What are your phobias?

[lknvrb4]

Birds, heights where I can look over the ledge, and tornadoes.

 

[JewelFreak]

Don't know if you'd call this a phobia, but any fabric rubbing on another fabric TORTURES me. Like when somebody rubs their socks on carpeting. I can't wear corduroy or terrycloth in case it rubs against itself. Gives me goosebumps & honestly kind of hurts -- probably like others feel when chalk squeaks on a blackboard (which doesn't bother me at all).

Claustrophobia to the max too -- I agree about fear of being thrown into a car trunk. When I watch crime shows where that's happened to people, I get completely freaked. Decided to be cremated when I croak because even dead, I don't want to be stuck in a coffin!

--- Laurie

 

[MissGotRocks]

Ditto to the tooth thing - but my fear is falling on ice or tripping or whatever and breaking or knocking out my front teeth. Have no clue why this one gets to me like that! Would love to know what it means or what deeper fear it speaks to.

Heights are just not doable for me anymore - sometimes before going to sleep a thought of being on a high balcony of whatever crosses my mind and I have to open my eyes and sit up to get rid of that image. To me, being up that high means a certain fall.

 

[jeweln]

needle-blood-injury phobia ( I actually faint when I have a blood test or get a shot ) .once someone was telling me in details about their car accident injury and I fainted ! .also high places phobia . being enclosed in a small space (choking) phobia .
all got to do with my childhood .got lots of shots back then ,also once was shut down in a trunk while playing hide & seek .

 

[missy]

Big bugs, roaches/waterbugs of any kind- gross. Not sure if you would call it a phobia but I am very scared of bugs, especially big ones. Which makes life kinda difficult sometimes.

And flying. I hate it. Again, not sure it is technically a phobia but I try to avoid flying if there is any way I can get from point A to B using a different mode of transportation. What I don't care for re flying is the total lack of control one has. You don't know the mood/frame of mind of the pilot and co-pilot(s), the condition of the plane, the other passengers you are flying with, etc. Now I know the same can be said for many other modes of transport however when you are up in the air well, it seems that more risky to me anyway. You can more easily survive a car crash then a plane crash KWIM? Plus, I usually know the person I am driving with and though you cannot control other drivers around you it just feels safer to me.

 

[Enerchi]

Missy - try a prescription from your GP for Xanax. its a short acting anti anxiety medication that will truly help you get thru a flight, if you have to take that mode of transportation. I have all those thoughts you described, yet when I do fly and I take this 1/2 hour before boarding... I'm great! It doesn't make you loopy or out of it, just calm. You'd be surprised how well you'd manage!

 

[JewelFreak]

Bugs here too, Missy! Small ones are ok -- verrrry small. Big ones send me screeching.

 

[ihy138]

These are all so interesting to read!

I am also afraid of the breaking/cracking a tooth thing via falling. I have been told by my grandmother that having a dream about teeth falling out is related to someone passing away. We are Portuguese, so perhaps it's cultural?

 

[mrs taylor]

riding in cars with other people.

 

[Pandora II]

Maisie, yes I was bitten by a dog as a child.

I have a bad fear of heights as well - I'm find in aeroplanes, the biggest issue is tall buildings. I took up rock climbing in an attempt to control it as I did a lot of mineral collecting that involved climbing down cliffs and going down mines - I'm actually fine in mines and caves as I can't see the bottom and so the height doesn't worry me, but I've had terrible times halfway up rock faces and it took 3 people to get me back down the Sagrada Famiglia in Barcelona I was so terrified.

The dreams about teeth crumbling or falling out are sign of generalised stress and not actually linked to an actual fear of the dream content.

 

[Maisie]

Maisie, yes I was bitten by a dog as a child.

I have a bad fear of heights as well - I'm find in aeroplanes, the biggest issue is tall buildings. I took up rock climbing in an attempt to control it as I did a lot of mineral collecting that involved climbing down cliffs and going down mines - I'm actually fine in mines and caves as I can't see the bottom and so the height doesn't worry me, but I've had terrible times halfway up rock faces and it took 3 people to get me back down the Sagrada Famiglia in Barcelona I was so terrified.

The dreams about teeth crumbling or falling out are sign of generalised stress and not actually linked to an actual fear of the dream content.

I don't think its unreasonable for you to be afraid of dogs if you've been bitten. Is it all dogs or just certain breeds?

 

[atp223]

Vomit! I have hard core emetaphobia (sp?). I get that no one loooves it, but I have full-fledged panic attacks if I am anywhere in the proximity of someone throwing up (even if we are in different rooms within the same house). It's very odd. We think my mom's pregnancy with my sister (when I was 3) did me in...

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Current ones:

Atomic bombs and nuclear bombs, missiles, explosions..thank you Hiroshima museum.

Tsunamis and drowning (this started after the tsunami years ago..but the most recent one didn't help).

Being accused of a crime I didn't commit (if I committed it, then whatever).

Falling from a really high height..like an elevator cable breaking. Stupid horror movies.

ETA: BUGS!!! Yuck.

Ones I have pretty much conquered:

Tornadoes/big storms..still make me nervous, but as a child after our house got hit by a tornado I used to hyperventilate and essentially had panic attacks so I think I've come a long way.

Fear of being stuck in an elevator (it happened..only for a few minutes, but it did..I was alone, I survived, so I got over it).

 

[rubybeth]

Greatest irrational fear/phobia is being buried alive. I have made my husband and sister promise to make sure I'm really, REALLY dead before they bury or cremate me. I've left it up to them how they determine my dead-ness.

I greatly dislike elevators. I am not claustrophobic so much as 'claustrosensitive' and elevators are the worst for it, because I also dislike the falling feeling. Where I work, we have a glass elevator, and while most people think it's really cool, I hate it and can count fewer than 10 times I've taken it in the 4 years since being there. It doesn't help that I know how many times people have gotten stuck in it (more than a few!).

I also refuse to downhill ski, because I had heard too many stories of people breaking bones before my 5th grade ski trip, and so I refused to even try the bunny hill. Years later, a loved one was skiing/ski jumping, fell, and was in a coma for many days (a 1 on the Glasgow coma scale). Even with a helmet, he suffered a traumatic brain injury, and so it's hard for me to rationalize attempting downhill skiing when I am so uncoordinated to begin with. Cross-country skiing is fine and cheaper, anyway.

 

[NOYFB]

I have an irrational fear of knives spontaneously falling off the kitchen counter and cutting my toes off. I always make sure to put the knife as far back on the counter as possible and every time DH is using a knife in the kitchen and I am around he says out loud "Knife!" to warn me to stay away. LOL

I also scream and run like a schoolgirl if there is a bee/wasp/other stinging insect anywhere in my vicinity.

I am terrified of thunderstorms and fear being struck by lightening.

 

[Haven]

Vomit! I have hard core emetaphobia (sp?). I get that no one loooves it, but I have full-fledged panic attacks if I am anywhere in the proximity of someone throwing up (even if we are in different rooms within the same house). It's very odd. We think my mom's pregnancy with my sister (when I was 3) did me in...

My oldest friend has this same phobia! When we were kids she'd start crying hysterically if anyone around us was vomiting. Once, a girl got sick on the bus ride home during our freshman year of high school and my friend became so hysterical the bus driver pulled over so she could sit outside the bus and calm down.

I was worried she'd have a really difficult time when her son got sick, but it was like the moment she became a mom the phobia totally disappeared.

 

[Deactivated member 42515]

Mine is also walking on grates or manholes. I will totally walk around them. I know they are safe but it freaks me out.

My worst fear ever is being buried alive. I'm sure my claustrophobia has something to do with that. But being buried alive makes me wanna throw up and hyperventilate.

 

[kenny]

I have a phobia that eventually we will all end up socially handicapped.
Human contact is being engineered out of our lives by companies eliminating jobs.
It's already started.

ATMs
Human-less store check-out kiosks.
Human-less check in machines at airports.
Look around; everyone is already staring into a smartphone, even when people sitting around a table at a restaurant, or driving.

Kids don't got outside to play anymore; they are fully absorbed by and addicted to electronic devices.
Ironic, here I sit on my puter writing this, while my SO is in another room staring at a TV set.

This started back when TV was invented but the gadget-makers manage to make newer and cooler stuff annually to keep us plugged all day long now.

I expect trouble in our society in 20 or so years.

 

[justginger]

No, Tacori, they AREN'T safe. The man I dated in college actually texted me one day, a couple of years after we split, to say that he had seen a woman fall through a grate in front of his work! My grate phobia was a teasing point for him, but he saw...it can happen!

 

[zoebartlett]

Atp, I have the same phobia as you. I forgot about it until I read your post, but that's definitely up there with the others I mentioned. I tend to faint instead of v---- (see, I can't even type if out! ) because I get so anxious and can't deal. Luckily, I haven't had anyone near me do it but if it ever happens, they're on their own because I'd be running out the door.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I have another one...I forgot about it until last night when DH brought home an electric lawn mower and I said I'd take over lawn duties.

I have a fear of weed wackers. It's really silly, but I have a fear that the thing that whips around in there is going to smack my legs. Another gruesome one I have is of ice skating...I have a fear that I'll fall down and someone will come along and run over my hand and slice my fingers off. My son has asked me to go with him, but I got him into roller skating instead.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

No, Tacori, they AREN'T safe. The man I dated in college actually texted me one day, a couple of years after we split, to say that he had seen a woman fall through a grate in front of his work! My grate phobia was a teasing point for him, but he saw...it can happen!

There was girl who fell in a manhole. It was in the news a couple years ago...she was texting on her phone and not watching where she was going and fell down the open manhole. Wasn't a happy ending.

Kenny - I agree with the kids/too much electronics/not enough outside. My son has complained about it! When he's suppose to hang out with some of his friends, they will get together and then the friend will just want to play on his ipod. We bought some outdoor toys to try and help with that...I also got rid of our Wii and don't regret it at all. The kids never used it and when friends would come over, they'd run up to it and then I'd have to explain that they should be playing together not staring at the TV...selling it on Amazon solved that!

 

[Deactivated member 42515]

Ahhh! I always thought my fear of manholes was irrational.. Cuz why would they put those smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk if they weren't! But now that ur telling me people have actually fell down these things... Eek...

The ones that scare me the most are the grated ones where u can kinda see underneath...

Oh, I jus remember another fear. In Seattle, they have this underground city that used to be a part of Seattle back in the day. My sister in law and bro have taken a tour of it, but when they were telling me, I freaked out and ran the other direction...

 

[iLander]

I have a phobia that eventually we will all end up socially handicapped.
Human contact is being engineered out of our lives by companies eliminating jobs.
It's already started.

ATMs
Human-less store check-out kiosks.
Human-less check in machines at airports.
Look around; everyone is already staring into a smartphone, even when people sitting around a table at a restaurant, or driving.

Kids don't got outside to play anymore; they are fully absorbed by and addicted to electronic devices.
Ironic, here I sit on my puter writing this, while my SO is in another room staring at a TV set.

This started back when TV was invented but the gadget-makers manage to make newer and cooler stuff annually to keep us plugged all day long now.

I expect trouble in our society in 20 or so years.

This has actually bothered me for years. Everyone can adjust and filter their lives to the point that there is no commonality between people. We used to all watch the same 3 channels, now their are hundreds of channels, forums, websites, etc. If you wanted to eat/sleep/think about nothing but Goth or bodybuilding or numbian goat farming (or whatever) 24/7 you can do it. Making you completely unable to relate to the guy sitting next to you on the bus (who's into World of Warcraft, or the Catholic Church, or the Dodgers 1910-1957).

Between that and the reduction of human interaction, eventually we'll all just be tucked away in our little pods and society will be nothing but a loose assemblage of living quarters for isolated people.

 

[iLander]

Spiders.
Snakes.
Skinks (a hideous snake and lizard hybrid!)

 

[hoover]

Ahhh! I always thought my fear of manholes was irrational.. Cuz why would they put those smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk if they weren't! But now that ur telling me people have actually fell down these things... Eek...

The ones that scare me the most are the grated ones where u can kinda see underneath...

Oh, I jus remember another fear. In Seattle, they have this underground city that used to be a part of Seattle back in the day. My sister in law and bro have taken a tour of it, but when they were telling me, I freaked out and ran the other direction...

Ooh. I forgot about the grates phobia. I was so scared of falling through as a kid and I still am! To this day, I will walk around those things, never on them! The ones where you can see through them are the worse - I get all dizzy when I look down. I wonder if it's the height....

I did the underground tours of Seattle and Portland - those totally gave me the heebeejeebees and I didn't even do the ghost version!

 

[Tanzigrrl]

Dirt and germs

 

[Porridge]

Anaemia. It's so weird. I have to make sure I eat enough red meat to reassure myself. Sometimes I panic if I haven't had it in a while and I run out and get steak for dinner!

I think it's a general fear of not having enough energy or being tired. I had glandular fever a few years ago and it was a nightmare.

I am also very afraid of wasps. The result is a very amusing (for the observer) panic-dance whenever I see one.

 

[Autumnovember]

Very afraid of the dark. Me being afraid of the dark leads to a fear of the 'unknown' too.

I hate walking into my house from my car after a night out. I also really don't like my basement sometimes because it can be really dark.

I have and always had a fear of death....not of my own death but of those close to me. Talking about it gives me anxiety sometimes.

THE DENTIST. HORRRRRRRRIFIED!!!!!!!!!!!! OMGGGGGG...I can't even think about it. AND! I recently had half my tooth chip and I refuse to go unless I can be put under (I'm told I'll need a root canal or have the tooth pulled...my palms are sweating.)

I find myself very afraid of getting into a bad accident anytime I let anyone other than myself drive...there is basically nobody that I trust at the wheel, ever. Not my mom, not my husband, not dad, not my best friend.

 

[Autumnovember]

No, Tacori, they AREN'T safe. The man I dated in college actually texted me one day, a couple of years after we split, to say that he had seen a woman fall through a grate in front of his work! My grate phobia was a teasing point for him, but he saw...it can happen!

There was girl who fell in a manhole. It was in the news a couple years ago...she was texting on her phone and not watching where she was going and fell down the open manhole. Wasn't a happy ending.

Kenny - I agree with the kids/too much electronics/not enough outside. My son has complained about it! When he's suppose to hang out with some of his friends, they will get together and then the friend will just want to play on his ipod. We bought some outdoor toys to try and help with that...I also got rid of our Wii and don't regret it at all. The kids never used it and when friends would come over, they'd run up to it and then I'd have to explain that they should be playing together not staring at the TV...selling it on Amazon solved that!

My god avoids them at all costs but I find myself walking over them a lot. I need to stop.