. Scared of the size, scared of the stuff in it. And, honestly. Little kids pee in it; garbage is in there; it's horribly polluted; fish fornicate there. Disgusting. I dont know if I'll be able to sleep with the lights out tonight, and I'm several thousand miles away from any ocean. Still too scary.
I also fear the ocean in some way. In fact, really open spaces do actually scare me, i don't know why, it's just unsettling.
I have several fears but I am making progress getting over them. Earthquakes..even if it feels like one I kinda freeze up..spiders,elevators and occasionally people when they get close (physically speaking), public speaking, and my worst one is thunder and lightning.
Hamsters, gerbils, and geunia pigs. Rats are fine. Mice are fine. The first three are terrifying. I can look at them, but I won't hold them. Once I had a three-legged hamster that I rescued, but only because I felt sorrier for it than I felt afraid. Most of them are just mean. Fancy-tail rats are less malicious. That also goes in increasing order ex. I MIGHT hold a hamster if I'm assured it's sweet. I would never hold the other two.
