Phobias

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Spiders - only wee ones. I can hold turantulas and similar sized ones. I hate their chaotic movements and their 'fangs' most of all.

 

JUst so everyone understands, phobias BY DEFINITION are irrational fears, so a fear of a psycopathic killer isn't irrational. Also, by the psychological definition, a phobia has to somehow impede your lifestyle in a noticable manner, but that may be getting a little technical.

No phobias or irrational fears here. I don't like social situations, but that's an uncomfortable situation and the expectation of it, not exactly a fear.

My gf is acrophobic (not by the psychological definition, but she is). She gets nervous if she has to stand on a stool, if we're walking by a ledge, say at the mall, and there isn't a solid, opaque barrier at least to mid-chest height, she stays about 20 feet away, or as far as possible. Same thing with staires. She hates malls that have those glass railing things, and can't stand clear elevators. All in all, though, it doesn't really impact her life much. She doesn't go on roller-coasters, but that's not a big problem.

She's also sort off claustrophobic, and this may actually be concidered a phobia, possibly. First off, it isn't tight spaces that bugs her, it's not being able to move her arms and/or legs. If she's taking off a jacket in the car and it gets caught somewhere, or just tangled in the seat belt, she starts to panic and can even hyperventilate a little. A straight jacket would probably kill her.

 

I'm Phobia-free, I guess.

I don't feel comfy at heights, though. Like when walking on lattice grille (correct word?) stairway steps and looking down. I sometimes have to shake my head not to get dizzy or blurred. Perhaps it's not just the altitude, but the slightly deceiving view when looking through the lattice.
I need to be sure where to step.

 

Phobia-free. I think.

The closest I come to a phobia are my nightmares of being trapped on a deserted island with only zucchini -- probably left over from my childhood traumatized by HAVING ZUCCHINI EVERY DAMNED DAY FOR FOUR MONTHS ... oh, the horror ... the horror .... Of course, I don't eat zucchini anymore and stay out of the produce section of the grocery.

I've always felt my fear of being eaten alive was pretty rational (and therefore not a phobia). That started when a bear came into our campsite when I was a Boy Scout. I just make sure there is something solid between me and something that can eat me.

 

I also have a fear of heights. Generally speaking it's more or less being able to see how high I am, like on a rollercoaster on something. I have been in planes, and while I feel uncomfortable, if I take an aisle seat away from a window, I'm OK. Still, I do not find flying to be a pleasant experience. There just seems to be something inherently un-natural about going 500 miles per hour in a metal tube 7 miles over the surface of the earth.

 

I have a crippling phobia of people who insist on putting outfits on little dogs and carrying them around in public. Seriously...they scare the sh*t out of me. I mean some of these people actually breed. That's scary. But other than that, phobia free as well.

I know a guy who has a phobia for squirrels.

 

There has been at least one recorded case of a phobia of "The Great Mole Rat"! IN REAL LIFE! Wasn't that something from Fallout 2? I mean, that's even worse than the phobia of pickles, at least they could potentially harm you.

 

I'm scared of closed in spaces...that was claustrophobia wasn't it?

 

I have a fear of losing control. At least I used to have. You could say that it was a phobia since it limited my life and is for the most of the time unrational. It originally came from me making a nasty mess when I was a kid and lost my self-control. I was a real berserker.

At the same time I managed to gain more control over myself, I started to fear myself losing this control more than anything. So much so that it became a limiting factor in my life for several years because my feelings were something that I should keep in check all the time and under control. Not just the bad emotions but the good ones as well.

There might be something else in this as well, but whatever the reasons were, one of them was the fear of losing control. I didn't become emotionally dead, but I never let my emotions to become something that I could easily show to other people until quite recently. I think it's going away since I've noticed that this ultimate aggression isn't that prevalent anymore and since this control over myself has become easier and more natural, so that I can start to show my positive emotions.

That was so long time ago, but I still have little of that fear left that something really bad happens if I let myself go.

 

Well, *almost* a clinical acrophobe - it's not the height for me; it's the apparent risk of falling, really.

It comes and goes - we've got our break room up on the second floor of the store where I work, and you get up and down via a spiral staircase - open to the whole store during half (the TOP half ) the stairs, and sometimes I just freeze and have to steel myself and force myself to look at the ceiling, hold onto both rails (that only come up to my ribcage) and and fight to make each step down. Once past the 1/2way mark, there's a curved wall on the outside edge (as well as an anchor bolt for the stairway, so it doesn't shake at that point - and YES, I swear it'll sway just slightly!!! I'm not kidding - I can FEEL it!!!)

Other times I'll just be uneasy, and maybe a little sweaty by the time I reach the bottom. Still other times I'll traipse right on down that spiral without a care in the world, la-de-dee-de-dah. Then look back and realize what I did (and pat myself on the back for succeeding against my fear, even just once)


And it truly is irrational - one time I was in a 'good frame of mind' I got right on that 1/4 point out over the store, and the furthest from either the top or middle anchors and hopped up and down on the stairs; they swayed very slightly (I doubt it was visible) and I re-assured myself it was built strongly enough to withstand much more stress and weight than I could impose upon it; it's NOT going to collapse on me (well, under me, but you know what I mean )

Heck, I even have difficulty with portrayals of 'risk of falling' situations - I'll watch with rapt attention of the antagonist gorily carving up some victim, but my stomach will spin and I'll cover my eyes if someone goes out on a high window ledge...

It even interferes with my game-playing: any FPS that forces me to 'donkey kong' on the outside of a building, or along a cliff-face, or over girders is gonna get played less by me, and likely have cheat codes used to just bypass this unsettling section. (Yes, I STILL break into beads of cold sweat when I hear the sound clip they used for Kyle Katarn's fatal fall in Nar <bleep> Shaddaa that EVERY <bleep> JEDI FPS THAT LUCAS<bleep>ARTS EVER <bleep> MADE *has* to have at least ONE mission in 'The Vertical City'

Hmmmm...so now I'm wondering if I *am* a clinical acrophobe.

On the other hand; I like air travel - window seat for me!

High-speed elevators? I think the feeling of your stomach lurching up and down in your abdomen is COOL, and plunging to my doom in a metal box never enters my head.

*shrug*

If I could afford the time, I'd go chat with an analyst about it.

 

Very strong agoraphobia here.

It's crippling and debilitating... I'm trying to overcome it.

 

I have hottiephobia. I break out in a sweat whenever I see a very attractive female

I'm not 100% sure what feeling people get when they suffer from a phobia but I guess it would be similar to the feeling I have had after something REALLY bad NEARLY happened such as crossing the street and nearly being hit by a car or screwing up a major business deal.

But the only time I've ever been short of breath is when I landed on my back in a rugby game and was winded for awhile.

 

Yeah...that's Felinoid. He's always running from the chatroom when ever squirrels are near his window...

I just found out that my fiance is horrified of flying. It's probably just because she's never flown before...but if push comes to shove and she still refuses to get on the plane when it's time to leave for the honeymoon...I'm going without her.

I didn't pay *that* much money for her not to come...so I'll be taking pleas to come with.