Phobias

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Well, as many of you will know by the organ donation thread in Aols i have tomophobia and it has a massive effect on my life. I cannot watch medical dramas on TV, i cannot even talk about surgery... discussion in the other thread i started makes me feel very unconfortable and when researching organ donation i made myself sick. i currently require surgery to mend and reshape my nose after it was broken, which i have refused and ive even sought professional help from 2 therapists in an attempt to make me go through with it and prepare me for the day when i may need life altering surgery. they got nowhere with me. so someday this phobia could mean my untimely demise.

im sure im not the only one here who suffers with a phobia. so:

who has what?
how serious is it?
how much of an effect does it have on your life?
how do you get by (if at all)?

 

I might have a mild agoraphobia, but I hide it well.

 

Arachnophobia, I run to another room screaming when I see spiders, then wash my hair and change my clothes, fearing there might be other spiders somewhere.
Then I ask someone else to get rid of the spider screaming:"KILL IT!"

This one I hate: I have a mild aquaphobia; fear of water, I can't swim anything else than backstroke. When I try 'normal' swimming,I see the water, I freak out and it seems hard to breathe.

 

phobia-free, here

 

I am a cynophobe. It's rather difficult thing to have when your girlfriend has two dogs that she loves to have with her at all times.

It's pretty severe, I guess. When I come across dogs, even if they are across a park, it takes all of my will-power to not run far, far away, though I imagine running far away would be better than freezing in a cold sweat, shaking and trying to not cry. I even get like that when I hear keys rattling or metal bracelets because, to me, they sound like a dog collar that has a name tag on it. Sad, I know.

 

Phobia-free here, also. Never been able to understand phobias since I've always led a life of logic and an irrational fear is just so hard to understand for me.

 

Like Abomination, I do find phobias difficult to understand, but lots of people seem to have them, so it sometimes feels abnormal not to have one. Maybe I can find a cool one I can have.

 

I haven't been in any traumatic situation that gives me a phobia. I'm wary of dogs, but seeing a dog in the park doesn't impair my skills to carry on a conversation at the same time.

 

I take it you were being sarcastic here, HB But you're touching on a subject that's been picking at my mind... do people develop and nuture their own phobias as some sort of personal requirement? Are phobias a way of seeking attention?

To me a phobia is just... well... stupid. Why be afraid of something that the massive majority of the world is never harmed by?

I saw some Opra/Rikky-type show awhile ago where they brought on some girl who had a phobia of pickles... PICKLES! You know? Small green vegetables... now how the hell can you be afraid of pickles? They're inanimate! They're not going to crawl up your nose while you sleep and lay their eggs in your brain. Yet somebody brought out a plate of pickles and the girl went totally nuts, ran out of the studio and tried to hide behind a curtain. In reaction to a vegetable that has had no recorded history of ever harming somebody... unless you choke on one I guess or maybe an allergy? But that's no reason to run at the sight of one.

 

Very slight aquaphobia. (I think it's a cat thing.) All it means is that cold showers or washing my hair in the sink result in me hyperventilating. Not enough to pass out, but a fear rush when washing your hair is rather unpleasant, not to mention embarrassing.

Of course it's stupid. Most people with phobias even admit it's stupid; noone likes to be afraid, especially of everyday things. But the whole point of a phobia is that although they don't want to be afraid of something, they are, they can't help it. Once it gets seated in the brain, that phobia takes over in those specific situations.

Regarding that pickle thing, it's likely she may have been molested when she was younger, either with a pickle or...something else that size and shape. Traumatic past experiences are a common trigger for the development of phobias. It's sort of a side-shoot of the survival instinct.

 

phobia-free as well

 

Sociophobia. It's quite serious and hampers me a great deal. I'm working on it, though.

 

I am Claustrophobic. I fear small spaces.

It is a pretty strong problem for me and strikes at some very wierd times. Like I can not close the door to my half-bathroom in my house. The room is small enough that I bump at least two of the walls when washing my face or using the toilet. If I close the door I start to sweat, then I get jittery and scared. I had trouble riding the Tubes in London during rush hours. I start breathing very hard and sweating. I had to always stand and hold the handrails so I could lift myself up to get air. There were many times I wanted to start pushing and punching people just to get a little space around me. I was once riding in a van going to church and had to have the driver pull over so I could get out because I started sweating and couldn't breathe. I even have nightmares about being trapped and will wake up in sweat and breathing as if I just ran a race.

Luckily, most of the time I can control it. I strive to stay out of "close quarters" as much as possible. I continue to travel all over but I have to be able to focus myself in other ways. When I was in the London underground, my wife would press herself against me and wisper in my ear. No, she wouldn't be doing anything elicit, it just helped keep me calm. Sometimes I have to close my eyes and talk to myself to get through, I know I must look wierd or suspicious to some people. If I can focus on a specific task or thought then I can at least get through the situation that has me in a tight spot, usually.

I know it is irrational and believe me when I say people who truely have phobias don't want them.

 

How about a homicidapsychopathophobia, or homicidasociopathophobia? I bet everyone with any sense would have that

edit: well allright, let's make that most of the people, since there are cops and other brave people who aren't scared of those

edit II: sorry, I just couldn't help myself, this should've gone to the hypocondriac heaven -thread...moderators? Do us all a favor and remove this 'nothing' and put it there, if you please. Thank you...

Sorry about that...

 

Mild sociophobia here. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a "real" phobia though, because I can keep it under control most of the time. I just find it very unpleasant to be around too many people.

 

Pretty sure I am phobia free. Closest thing is probably a mild fear of heights. I have done sky tower in Auckland and stood on the glass up there and have been on the roofs of some sky scrapers looking over the edge but if I can feel what I am standing on moving, like a tall ladder, then I start to get a bit jittery.

 

i would go as far as to call all phobias irrational, spiders kill people, people drown, people fall to their deaths - to some extent i suppose they can irrational, but to another extent there is reason behind some of them.

also, i dont know if i would describe a phobia as a fear, its something very different im afraid of getting burnt, but that wout keep me away from a hot object, but if you had a phobia of being burnt, you wouldnt be going anywhere near that frying pan.

also, phobias play tricks on your mind, i have a friend who is claustraphobic, and as wiley one can probably agree on he feels like he is going to get trapped and crushed inside a small space, and when he is in a small space, he feels as if the roof is getting lower. ive seen him cowering in a corner in a public toilets before trying to make himself as small as possible until i came in wondering where he was and broke that hallucination.

with me, you talk about an operation and i have countless thoughts about things falling out and not being put back right, the thought that stitches will burst open and my innards will spill everywhere, when i think about it my body starts trying to convince me that there is something wrong inside, i feel cramps and pains, i hear sounds coming from it i notice lumps that arent really there... etc..
and that is a short sum up

 

I guess I have a bit of a fear to get sick, and a slight fobia of being out on deep water.

 

I'm not sure whether it counts as a phobia, but needles really get to me.

I have memories of having a nurse inject me when I wasn't looking becuse I was taking so long to get comfortable when I was young. More recently, an entire group of them sat on me during the TB vaccinations because I kept edging away whenever the needle came close.

*shudder*

 

Not really,

Like TBA, I have a mild dislike of heights, mostly of the man-made variety. However, I've mostly overcome it by facing it head on (Bungee off cranes, popping up tall buildings - HCBS, Canary Wharf, Telecom tower) in London as part of the job)