Fears and Phobias

[Renee]

I have a few fears heights, natural disasters, poisonous insects & snakes

[AltoFairy]

Oooh, I forgot a few. let's get interesting, shall we?

Electrical equipment of any find. Electricity in general scares me.

Propane tanks.

Farm equipment.

Large dogs.

Barns.

Coyotes. (Those things scare the hell out of me at night so often with their screaming...)

[March Hare]

Electrical equipment of any find. Electricity in general scares me.

I'm curious - what exactly do you find scary about it? And is it so bad that you live in a perpetual state of fear because of all the electricity all around? It is, after all, hard to avoid.

[Heavy-Chevy]

My one other fear, in a addition to centipedes (nasty little buggers!) is very deep open water. I'm just not comfortable being in a large body of water where I can't feel or see the bottom.

[March Hare]

My one other fear, in a addition to centipedes (nasty little buggers!) is very deep open water. I'm just not comfortable being in a large body of water where I can't feel or see the bottom.

I'm sort of with you there, as in: I love to swim in open water, like the sea or a lake, but as much as I enjoy it it also always scares the shit out of me. XD (Not literally, though.)

[AltoFairy]

Electrical equipment of any find. Electricity in general scares me.

I'm curious - what exactly do you find scary about it? And is it so bad that you live in a perpetual state of fear because of all the electricity all around? It is, after all, hard to avoid.

Really anything that contains high volumes/supplies it; generators and wires and stuff. But I'm not too comfortable with plugs, either.

[AltoFairy]

My one other fear, in a addition to centipedes (nasty little buggers!) is very deep open water. I'm just not comfortable being in a large body of water where I can't feel or see the bottom.

I'm sort of with you there, as in: I love to swim in open water, like the sea or a lake, but as much as I enjoy it it also always scares the shit out of me. XD (Not literally, though.)

(forgetful sorry)

and it's because it can kill me / do such strange things to a human body, and because it can cause fires. I think, anyway. I can't really explain some of my irrational fears.

[Parksborn]

...I'm actually extremely scared of all bugs ever. But spiders are the worst for me. They make my skin crawl and make it hard to breathe. OTL

Which is kind of weird coming from an extensively enthusiastic Spider-Man fan, but still. XD

[hay-choo]

I cant stand any sort of spider!

[Smokey]

Two phobias

One is heights- i absolutely cannot stand anything to do with heights at all, even to the point if i see something on tv where someone is standing at the edge of a cliff or building etc, i just cannot look.

And being caught in an undercurrent of some sorts in the sea, and not being able to get out, nearly happened once when i was younger- horrible, frightening experience.

[Nas]

Pyrophobia- Fear of fire. I just am.

Aeroacrophobia- Fear of open high places. I'm scared of falling to my death.

Catagelophobia- Fear of being ridiculed. To the point where I barely talk.

Claustrophobia- Fear of small spaces. No one believes me of course; they think I'm being a drama queen.

[_Daisy_]

Definitely high places, spiders, and vomiting...but my biggest fear is being alone. I get terrible anxiety just thinking about it. :/

[LeapYearKisses]

oooookay, this one's a doozy.

Short version, when I haven't been popping an anti-anxiety pill every morning: Agoraphobic. Scared of everything. I hate leaving the house, being in crowds, being near crowds, being near germs, the thought of getting sick...

...Not to butt in or anything, AltoFairy, but it seems like you have a lot of fears that probably interfere with your daily life (like elevators, disorder, etc.)... Have you considered trying exposure therapy? You mentioned medication, but that doesn't usually effect a long-term cure of phobic symptoms, and when you change or go off medication, they usually come back full force. (I'm a psychology student and couldn't help myself from recommending... I know I would hate to have so many fears, and I do think it could help you if you if it's an option! Sorry, I know this is unsolicited!)

And to stay on topic, my own fears:

Vomiting (and this extends to people telling me they feel unwell, coughing if I don't know it's a chest cold, and drunk people).

Catching illnesses from people, mostly GI-related.

Walking through or touching seaweed, especially if it's on the ocean floor. When it's dry, it's just kind of nasty.

Crabs if they are by my feet and not in my hand.

Getting touched by fish or other creatures in the ocean.

Large dogs.

Bold squirrels (though I can trace this back to when I was a kid and one jumped on my screen door while I was standing just inside it. Maybe I should just say a fear of rabies and sick animals?)

I... think that's it. There are other things that make me uncomfortable, but nothing so bad that I would classify it as a fear or phobia.

[murphy dee]

Deep ocean water (I honest-to-goodness believe that there are creatures in the ocean we haven't found yet, and that scares the shit out of me...I can just look into deep water and see something awful swimming up out of the darkness)

Aliens (I think they're real too and actively abduct people...I read WAY too many first-hand abductee accounts as a kid)

Bees/wasps/etc (I'm scared of spiders, too, but at least they can only move on surfaces...bees can go ANYWHERE)

Dying (death is fine I guess if it happens in an instant and I never see it coming, but I don't want to have to stick around for a while with the knowledge that I'm about to die and nothing can change it...that's a horrifying concept)

[PuddinPop]

Same as Murphy.D, bees and wasps are my main fear, the only fear I have that literally renders me useless. If I come into contact with either, I am literally immobilised, but if it comes near me I cant help but scream ridiculously loud and occaisonally burst into tears.

Bees I arent as bad as wasps, they kinda chill out if you leave them alone, and seen as they die when they sting you, they tend not to unless they're gonna die anyway. Wasps are just nasty bastards, and will sting if you so much as look at them funny

I'm 22 and still need my mum to kill or get a wasp out the room

Heights is my other main one though, well, more the fear of falling from something/somewhere really high. I tend to get pretty nauseated and dizzy when I'm in these situations...

[snuffle-bunny]

Spiders. I'm not bothered by most insects (except wasps, stinging little devils), but spiders just freak me right out. I can't get near them to put them outside; I've slept in the front room more than once when there's been one in my bedroom.

Fear of going blind/my eyes being damaged. I wear glasses,and I'm too scared to ever try contact lenses. Just the thought makes me go all funny.

[Coffee Mug]

WASPS for me too! My worst nightmare ever I can't remember how many times I was alone in my house with a wasp inside and I closed myself inside a room and had to call someone to come and make it go away

Dark - I just cannot stay alone in the dark.. Even if I'm 28 :-/ I have to sleep with the light turned on

Vomit - but I'm doing slightly better

[YoriYori]

Fears-

Spiders: There were at least 3 species of pretty painful/dangerous spiders where I grew up and I often found 2 of the 3 in my house. HATE. I'm still afraid but where I live, while VERY large (like, bigger than my hand) are not so dangerous and actually do good things (like eat roaches) and also there's something much more scary to be afraid of...

Japanese centipedes: If one is in my house my heart will race so fast I think my body will stop moving. While I find them so-ugly-and-dangerous-that-they're-almost-beautiful, they're aggressive, demonic, and I do not want to get hit with its venom. The last time I found one at 10pm, I got launched into a cleaning spree that lasted until 4am to make sure there weren't any more hiding about.

Passing out: I have never completely passed out, but I have come close to it many times in the past year. Sometimes while driving and sometimes at work (while speaking in front of people... though it's not the speaking part that is making it happen) which makes me even more afraid because it would be so humiliating. It's scary because it feels like losing so much control. What if you don't wake up?

I used to be deathly afraid of vomiting, but after becoming really sick last year I got over it. I still hate it, but I don't fear it anymore.

[SomethingClever]

out of control fire, being abducted/ held against my will, nukes

[black_mage]

Pretty bad social anxiety. I feel more or less nervous in groups of people.

[Chanel_no5]

Oh, I just recalled another one. Robots. From fiction ones to the industry ones. They just creep me out!

[murphy dee]

Oh, I just recalled another one. Robots. From fiction ones to the industry ones. They just creep me out!

Robots?? D: But robots can be so cute... and hot.

[Chanel_no5]

Ughhh, no! Scary things! Machines are scary things all in all, and honestly, the more human they seem, the scarier they become. *shudders*

[doggo]

Chanel, I believe that's the most scary thing about hospitals... it's where machines and human bodies merge.

I have always had pretty intense fear of sudden loud, sharp sounds. A balloon breaking is one of the worst; I can't, simply can't spend time in the same space with a kid and a balloon. Fireworks are bad, but not always as bad as some dogs barking - ones with a sharp bark. If I have to share space with a dog like that I will jump every time the pile of furry shit barks and just feel the aggressions pile up inside me until I wanna kick it and the humans who exposed me to it. And it took me real long to get myself used to using a staple gun. It's not such a loud sound, but it's so sharp.

[Chanel_no5]

That is interesting pig, I've never thought about hospitals that way before. But yeah, you're right.

I too have always had a bad fear about sounds. Balloons are potential bringers of pant-shitting, indeed. Ugh! Dogs barking and kids screaming annoys me more than scare me, but it's a big problem for me. The sound of fast trains approaching stirs something inside me that brings me close to panic. Fight planes (like JAS) too.

The intriguing part is that while I'm scared to death of a balloon popping, the sound of gunfire doesn't bother me at all. The times when I've been to the shooting range, I don't even twitch, even when I haven't had time to put the ear plugs in. But pop a bubble gum bubble next to me and I jump straight into the air!!