Originally Posted by
Dianeva
Well I could probably come up with a list of hundreds of things I dislike and 'fear' in a sense, like the dentist, sleeping in through an exam, accidentally using the same toothbrush as my brother, etc. but I've always thought the definition of a phobia is a fear that's irrational. By irrational, I mean it can't just be completely explained by fearing some consequence, there's something odd going on in the brain, some 'faulty wiring' that causes you to experience blind fear in response to something when you can't necessarily back up that fear with a good reason. Or maybe the fear evolved for a rational reason, but isn't psychologically caused by that reason. If the definition is just something you fear, I have hundreds, maybe thousands, so does everybody.
An example is fear of heights. It's rational to fear heights if you're in danger of falling to your death, but the reason it's considered a phobia is because people will continue to fear heights even if they're protected by a big railing and know they're completely fine. There's just something in the brain that gives us this fear response when we're high up enough.
Mine that I can think of right now would be fear of:
- heights
- spiders & some other bugs, mostly the long-legged ones like leather-jackets/mosquito-eaters
That's all. I don't have any odd fears.