Do you have a phobia? What is it?

[excelblue]

Don't think I have any real phobias, even though there are some things that I really fear:

1.) Driving -- first time I ever drove my parents let me have at it before I had my permit, just as luck would have it, a tire blew up. I can still drive, but I can't be comfortable unless I give it 100% attention: no radio, nothing in coffee holder, cell phone off completely, no small talk with passengers, and both hands on wheel with conscious scanning of all gauges. Oddly, I don't have the same issues when I ride on the bike on the same roads, despite the fact that I've actually been seriously hurt on bike accidents but never in a car accident.

2.) Anything without predictable results -- this stems from my work with computers; if I don't completely fireproof everything, something catastrophic will go wrong. Before I do anything, I do a thorough risk analysis and even come up with what to do in the least likely plausible cases (eg. I even have a plan for what happens if my apartment burns down suddenly). When this analysis becomes to complicated, I simply don't do the thing in question. You can imagine a ton of things that I simply won't do (i.e. dating).

[HannahXO]

Originally Posted by Jen

I forgot to mention my number one phobia ... probably because I don't even like having it anywhere in my consciousness. I am terrified of people throwing up. For any reason.

I can't even read about it, I'm having trouble typing this. Just no. I've had panic attacks over it. I don't drink or like being around people who are drinking because of it, I'm edgy at theme parks because of it, I can't watch movies or TV shows with it in it (even if it's not shown), I can't be around anyone who has even the slightest symptom of a cold without being petrified it's something more that could cause it ... just ugh. Do not want.

OMG this is me. If I go out, I literally leave parties early in the night so I am nowhere near the aftermath. I also can NEVER take care of anyone who is throwing up- I run away and cry.

My roommate was sick with a nasty virus and slept with her garbage can next to her the other night- I couldn't sleep. Literally every sound she made had my heart pounding, and she never even threw up thank god. aughhhh gross. It's by far my worst fear.

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

This:



.. made me think of this:

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.co...be-afraid.html

on an unrelated note, hyperbole and a half is my favorite website ever! she is so funny

[LouisaMay]

Originally Posted by Jen

I forgot to mention my number one phobia ... probably because I don't even like having it anywhere in my consciousness. I am terrified of people throwing up. For any reason.

I can't even read about it, I'm having trouble typing this. Just no. I've had panic attacks over it. I don't drink or like being around people who are drinking because of it, I'm edgy at theme parks because of it, I can't watch movies or TV shows with it in it (even if it's not shown), I can't be around anyone who has even the slightest symptom of a cold without being petrified it's something more that could cause it ... just ugh. Do not want.

I posted my reply before seeing yours! I get so mad when there is a "sick scene" in a book or a movie. I have major anxiety about seeing a movie for the first time because of this. I hope that I can at least ask someone before hand. Especially if I have to be in a theater. The yucky scene in The Sixth Sense almost killed me. And YES...no one understands how I feel about amusement parks and carnivals!!!!!! I haven't been on an airplane since I was eleven for this very reason. Someone might get air-sick!

[KSUViolet06]

Public restrooms. You have no idea how good I've gotten at avoiding using them.

Garbage cans. I cannot sit near them anywhere. My trashcans are all under sinks at home so I don't have to see them. They gross me out. A lot. If I go somewhere (e.g. to someone's home) and there is one in sight, I will focus on it and it'll gross me out to the point that I get sick. That's my only weird one.

[PrettyBoy]

Originally Posted by victoriana

I am afraid of bugs, insects

This is mine, too. Yeah, I know, a grown man afraid of bugs. I'm not afraid of anything else except bugs. I don't like spiders either. I don't have a phobia for mosquitoes, or flies, but anything else, I get out of the way. I hate insects of any kind. This is the only phobia I have, and it's so bad, that if the company I work for had a tech center in the south and wanted to send me there, I'd start looking for another job. And the flying cockroaches, too? Hell, no. I didn't even know they could fly until a fraternity brother of mine who went to Tuskegee said flying cockroaches were all over the dorms. I would have transferred to another school.

[33girl]

I thought of another one - going backwards. I used to dream when I was little of being trapped in a car and rolling backwards down the big hill by our house. Backing a car down a hill that I'm not 1000% comfortable with is extremely trying, especially in winter. Oh, and if I'm sitting in a rocking chair and someone leans on the back of it and makes me go backward, I completely lose it.

[AnchorAlumna]

Clowns. Monkeys. Puppets, especially ones on strings.
Not really scared of them, just don't like 'em.

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

Wow, it seems like the things I love and find fascinating, people are afraid of lol. I love fruit bats. I think they're adorable, and very friendly. Oh, and I've had a few Madagascar hissing cockroaches as pets before, too. They're really friendly.

See I have a hard time getting people to believe me about the roaches unless they see me see one because I have no issue at all with the Madagascar roaches, had a pet tarantula, wanted a scorpion, etc. I have no idea why the hissing cockroaches don't bother me but the far smaller ones around the house do...but they do.

I HAVE always wondered why things that are venomous (like tarantulas, spiders in general, scorpions, snakes) don't bother me in the least, but a harmless flying cockroach can paralyze me.

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by Alumiyum

See I have a hard time getting people to believe me about the roaches unless they see me see one because I have no issue at all with the Madagascar roaches, had a pet tarantula, wanted a scorpion, etc. I have no idea why the hissing cockroaches don't bother me but the far smaller ones around the house do...but they do.

I HAVE always wondered why things that are venomous (like tarantulas, spiders in general, scorpions, snakes) don't bother me in the least, but a harmless flying cockroach can paralyze me.

When I read your post, I was wondering about that, lol. Nah, they probably freak you out because they're not pets, they're disgusting, and annoying, I'm sure. I mean, I would love to be able to see a flying cockroach in real life, only because I've never seen one before. I've only read about them. Sometimes, I get cautious if I don't know what it is, if it's something I've never read about, or never seen. Most cockroaches are really gross, but what really interest me about them is their ability to adapt to almost anything. They're amazing creatures.

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

When I read your post, I was wondering about that, lol. Nah, they probably freak you out because they're not pets, they're disgusting, and annoying, I'm sure. I mean, I would love to be able to see a flying cockroach in real life, only because I've never seen one before. I've only read about them. Sometimes, I get cautious if I don't know what it is, if it's something I've never read about, or never seen. Most cockroaches are really gross, but what really interest me about them is their ability to adapt to almost anything. They're amazing creatures.

Well you should come down here sometime because trust me, at night you will see them! Haha they're freaking everywhere...and ironically those big dark brown flying ones are also called pine bugs and come from outside. So really, it's the little brown cockroaches without wings that are worse, because they live inside, are hard to get rid of, and are the ones that go from your bathroom to your kitchen spreading germs. But do those bother me as much as the flying ones? Nope. Haha.

ETA: I've got a friend/sister that will actually pick up the outside ones when we're in the backyard at night. Then of course she'll try to get close to one of us that is scared of them. Both myself and my roommate have actually thrown sizable objects at her when she would try to get near us with one.

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by Alumiyum

Well you should come down here sometime because trust me, at night you will see them! Haha they're freaking everywhere...and ironically those big dark brown flying ones are also called pine bugs and come from outside. So really, it's the little brown cockroaches without wings that are worse, because they live inside, are hard to get rid of, and are the ones that go from your bathroom to your kitchen spreading germs. But do those bother me as much as the flying ones? Nope. Haha.

ETA: I've got a friend/sister that will actually pick up the outside ones when we're in the backyard at night. Then of course she'll try to get close to one of us that is scared of them. Both myself and my roommate have actually thrown sizable objects at her when she would try to get near us with one.

lol
Your friend sounds like me. I love picking up bugs. I know I would try to catch one just to be able to hold it. Do they ever get inside like the wingless ones do? How big have you seen the flying ones get? Today, I went to an exotic pet store, and I saw an African giant millipede that I wanted to take home with me, but I have way too many pets. It was a male and he was so cool and very friendly. He curled up and played dead for a few minutes until he felt comfortable with me.

[laylo]

Originally Posted by txAOII_15

ROACHES. i cannot stand them. they scare the bejezuz out of me. especially the flying ones.

The WHAT?!! This knowledge will haunt me. In my old apartment if I had ever been attacked by a robber, no one would have helped me because the neighbors were so used to me screaming bloody murder when I saw a roach.

My other phobia is violence by a stranger. I've had it all my life (but being a Sopranos fan really did not help). Whenever someone I'm in the car with gets road rage I beg them to shut up because I'm afraid the other person will pull out a gun. I always wonder where this fear came from.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by laylo

My other phobia is violence by a stranger. I've had it all my life (but being a Sopranos fan really did not help). Whenever someone I'm in the car with gets road rage I beg them to shut up because I'm afraid the other person will pull out a gun. I always wonder where this fear came from.

Don't be too disturbed. The average person has some level of fear of violence by a stranger. I guess yours is a phobia because you're more than cautious because of it, you're basically obsessed with it. Is that correct?

This is no consolation but the reality is you have a higher likelihood of being victimized by family, friend, close acquaintance, or someone who is somehow part of your daily routine. Also, women are more likely to have a fear of violent victimization while men are statistically more likely to be violently victimized with exception for violence such as rape and sexual assault because men are socialized to be less cautious (i.e. they are taught that being a man means they can come and go as they please and wherever they want to go). Stay cautious and keep in mind that violent victimization is relatively rare when your daily routine does not create the environment for such victimization. As you noted in your post, even the angry road raged stranger is uncommon if people are cautious and don't go out of their way to entice crazies.

[laylo]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Don't be too disturbed. The average person has some level of fear of violence by a stranger. I guess yours is a phobia because you're more than cautious because of it, you're basically obsessed with it. Is that correct?

Yep, it's an obsession. It's more about violence to my loved ones than myself. My parents always used to have to console me when I had "bad thoughts" about something happening to them. Now it's transferred to my chronically late boyfriend who always finds me in a panic. I'm hoping to cure myself before I have kids, or Lord help them. Thanks for the info!