Fears and Phobias

[The Dude]

Roaches. There are very few things that truly creep me out in this world, but insects, particularly roaches, are one of them. I heard that in Florida they can fly too. I'd probably sleep with a five iron if I lived there.

Spiders I try to negotiate with first ("All right, I'm gonna go get some lunch, but you'd better be gone when I get back"). Roaches, however, I treminate on sight.

*Another strange quirk of mine is that I always apologize to stuff after killing it.

[SummerSnowflake]

Rats. We had rats growing up and I wandered behind the apartment building we lived in and stepped on a glue trap that had a rat on it. As I frantically tried to get it off my foot, it bit the crap out of my hands/ankle/foot. Yay for huge shots of antibiotic in the back for two weeks.

[Jamison Leigh]

Uh. I googled Trypophobia. I'm still itching.

[SummerSnowflake]

Water-not from the tap obviously, I just can't swim.

[Skyler]

My friend has Laridaphobia (a fear of seagulls) because one pooed on her and now she won't shut up about them. Me and my other friend got pooed on too and we ain't scared! Lol... I get scared of people touching me... mainly on my shoulders... I think I don't like it if they are concerned about me and go for my forehead or try to guide me by my shoulders... and if anyone touches me under the arms I will bite their face off. A woman once mistook me for her own child and tried to drag me away by holding under my arms.

[AltoFairy]

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.

Haha, no, not unsolicited. I'm too young for exposure therapy. I'm just scared of everything because I have very severe anxiety.

AND SEAWEED. OH MY GOD.

[sneffnie]

im late commenting but got to agree with the sick thing or as thowing up as we brits call it no...i can do that ergh got better now i will go near the person afterwards and be in the same room. Really proud of myself ive had a baby and not only have i seen him be sick ive cleaned it up aswell afterwards...erm yer had to wear gloves, still am a lil OTT about it but getting better :-) x

[MonaLisaSmile]

Umm... Well this might not make sense, but i have a fear of blindfolds and surprises... They just ruin my carefully created view of reality and it changes too much for me to handle all at once and i kind of shut down until I can put all the stuff back.

[hornysneezer9]

Heights and natural disasters

[•.*°•☆. Q .☆•°*.•]

If it can sting me and it flies, I will have a panic attack if you make me go near it or keep my from running away from it.

Spiders.

That trypophobia thing almost made me panic attack too when i googled it SO I GUESS THAT ONE GEEZE. Seriously even I am confused by that but golly I just NO. nO.

The dark, generally.

[sneezewuv]

Ok, I know this is going to sound like the most pathetic phobia the world has ever known, but I am afraid of, drumroll please!

PEAS!

I think that peas look like disgusting little....dare I say....boogers.

All of my family would torment me by throwing them at me. That would then lead me to screaming and running away.

So there you have it, the most bizarre fear ever. Lol.

[Its_Glimpse]

Ugh, I'm pathophobic (fear of illness). I'm also afraid of falling and things hiding in the dark. ^^;

[cuneas]

I don't know what the technical term for it is, but I have a crippling fear of mice and rats, to the point where I never leave my house after Eleven-o'clock at night, NO MATTER WHAT (I live in New York, right next to the park, and the streets are crawling with them by midnight).

[Clarion]

Bacteria. Even the word disgusts me.

[tenderwarrior]

Birds! They are the worst and disgusting to me.

[bloom]

In the "squicked out/made uncomfortable" category: Heartbeats. I find them nauseating to listen to and I always feel hyper-aware of mine after I hear one.

In the "somewhat panicked" category: Tornadoes, spiders, and vomiting (my own vomiting is almost panick-attack worthy). I also have a fascination with tornadoes that goes hand-in-hand with my fear.

In the "actual panic attack" category: petussis/whooping cough. There used to be these horrible commercials on TV of a child with petussis coughing and struggling to breathe and it just makes me want to die thinking about it. Recently I also learned that when you have petussis you can cough so hard that your chest actually bruises on the outside, which is so sdjgkjkaljk okay I need to stop talking about this now. My husband and I were talking about this the other day while I was driving and I started freaking the hell out. It's a completely irrational response but it... ugh. I don't even know.

[sneezewuv]

I also have a fascination with tornadoes that goes hand-in-hand with my fear.

I am EXACTLY like this. I am DEATHLY afraid of tornadoes also, but I love to watch videos of them online or read books about them. I think it's because we want to learn more about things we fear to make us not fear them anymore or not as much.