Thread: What's Your Phobia?

public speaking

Originally Posted by Yungen

I have emetophobia (fear of vomiting)
I also have a fear of mannequins made to look lifelike (example, in a museum)
I also have a fear of anything being laid on my neck or chest, fear of large spiders, deep bodies of water and gaps between rocks. Also, rust and rusty nails.

I don't fear mannequins, but I almost do, or maybe very slightly. Whenever I'm close to one, I feel its presence as though it's a person, no matter how hard I try to convince myself it isn't.

I'm sure no one likes vomiting, but is your fear of it an actual phobia, more than simply finding it revolting?

I've heard many people experience a feeling of a weight on their chests during sleep paralysis (the accidental kind, at least). Have you gotten that?

Originally Posted by Yungen

I also have a fear of mannequins made to look lifelike (example, in a museum)

I thought I was the only one who had this problem! I'm terrified of museum mannequins. I'm 24 and I'll still hide behind my mother and close my eyes whenever we have to pass one. I feel like they're watching me, waiting for me to get to close before they'll grab me.

They're not phobias but I'm also terrified of mirrors or other reflective surfaces, open closets, open bedroom windows at any time of day (any other windows in the house are fine), I can't have doors cracked they either have to be fully open or closed, being in a mall at night after closing (we had to do this once after an opera, the theater exit lead into the mall, and it scared me witless), that I'll stop breathing in my sleep (my brother actually has trouble with this if he ends up laying on his side though he always wakes up to switch positions and then he's okay), dark closed in spaces (I can't go in caves without going into a panic attack), and finally churches. I think it's because when I was little I had a friend tell me that homeless men would break into the church at night to sleep and sometimes wouldn't be gone in the morning. So when we heard footsteps anywhere in the church while wandering around I thought it was a crazy homeless man who would kill me if he saw me.

There are a ton more, but those are the big ones. I used to be an extremely jumpy and nervous person, but surprisingly when I started watching tons of horror movies and getting into the paranormal it eased that a little. I'm still on hyper alert all the time, but I'm not as twitchy as I used to be.

I am VERY afraid of mosquitos. Just today I saw a mosquito on the front porch, and I grabbed my tennis racket and swung with all my might at it. It worked, but unfortunately I broke a flowerpot in the process.

Originally Posted by ElizaLS

I am VERY afraid of mosquitos. Just today I saw a mosquito on the front porch, and I grabbed my tennis racket and swung with all my might at it. It worked, but unfortunately I broke a flowerpot in the process.

That has to be a difficult fear to have.

I don't have a fear of them, but they tend to eat my ankles. I've counted 20 bites on my feet before. I was in so much pain I could barely walk. I pretty much sat at my computer for a week with my feet soaking in an oatmeal bath until they healed.

Well I wrote a wall of text describing and telling about all my fears/phobias. But I guess the biggest one of all must have to be being judged because I couldn't find myself to post the damn thing.

My phobia: Non-tipping black people.

Originally Posted by GavinGill

Like blankets or scarfs?

Yeah...Especially the blankets though ><

Originally Posted by LifeStandsStill

Well I wrote a wall of text describing and telling about all my fears/phobias. But I guess the biggest one of all must have to be being judged because I couldn't find myself to post the damn thing.

I'm kinda the same way, Social Anxiety, I think it's called. I sometimes even wait a little bit to open threads I posted in the fear of being ridiculed. Doing things on the internet is generally easier for me since most forums contain reasonable and respectable people. Also, there's also the more internet way of doing it. "If at first you don't succeed, come back under a different name and seven proxies."

Though, I don't really have many fears, nothing that gives me a heart attack. The phobias I have are more lined with paranoia rather than actual fear. Like clowns, they crawl up my skin, but I don't hide behind a tree for them. I probably don't like them because I watched the movie IT when I was about five. One other thing that gets to me in the same way is people being near me when I use a restroom. Don't know why, but I avoid using public restrooms as much as I can when there's multiple people in them.

Originally Posted by LifeStandsStill

Well I wrote a wall of text describing and telling about all my fears/phobias. But I guess the biggest one of all must have to be being judged because I couldn't find myself to post the damn thing.

Originally Posted by NikolaTesla

I'm kinda the same way, Social Anxiety, I think it's called. I sometimes even wait a little bit to open threads I posted in the fear of being ridiculed. Doing things on the internet is generally easier for me since most forums contain reasonable and respectable people. Also, there's also the more internet way of doing it. "If at first you don't succeed, come back under a different name and seven proxies."

Do you really do that? I have the same problem, although I've never come back as a different person. I agree it's way easier than it would be in person (if some sort of in-person forum existed), but it's still pretty bad. I get elated whenever someone agrees with me or gives me a 'like' or says anything positive to me. My whole day is improved. Then if someone says something negative or I suspect someone dislikes me I'll often be left depressed for hours, my entire day will be ruined. It's rediculous, I got some response recently that left me in a sinking depressed state for the entire day and I was close to leaving this forum for good, or the non-LD sections at least, even though I know it was over something that wouldn't even phase most people. I've tried not to let it effect me but it does.

Originally Posted by Dianeva

Do you really do that? I have the same problem, although I've never come back as a different person. I agree it's way easier than it would be in person (if some sort of in-person forum existed), but it's still pretty bad. I get elated whenever someone agrees with me or gives me a 'like' or says anything positive to me. My whole day is improved. Then if someone says something negative or I suspect someone dislikes me I'll often be left depressed for hours, my entire day will be ruined. It's rediculous, I got some response recently that left me in a sinking depressed state for the entire day and I was close to leaving this forum for good, or the non-LD sections at least, even though I know it was over something that wouldn't even phase most people. I've tried not to let it effect me but it does.

Yes I do, I learned that doing it quickly was the best way to not get stopped by yourself. I've never have came back to forum as a different person either, but it's nice to know that you can. Whether they like it or not doesn't seem to affect me that much, though it relieves me quite a bit. I've never really had a reply that was ridiculing or like it, but if I did have one and it was a time when the anxiety was coming on, it would likely put a depression on my day as well. It's always there, but some days it's more than others, like today. It kinda sucks irl, since it's a lose-lose situation. Since I have that slight fear of being rejected, I'd rather be rejected. When I'm actually in that group, I feel that everything they do is stupid and useless so I'd rather be alone. I generally chose the latter, since I can stand that more then the fear of rejection.

Originally Posted by Yungen

Yeah...Especially the blankets though ><

That must be horrible. ._. Do you have to keep your upper body uncovered when you go to bed? That would suck in the winter.

Originally Posted by NikolaTesla

Don't know why, but I avoid using public restrooms as much as I can when there's multiple people in them.

Shouldn't that be "there are" since you're talking about more than one person?

Sorry.
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I actually find it easier to get passed mistakes/ridicule in person than online. Of course there's the initial feeling of embarrassment but it's gone within a few minutes; on the internet though, it kind of lasts longer. Online, people only know you for what you post so they get a distorted image of you (or at least an incomplete one). If I make a fool of myself online, it's permanent (at least in my head it is) and I feel as if people are going to associate me with that blunder for a while. In person though, I don't worry about it as much because I know the other person has a lot more to go by when they're sizing me up. They see me in my entirety. Like, if I jokingly say something online, I'm always worried about offending or upsetting someone because I can't be sure how they'll take my post. I hate coming off as an ass but I know it happens more often online than it does in "real life." Hopefully that made sense, I'm horrible at getting my point across.

For example, I don't post in Extended Discussion as much as I'd like, I just lurk the threads in hopes of learning something. It reminds me of being in the change rooms with the seniors during my freshman days (except that was just slightly uncomfortable for a day or two, ED is worse). I know there's no real reason to be intimidated but... meh.

Originally Posted by Dianeva

I get elated whenever someone agrees with me or gives me a 'like' or says anything positive to me. My whole day is improved.

You're welcome.
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Do you guys ever wonder how these phobias developed? I know how my fear of being in water with a large object started but I have no clue why I'm afraid of spiders. I have been for as long as I can remember.

Originally Posted by GavinGill

Do you guys ever wonder how these phobias developed? I know how my fear of being in water with a large object started but I have no clue why I'm afraid of spiders. I have been for as long as I can remember.

For things like spiders and snakes, there's probably an evolutionary background to it. This is anecdotal but I was scared of snakes growing up in Hawaii with no TV, electricity or running water (till about four years old). There are no snakes in Hawaii (not true actually, there's a subterranean one on Maui: most people that live here don't even know about it) and my first memory (that I can remember) is a dream where I was getting bit by a snake.

The number one thing that I confuse something on the ground with is a snake.

The fear of spiders is definitely a fear we're born with. I'm still not sure whether people who are afraid of snakes get a similar feeling to me when I'm afraid of spiders, that biologically-ingrained fear. I don't mind snakes. There is just something about spiders that I hate, a feeling which I get very vaguely with other bugs but with spiders it's far worse.

I have a phobia of sea creatures being in water that I'm swimming in. It could be a creek, a pool, the beach... no matter where it is, I'm still scared that a crocodile or shark is going to eat me. This also applies to the bathtub. Once, I was in the bath and my hairtie fell out and touched my toe. I was so scared that I screamed, thinking there was something in there with me like an eel. I nearly drowned in bubblebath trying to run away from the 'eel'. This phobia's gotten to the point where my friends refuse to let me in their pools because I get so paranoid.

Originally Posted by PhilosopherStoned

For things like spiders and snakes, there's probably an evolutionary background to it.

Originally Posted by Dianeva

The fear of spiders is definitely a fear we're born with.

How can we be born with fears of X before being exposed to X? Not questioning claims, just curious.

Originally Posted by GavinGill

How can we be born with fears of X before being exposed to X? Not questioning claims, just curious.

We're born predisposed to have certain reactions toward a lot of things before we're exposed to them. Compare it with males having the ability to be attracted to female bodies before ever seeing one. (After reaching a certain age, but that's besides the point.)

Originally Posted by GavinGill

How can we be born with fears of X before being exposed to X? Not questioning claims, just curious.

It's not so much being born with a fear of something before being exposed to it as it is being born with a predisposition to have a fear towards certain things once being exposed to them.

Thanks, I think I get it.

Roaches. I'm terrified of them. Especially "wood roaches" that are huge and fly!

I have a slight phobia of swimming in the ocean. If I can't see into the water, I'll freak out. Swimming in seaweed?- forget it. Monsters could be hiding in that stuff I was chased by a shark once in Pensacola, FL (where I lived as a teen). I was showing off and swam out too far. I looked down and there was the huge shadow of a shark below me. I swam as quickly as I could back to shore. In retrospect, I think it was a curious nurse shark.

I have intense anxiety about crowds. I feel clausterphobic and can't breathe. i just avoid those situations as much as humanly possible.

I also have a doll phobia (which has gotten much better with age). When I was about 7 years old, I went to my closet and one of my dolls (which used to be my moms when she was a girl and which was about 3 feet tall), turned her head and winked at me. I'll swear it as truth to this day. I was TERRIFIED her. I have bad dreams about her every now and then to this day.

Eat a spider, preferably black, every morning for great strength. An' ye harm none, do what ye will.

Spiders, wasps, centipedes, needles, pregnancy, becoming disabled, incurable illness, death, and eye-contact (especially blue eyes). I'm an all-around big scaredy-cat.

Tapeworms. Those little f██████rs Get inside you when you least expect it and start gnawing on your intestines. Blaugh.

Originally Posted by L33tsaber

pregnancy

Becoming pregnant or being around a pregnant woman as well?