Do you have, or have you ever had, a phobia?

[ddspada]

I was reading quite a bit on the topic these past few days, mainly from a psychological point of view (the feared object is a symbol, and we truly fear what the symbol may represent).

As for myself, I cannot stand crows or ravens. I enter full panic mode if I get anywhere near one. A teacher in first grade told us about birds often carrying diseases and parasites, and being associated with death (why she was explaining it so gruesomely to six-year-olds I do not know), and not even 15 minutes later a large crow came flying in the room's window.

It wasn't pretty. I started screaming and crying, being afraid that the crow would infect me or kill me then and there. When they got it out, everyone, especially the teacher herself, told me it was ok, there was nothing to be afraid about.
In my mind's eye as a first grader, the teacher was an idiot. How the hell could she tell me there was nothing to be afraid of? What about the putrid wings? The terrible diseases? The sharp beaks? The worms and ticks?

I try my very best to avoid them ever since and suffer a great deal when I can't.

...Do you have a phobia, perhaps triggered by a specific event?

 

[Grayman]

I had a spider in my ear and I was 12 years old. My aunt freaked out and started yelling about it laying eggs in my ear etc...
My uncle held me down and got out some needle noes pliers. My aunt started screaming at him that he was going to poke out my ear drums. I am screaming at this point for some reason and crying and trying to get away. My uncle is big and will threaten you with his gun or threaten to put a cigarette in your gas tank if you don't do what he says. In other words he was a scary crazy MFR. One time he held down my cousin in front of me and pulled out his toe nail, probably with those same pliers. Seemed my cousin had bruised his toe under the nail and it had to come off or whatever but he was no doctor so it was not something I forget.

He gave up digging in my ear.

I had to sit there for 30 minutes of it crawling and tickling the inside of my ear until it came out.

Needless to say I did not like spiders very much after this and I also was even more scared of my uncle.

I am fine with spiders today but it took awhile.

 

[ddspada]

Yikes, that sounds terrible, arachnophobe or not.
Are you fine with your uncle?

 

[Bock]

 

[Justin81]

<------------ Chronophobic

 

[Jennywocky]

I'm unfortunately still an arachnaphobe, although I'm kind of counter-phobic with it -- despite feeling horribly disturbed, I'll watching spiders through glass up close or near their webs, and I'll watch movies with spiders in them in order to study them... even if my skin is crawling the entire time. I know they generally don't even bite people unless provoked and few can leave a person ill, but... it's not a rational fear.

If you want to freak me out, throw a spider at me and I'll probably flail to get it off and then get out of there. or get me to walk into a spider web.

Not sure where it came from. It's always been there. When I was young, I couldn't even look at books with zoom pictures of spiders (like science books); I would actually use a pen or ruler to flip the page, so I wouldn't have to touch it. I'd sit a few feet away from the book to read the page and study the picture from afar, then flip the page with the ruler to get away from it. I just bought a painting of one for my wall.

My first nightmare I remember, moving into our new house with hot-water heat and those little aluminum squares on the piping (back in the 70's) -- they'd always make crinkly noises as they heated up, and that first night I dreamed I was a little bug being chased by bloodthirsty spiders through the radiator. Horrible.

---

Funny how different people are. Ravens/Crows are actually totem animals for me, I identify with them and include them in stories as fonts of wisdom. I used to go to the local zoo when they had ravens; I would spend my lunch hour sitting next to their cage and watch them.

 

[onewithinhimself]

I used to be afraid of heights *Acrophobia* I lost it while hiking, I literally climbed a mountain. lol

 

[Klavierr]

I suffer from Generalized Anxiety Disorder, which piles on the fear and avoidance. But i have a two specific fears that are very pervasive-

Entomophobia/Myrmecophobia- my fear of ants, or bugs in general. This is in part because of my visual impairment. I can't see if any of them are near me, especially if they're small. I might move and crush them and get their disgusting bug guts on my skin or hair, which to me is terrifying. This has evolved into me never EVER walking outside barefoot, touching trees, touching dirt, etc. without a lot of discomfort.
I once stepped on a cockroach while wearing socks. It was enough to send me into a full blown panic attack, sitting on the bathroom floor crying. I burned the sock.

????-phobia- Fear of breaking things. This is also connected to my shitty vision. I have no depth perception, so every move I make around anything delicate is cautious. I fear some immense unknown punishment if I break something, also the stupidity with "why wasn't I more careful" afterwards. The sound of things breaking is also extremely unpleasant. I just hate unpleasant sounds.

on top of those big ones are lots ans lots and lots of smaller fears. Having anxiety sucks.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

Spoiler

Sharks and whales. The concept is horrifying to me, that something so enormous and dangerous could be lurking right beneath your feet.

It's not related to a specific event as I remember being scared to swim in deep waters the first time I went out to a large lake.

 

[manishboy]

Sharks and whales. The concept is horrifying to me, that something so enormous and dangerous could be lurking right beneath your feet.

Ditto.

Then I had some kind of cathartic experience upon seeing a great white shark in an aquarium. I'm fine now, though I haven't bathed since the late 90's.

 

[Perfectly Normal Beast]

unexpected guests.

fame.

as a child i feared the dark but i overcame it by becoming more evil than the 'sensed presence'.

 

[Puffy]

I'm unfortunately still an arachnaphobe, although I'm kind of counter-phobic with it -- despite feeling horribly disturbed, I'll watching spiders through glass up close or near their webs, and I'll watch movies with spiders in them in order to study them... even if my skin is crawling the entire time. I know they generally don't even bite people unless provoked and few can leave a person ill, but... it's not a rational fear.

If you want to freak me out, throw a spider at me and I'll probably flail to get it off and then get out of there. or get me to walk into a spider web.

Not sure where it came from. It's always been there. When I was young, I couldn't even look at books with zoom pictures of spiders (like science books); I would actually use a pen or ruler to flip the page, so I wouldn't have to touch it. I'd sit a few feet away from the book to read the page and study the picture from afar, then flip the page with the ruler to get away from it. I just bought a painting of one for my wall.

My first nightmare I remember, moving into our new house with hot-water heat and those little aluminum squares on the piping (back in the 70's) -- they'd always make crinkly noises as they heated up, and that first night I dreamed I was a little bug being chased by bloodthirsty spiders through the radiator. Horrible.

---

Funny how different people are. Ravens/Crows are actually totem animals for me, I identify with them and include them in stories as fonts of wisdom. I used to go to the local zoo when they had ravens; I would spend my lunch hour sitting next to their cage and watch them.

I blame my Mum screaming at the top of her lungs every time she saw one in the house while growing up. I don't mind small ones like money spiders, or watching them on film, or spider webs, but big ones.

 

[Base groove]

I watched a documentary on venom before bed last night.

 

[jbar]

Lighting completely creeps me out. It is so random and can blow your head apart with no warning.


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[Duxwing]

The dark, spiders, snakes, and things that go bump in the night. Also, whatever lurks in the seaweed just beyond the beach: I refuse to walk through it without a wetsuit and accompanying boots.

-Duxwing

 

[BrainVessel]

I have a pretty bad case of necrophobia-- whenever I see anything dead I get the urge to throw up and run 300 miles in the opposing direction.
Also, jellyfish. For the same reasons as the sharks and whales comment. But considering I have been in the ocean many times and have more often seen jellyfish than anything, that fear holds most dominant. But yeah, pretty much anything that swims about and has the capabilities to harm my little toes. Or eat me in my entirety...
Also, the unknown.

 

[quizzicallyhuman]

I'm not quite sure when or how it originated, but I have an intense fear of anything unknown: Murky water when I cannot see what's around me, darkness when I cannot tell what's there, anything unexplainable. However, the curious part of me contradicts this fear every single day, wanting to dive head first into everything unknown, and figure it out. It's a bit of a conflict..

 

[digitalbum]

Sharks and whales. The concept is horrifying to me, that something so enormous and dangerous could be lurking right beneath your feet.



It's not related to a specific event as I remember being scared to swim in deep waters the first time I went out to a large lake.

I'd go scuba diving in that.

I used to be afraid of what lies beneath, but when u can breath and move around in that world, not scary. At least for me.


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[Minicool]

Agoraphobia.
Phobophobia.
And Pteromerhanophobia.
I'm somewhat naturally anxious.

 

[Beowulf]

I used to be afraid of the dark but i grew out of it.

Also i was afraid of drowning but once i learned to swim i wasn't.

The only fear i have now is fear of bugs. Manly any bug with more then 2 legs

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[Polaris]

Bananas.

The smell of rubbish bins.

Loud noises.

 

[peoplesuck]

I almost drowned when i was little so i have an asphyxiation phobia. also i have a fear of deep water and all the scary shit in it. spiders as well, and most of all CENTIPEDES. they are now crawling all over you

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

Cockroaches. Even though they and I clearly have something in common

 

[Koosy]

Elevators.
I got stuck in one alone when I was 8.
Never willingly went to an elevator since.

 

[desgrey]

I'm absolutely terrified of swimmimg pools. Particularly empty ones.
Not really sure why, and I've never heard of anyone else with the same phobia. Which is surprising, because you have drowning to worry about, all kinds of contaminants (other peoples' piss and sweat and other nasty stuff, if the chemical treatment in the water isn't enough to kill off everything, and even the chemicals themselves can harm you.. or make your eyes sting like a bitch, at least), the drain (or pump or whatever the hell it is -- and yes, I know they have regulations on that shit, but it doesn't make it any less terrifying.. I mean, just watch this shit: youtu.be/laiOvUsPrnw?t=1m54s).. and then empty pools... I don't really have any reasoning for that, since, if you somehow found yourself inside an empty pool, you could just walk over to the shallow end and climb out with ease. (There's something just so MENACING about them, though.)

 

[Ex-User (9062)]

Sociophobia, agoraphobia.
Nothing out of the ordinary.

 

[Observed&Analysed]

I've always had a fear of spiders and heights...
I had a fear of spiders when my lovely teacher (and I have always wondered why she told us this) gave a detailed description of how those creatures had eight legs, countless eyes and a hairy body, and would love to just crawl all over you and lay eggs in your ear. I was never the same after Year2
My fear of heights I've always had, damn I can't even wallclimb 5 metres into the air without thinking, "Shit, this is so high... WHY AM I SO HIGH?!" And basically jump down the wall not caring if the ropes tight enough for me to do so.

 

[meanbluepanda]

In the house I grew up in there was a staircase that had a HUGE drop next to it. When I was a kid for about 3 years, I had this recurring nightmare where I would be sucked down by a strong wind into the drop. I would then stay hanging on for dear life for the rest of the dream however long it lasted, then I would start falling until am cms away from the ground, the I would wake up.

This led to me being extremely afraid of even small falls, like climbing a large ladder. I would also get really scared of staircases where it had no railing. I would get an adrenaline rush and start panicking whenever am on one.

But for whatever reason I sometimes can go up incredible highs but not be scared, I one time went up a mountain in Petra with my family without any fear. We actually got to the top, and the thought of fear never even occurred to me.

Any ideas will be appreciated on what I said, how my fear is somewhat selective,but now you've got me thinking about it and it's gonna be a pain in the ass to get rid of it.

 

[RandomCh33se]

Structural stability of whatever I am on

Something I recently learned but I know just the right amount about it to not know if it's threatening to me or not.

 

[The Gopher]

I'm afraid I might one day get a phobia.

 

[Reluctantly]

Sharks and whales. The concept is horrifying to me, that something so enormous and dangerous could be lurking right beneath your feet.

It's not related to a specific event as I remember being scared to swim in deep waters the first time I went out to a large lake.

Same. :/

I don't like swimming, if I can't see what's in the water.

 

[ddspada]

I'm afraid I might one day get a phobia.

Here's hoping you never do. It's horrid to think about your own phobia. It's often embarrassing. It's completely incapacitating.

 

[Pyropyro]

Cockroaches. Even though they and I clearly have something in common

I think the only creature that made me and my roommates panic are FLYING cockroaches. Seriously, have one hit your face and you shall know fear.

 

[OrLevitate]

I find mutantly large penises to be intimidating.

 

[StevenM]

I fear people who are interested in my phobias.

 

[Direwolf]

First off hi guys and girls new here.
Second, used to be afraid of hrights then i decided not to give a crap. But clowns agh i cannot stand them. They just creep me out. Why do they look so sad?

 

[Fallenexe]

The fear that someone unknown is my the room while I'm sleeping(probably developed from sleep paralysis) not sure if there is a name for that...

 

[david251]

I saw a tarantula spider (giant spiders with fur) when I was around 5 in my basement. I was pressing the buttons of our cd player when the spider was slowly climbing the wall right in front of my face. My mother killed it but I have had arachnophobia for years since when that happened. I m not afraid of small spiders any more though, but still wouldn't touch them with bare hands.

 

[JAYBAGS]

Deep water. Almost drowned when I was 3.

All things that bite or peck. I have gotten bitten a lot.

My own thoughts. When I come up with some creepy thing and it makes me sick to think about it.

 

[B00Bz]

spiders.

 

[JansenDowel]

Spiders. I had a nightmare about spiders last night. They were everywhere on the ground, and I kept having to jump out of the way. Eugh.

 

[Jennywocky]

Spiders. I had a nightmare about spiders last night. They were everywhere on the ground, and I kept having to jump out of the way. Eugh.

Yeah, or they start scurrying up the legs of your pants or land in your hair or maybe infest the inside of the sheets of your bed....

 

[NormannTheDoorman]

Spiders, hence the reason why I play skyrim with a spider-mod that changes them into spiderman looking creatures. Hilarious and a lot less traumatizing for me.

 

[Jennywocky]

Spiders, hence the reason why I play skyrim with a spider-mod that changes them into spiderman looking creatures. Hilarious and a lot less traumatizing for me.

Yeah, I was really pissed in WoW when I did the auto-level to 90, and the very FIRST quest I get sent on as a level 90 is to climb down a wall and basically look for spider eggs in this webby overgrown area with these ugly, knobby, scuttling giant spiders coming by on both sides, and I was melee, so I couldn't even kill them from afar. I actually don't look right at the spiders as I attack them; I'm always focused a little off to the side. Gaaaa...

 

[StevenM]

Interestingly, spiders seem to be up close to the number one phobia. Damn creepy creatures.

At home, I smoke outside, just underneath the overhang of the roof. For some reason, the very large european garden spiders sense that I'm right underneath them, and they start spinning down on to the back of my neck. I feel a quick tickle and fluttering of legs, then they speed right over my shoulder onto the ground, where they scurry off in a brief flash over the balcony. I muse at how fast the damn buggers can go when they want to.

One spider usually isn't enough to creep me out. What turns my disgust factor up, is a huge nest of baby spiders, made up in the hundreds. You poke or bump into them, and the whole ball of them explodes into little spiders everywhere, and you can't be sure that you've got every last one of them off of you.

That's what creeps me out about spiders, their damn babies.

 

[Finnris]

1. Spiders, centipedes, and many other insects and arachnids, but especially those
2. Deep water and the creatures that may be lurking within
3. Gravity. I am not just afraid of falling from heights, but also of floating... It's hard to explain. I didn't discover this particular fear until I was persuaded into going indoor skydiving when I was around 13. I was pretty excited about it up until the guy tried to lift me from the screen to toss me up - then full on panic hit.

I suspect I am also just an anxious person in general.

I wouldn't say it is on a phobic level, but clowns and large land birds make me a little uncomfortable.

I will watch videos of spiders and sharks, though. It's weird.

And that concludes my first post here. Greetings, Earthlings.

 

[pjoa09]

Elevators when its raining.

Strangers

People I know but I don't talk to very much that I keep on running into.

My enemies

Beggars

All insects. I just kill them on the spot sadistically.

Dogs that run up to me. My instinct is to punch their muzzles but I remind myself they are just rushing up to sniff me out. So I pretty much go catatonic.

Crowds sometimes.

 

[Architect]

I was born with a water phobia. As a baby I'd scream if we were on a ferry to go across a stream to get to our house. As a teenager I learned to sail, probably as a way to deal with that. To this day I don't swim in water where I can't see the bottom, and frankly I don't swim much or go in boats if I can help it.

 

[durd141]

Trypophobia.

phobia of small holes/ pattern things. i.e like lotus plant seed pods. Im not "scared" of them, i just find it kind of.. disturbing you could say, i don't know why. anytime i see them i just feel uncomfortable

 

[Mordecai]

I have developed claustrophobia, since I would always duel my friends on the bus. I might have been able to beat them intellectually, but that doesn't count for anything when you're being shoved into the corner of a bus seat. I eventually learned to fight back without using much strength, and found the elbow is an effective tool to drive into your enemies' backs. Didn't get over the claustrophobia though