Over the last few months I have been talking to a friend of mine about phobias. I have several and it has been a long discussion we have had. I have looked right into phobias and was amazed by the number of phobias that are out there. Do you have any phobias? I have: claustrophobia - an irrational fear of being in a confined or enclosed space arachnophobia - an abnormally strong fear of spiders and coulrophobia - an abnormal or exaggerated fear of clowns.
Hmm, I'm not quite sure how to classify my fears or "phobias" since I can't think of anything incredibley overbearing. Probably germophobia is my worst, but I still do stuff like eat chips off the ground so I wouldn't say it's all that serious. Yet it is pretty amazing to look at a list of the known phobias. There sure are a lot of strange fears out there. People are amazing.
Phobia is quite intense a thing, so I'll simply say that I have no phobia. A little afraid of bridges and heights, but nothing which is phobic in the least.
I have pretty severe phobias of spiders, the dark and failure or loss. Spiders really terrify me and while I have no ill will towards them I really can't be around them - only big ones, I should say. The dark also scares me most of the time, I don't like not knowing what's there - I suppose I'm pretty scared of the unknown. And I'm terrified of failing, I hate disappointing people and I hate feeling disappointed in myself. I also spend far too much time worrying about losing people close to me, I'm incredibly scared about anything happening to them and I worry that I push people away. ETA: I don't think they're as severe as actual phobias, but they're pretty intrusive.
Ah, phobias. I might have one or two. I call myself a germaphobe, but not entirely seriously. It's more a compulsion. If I have food, I can't stand someone reaching or leaning over or near it, I'm overly sensitive about look and taste/texture, I can't eat something over it's expiration date, I can't share a drink with anybody (the most I'll do is let my mother drink from a straw, but barely that), and if I shake someone's hand, my hand feels dirty, it freaks me out to touch potentially dirty/dusty/moldy things, if someone breathes heavy or sneezes, I maneuver myself so I'm not in the "line of fire", and if I see someone with a dirty habit I've grown to detest (such as heavy drinking, smoking, or tobacco dipping), they always seem dirty to me and I go out of my way to not touch them or be near them if I can help it. While it's not deathly terrifying or completely consistent, it's still more than mildly, abnormally uncomfortable. A phobia of a house fire! Oh, God. That's one that was instilled in me in the second and third grade, during that fire safety training. When we were first learning about it, I was on the edge of my seat 24/7 worrying. For weeks afterwards, I slept with the light on, the door open, the path to the door clear, and everything I'd want to save close by. My mom would have to talk, sit, or sing me to sleep. It still freaks the hell out of me, but at least now I like the door mostly closed and lights out. I don't fear fire otherwise, other than the normal not-wanting-to-get-burned fear, although back then I got freaked out about our fireplace all the time. It's just the fear of a house fire. It's really the fear, perhaps, of losing all my stuff. But losing it all in something as possible, common, easy, quick, and scary as a fire is especially freaky. The only other thing is I get paranoid when I'm tired or sick. Oh, heavens, the nightmares I get that leave me in this paranoid alternate-reality, usually when I'm feverish, sometimes when I'm just exhausted. One night not too long ago I was so tired when I went to bed that I stayed up all night stiffening and staring around wide-eyed at every little sound. XD So compulsions or idiosyncrasies, perhaps not phobias, but almost. They're fears, whatever they are. So, there.
Just over 18 years ago my brother died in a truck accident. Not long after that, every time I saw a semi-trailer it would give me the shudders. They get so close to you when they pass, and every time I saw one it would make me feel ill, thinking how awful it would be for my parents to lose another child to a truck accident - yeah I was convinced the trucks were out to get me. As the weeks and months went by, I avoided going on roads where trucks frequented; then I started avoiding roads altogether; so then of course I avoided going out period. So what do you know? full blown agorophobia. Even the letter box became a chore to reach. It took years of medication and help and understanding from family, friends, and a great therapist to be able to go out without someone holding my hand. I now consider myself to be in remission for the last 2 or 3 years, but last christmas I did have another panic attack on a major highway, full of trucks. I'm not taking any medication now, but it took all those years after the accident to finally become ill, get a diagnosis, and then get well. I was convinced I had some horrible disease that the doctors hadn't found. I know all the skills of keeping an attack away, and most of the time it works. I imagine it to be a hairy black creature in the pit of my stomach. He gets out of his cage sometimes, but I know how to put the pesky little bastard back in.
I suffer from acrophobia, the fear of heights. I have actively worked on diminishing it, with some success, by challenging myself with things like Ferris wheel rides and non-technical mountain climbing. But I still get very queasy if I stand too close to a railing over a steep drop, or even walking up to a floor-to-ceiling window in a high rise building. I also experience arachnophobia, the fear of spiders to some degree, extending to other venomous arthropods like centipedes and scorpions. However, my fear of them is now greatly diminished after having been married to someone with a much worse fear of them. I used to wake to elbows and knees pounding my back, as she awoke hallucinating dinner-plate-sized spiders on the wall above her. Needless to say, I became the designated slayer of all things with more than four legs. If I have other phonbias, they don't readily come to mind. That could either mean I lack other phobias, or that they are unusual enough that I am rarely forced to confront them.
The usual- I fear spiders- though not as much as I used to and I don't like the big black ones! Social situations I fear. I'm not very good with people, but I'm getting better because I forced myself to challenge the fear. Failure. And I feel as though I have to have everything perfect, even if it's the first time trying something. I hate making mistakes. And probably being alone as well. Nothing to the extreme though. And Torana- you say you are claustrophobic------ then why are you sleeping in such a tiny room!!!!!!
I'm similar with hygiene, though as you said it's not a phobia just a compulsion really. I don't generally mind if things are a bit untidy or messy, but they have to be hygienic. I've also always been scared of a house fire, but that's more to do with my fear of loss.
I have Ballistiphobia, the fear of missiles. Then I think most people have that... I also have burninghataphobia. The fear my hat will spontaniously combust on my head
I fear spiders. with good reason One bit me and my tongue started swelling and I needed the shots at the hospital to keep breathing. never cared for the things but that sure makes me avoid them now. I fear Rats. can't even look at a picture of them without my feet coming up off the floor so they are not in the way. I have a slight phobia of closed in spaces. well a big fear. bedroom door is always open or if at a motel the window is open. Can have an MRI if I do so with my eyes closed from start to finish. Don't care for elevators unless they are quick. Don't know where you would class this one. I have a dread of basements. finished or unfinished they are all the same to me. Get in and get out as quick as possible.
MRI'S are.... well... you close your eyes and you have heaps of room. when you open them again, the roof of the machine is just a scant millimetre off your nose. very unnerving and even staying in the machine with my eyes forced open would give me fully blown clustrophobia and my god I cannot spell! ah well. I fear the future and what it may hold for my future children.
Surely that one isn't a real phobia... I'm claustrophobic, a little scared of heights and scared of the dark (but it has to be the kind of dark where you can't even see your own hand in front of your face).
Heights all by their little lonesome don't bother me; what does is, I'm always scared someone is going rush up behind me and push me over the edge. I don't like walking over bridges either; always scared some horrible uncontrollable compulsion is going to force me to jump over the railing - so I walk in the middle (if I can)
I find it amusing that the fear of long words is 'Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia'. xD I have a fear of lifts and talking to strangers on the phone but I wouldn't call them phobias. I have a phobia of fire but only if it is out of control.
Nothing major enough to label as a phobia. Oddly enough I have a minor fear of large, dark basements, though I don't go out of my to avoid them.
Phobias on Wikipedia Here's a nice little list of phobias, causes, types and etc. I figured it might be nice to throw it in here for those who are interested.
I have a friend with a real fear of stepping on a grate or manhole cover or anything like that, she always walks around or steps over them. Jumps them if she needs to.
Here's a silly phobia. When I was a little girl, my friends mother invited me to stay for lunch. I accepted joyfully. When she called us in the eat my friends mother and my friend had sandwiches on nice soft fluffy bread while MINE was on a stale MOLDY roll.... First of all what the hell did she do that for??? I didn't know what to do as my mother had taught me impeccable manners so I picked off the moldy parts, and choked it down my throat. I got about a quarter of the way through, my stomach heaving in defiance and lied and said I forgot I had to be home early and split. Anyway, here I am some thirty five years later and to this day I have to inspect ALL bread that I eat. I won't eat it if it's been out for more than a couple of days. I go as far as to smell the inside of the plastic and if it has that "smell" I toss the loaf. That awful woman scarred me for life! What a witch.
I have my window open and a fan on my face and think of wide open spaces, it helps. Plus I've got now choice, my children are having to share a room and they need the bigger room than I do so they can fit in there. Parents sacrifice a lot for their children.
