What Are Your Phobias?

[Reiser]

I have a strange fear of heights where it only comes into play at lower altitudes. Like, I thoroughly dislike standing on a ladder to the point of feeling nauseous, but have a much easier time looking down from a skyscraper or a plane.

Similarly, I've done parachuting but would never in my life attempt bungy jumping.

[AmberStarfire]

I don't like bees and wasps, heights, and spiders.

I know where the bees and wasps thing comes from. I remember when I was a small kid and demanded my brother take me out for a walk (I couldn't go alone) and he got stung on the foot. Then when I was older, I got stung by a swarm of wasps after I threw a basketball against the fence. Ever since then, if it flies and stings, I hate/avoid it.

Spiders are more dangerous where I'm from, and there's generally a threshold by which I put the little ones outside (if I believe they're harmless) or relocate them. The larger ones I either get hubby to put out or their life is forfeit on account of being large and/or venomous spiders.

I've disliked heights forever and it kind of triggers my OCD.

On the other hand I love rats (I used to keep them as pets too, and had 12 at one point when one had babies). I like Snakes, especially constrictors. There's at least one photo around of me with a constrictor around my shoulders.

I'm cool with most other things.

[Misty Stone]

My phobia is like two concepts that are related. The first has a name now; submechanophobia, or the fear of man-made objects under water.

Similarly, I have a fear of things existing where they can't possibly be observed. For instance, thinking about exo-planets that have never been observed by any form of life, or which simply continue on after all life has died. Wigs me out for some reason.

Stuff that shouldn't be where it is, and stuff that just exists for the sake of existing without observation.

The wiggins, I say.

[RedRose]

Similarly, I have a fear of things existing where they can't possibly be observed. For instance, thinking about exo-planets that have never been observed by any form of life, or which simply continue on after all life has died. Wigs me out for some reason.

Well, I may have discovered a new phobia lol. Won't deny there 's something creepy about that. Beautiful too.

[Rinzler]

There's something I have which isn't strictly a phobia - because it doesn't scare me - but it does make me feel sorta weird and slightly disturbed.

I call it the big/small thing: observing something tiny next to something huge. I find it slightly...unsettling. Like a pea alongside a huge vertical slab; or a vast, featureless edifice with one small window in it. I get a similar feeling from seeing a stream of smoke rise very high and straight from a cigarette in an ashtray.

Anyone else have this?

[Alluring Firefly]

I have severe Arachnophobia. I cannot, for the life of me, be around a spider no matter how unthreatening or small it is without bursting into a full grown panic attack T^T

[Yarnover]

Heights make me dizzy and nauseous.

Blood-sucking insects like lice and ticks. Spiders don't bother me at all, but the ones that cling to you or infest your body are really horrible for me. Once, my middle daughter had lice and I couldn't get near them so my husband had to get rid of them. I had no issues getting rid of nits though.

My most messed up phobia is about statues. Ever since I was a little girl I've been terrified of them. It's irrational, of course, but I always feared they would come to life or just fall over on me. I lived in Germany as a child and I think it was these greened-over copper statues that did it to me. A quick google search shows them right away; it's the Luther monument in Worms. Just thinking about them gives me the heebie jeebies. Usually animal statues don't bother me but the ones of people do, though the smaller the statue is, the less of a problem I have.

I hate having a fear like this. I hate being afraid of anything. I want to go visit the statue of liberty. Because it's so big, I wonder if I will not perceive it so much as a statue then as a building but we'll see. One day. I also want to see the colossal Buddha statues.

[Muddy Waters]

I have several irrational fears and they might seem odd... I find them odd as well.

5. Sharks ( I love watching science, animal shows... I mean who doesn't watch Shark Week! They fascinate me but scare the living bejesus out of me.  But, yeah I'm a fluffy cinnamon bun for sharks.   I will stay my fluffy ass on land.)

4.  Ghosts/Spirits - Yeah... (shrug)
3. Bigfoot/ Bigfeets ( I don't know what the plural of Bigfoot is.)
2, Metal Jewelry ie: earrings, rings, necklaces.   ( I blame this on my sister who in the '80s wore hoop earrings, gold chains and left them everywhere.   I don't like looking at them, but I can tolerate them.   But I don't like touching it.   I know it's a weirdness.)
1.  Aliens.   Yup.

Irrational.

Real phobias, Heights is pretty much it.   LOL The one normal bit.

[Melancholy Himeros]

I actually have a couple odd phobias to share here.

the weirdest one is my fear of birds, ornithophobia 'tis apparently called. Ever since an incident with a parrot in a pet store some 17 years ago, I've always become jittery and uncomfortable when a bird bigger than my hand is near me. Except owls and pigeons, strangely enough.

and then my biggest and most debilitating phobia is nyctophobia, a fear of the dark. It's actually quite a problem for me, I have trouble simply walking past a dark field in the evening, or walking down a hallway just to turn a light on.

heights sometimes freak me out too but it's only complete vertical heights that give me an uneasy feeling, seems to be the most common one around here :P

[Inkidu]

Heights, mostly uncontrolled climbing. I mean, I'm good for elevators and airplanes and even roller coasters. However, climbing on a ladder that isn't like hooked to anything solid, stepping up on a step ladder, escalators, climbing up on roofs that kind of thing. It's more the, I'm going to fall and be horrible hurt or dead thing.

While I wouldn't call it a phobia, I have a high level of anxiety when driving, especially if I don't know the route backwards and forwards. It's really holding me back. I just can't drive to a place.

[RedRose]

I'm afraid, now that I think of it, of geese and swans LOL. Not as a phobia - but still, I stay away/careful. I've been ran after by angry geese and it sucked. Swans I know can attack.

[Lady Shadow]

Heights definitely. Ladders are the worst!

[Inkidu]

Heights definitely. Ladders are the worst!

Do you see all those warning labels? Might as well say, "You're gonna die!"

[Spike]

My phobias are.............

Open Heights. I am okay inside a building or on a plane or something like that. I get nervous when I am on a roof or an open cliff face looking out or a veranda with only a flimsy sort of bar blocking me from falling.

Stray Dogs. Dogs on a leash I am fine but a dog with no owner around and no leash does frighten me.

Deep Water. Anything above water that goes above my pelvic region is when I get nervous. The higher the more nervous I get and water that comes to my neck sends my heart beating very quickly.

[Dashou]

Atychiphobia --- Fear of Failing. Both in the sense of tests, or just life-related events (not being able to accomplish something). Not being good enough, not doing well enough, etc.

[ChineseSausage]

No surprise but.. coulrophobia... I dislike clowns lol

[Demeverett]

Waterweed... :P

[LostInTheMist]

This is a new one. Can you explain what waterweed is and what makes you afraid of it? (If you don't know why you are afraid of it, that's okay too. Not everyone can rationally explain an irrational fear.)

[gamergirl4life]

Yeah deep water, especially if I can't see the bottom.  (it doesn't help that I am a very bad swimmer)

[Demeverett]

Waterweed = underwater plants. It scares me like hell. I can't go to the lake if the waterweed is growing there and wraps around my legs. It's slithery and I don't know what lives down there.. ;) Yes, whole underwater world is nightmare.

[Niikkiiii]

Mirrors and reflections have ALWAYS creeped me out :(

[roseliaaureate]

when i was really young, i was certain i wanted to be a marine biologist. aquatic like was so interesting! so cool! then titanic came out, and i saw the beginning of it, and, well...

you can't be a marine biologist when literally everything in dark water scares you.

some people have attributed names to this but none of them entirely fit. used to be it was sunken ships only. subs didn't bother me - subs are SUPPOSED to be underwater. sunken ships not. now it's progressed to just about ANYTHING large underwater - but particular angles, depth, and the darkness/opacity of water will make even friendly fish or seals look terrifying to me. but it doesn't have to be deep water at all for it to bother me. hilarious part? i'm a great swimmer and i love to swim... but i keep it to POOLS ONLY.

i don't like big things in buildings. i don't like going to a lot of museums for this reason, even though I LOVE history, archaeology, anthropology, etc. i went to fort knox once when i was a kid, and in the museum at the time there was a hallway with a tank, it's cannon/muzzle aimed at the hallway where people were walking through, and a helicopter suspended overhead. i really pissed my mom off by starting to cry but... it scared the heck out of me! the tank was aimed at us! what if the helicopter fell on us!!

[Thesunmaid]

I have been able to get over some of my phobia's..I am not afraid of spiders anymore because I made myself watch them spin webs and pet my friends tarantula. I am not afraid of needles anymore because I made myself watch the nurse take my blood and those little vacuum tubes...they are kinda neat. I am not afraid of the dentist anymore. I got a large amount of dental work and I am much happier with my smile now because of it.

Although one I don't think I will be able to get over...flying stinging insects...bee's wasps and hornets. I will scream and run away. Most other bugs I am fine with..I mean I don't want them to crawl on me but if they leave me alone I leave them alone and we are ok. But...Yeah bee's wasps and hornets...it's a big nope for me. (I have been stung by a bee like twice in my life but..it was my fault not looking where I was going and I stepped on them. But never been swarmed or anything)

and Being in any situation where I cannot breathe properly..Hence the reason I never learned how to swim. I suppose the biggest part of that would be putting my head under the water. Even with scuba gear or something just no. (no I have never almost drowned but I do have asthma so that might be the cause but I also have not had an asthma attack in years.)

I kind of think I have come a long way because I used to worry about alooooot of other things (some of them really weird) but now I think those are the only 2 I can think of that I have no real good reason for them.

[Giantmutantcrab]

Clowns.

I can better control it today, but as a child? We're talking night terrors and paralysis by fear.

Remember the 90's when Ronald McDonald was EVERYWHERE on tv? Yeah, fun times.

Remember a couple of years ago when idiots dressed up as clowns and chased people around in parks late at night? I did not have that happen to me personally, but I know I would not have reacted with calm understanding.

Effin' clowns.

[Aethian]

Autophobia (fear of abandonment), Climacophobia (fear of ladders), Maskaphobia (fear of masks), iatrophobia (fear of doctors)