What Are Your Phobias?

[Asriel346]

If you have phobias, please share them here.

I have mottephobia, a fear of moths. I can recognize WHY I have this particular phobia, but I can't shake it anyway. See, I learned that moths ate some clothing (well, their larvae, did anyway, but I was very young and made very little differentiation between larvae and adult moths). I, young child that I was, interpreted this to mean ALL clothing, and I didn't understand how gradual the process was, or how easily it was prevented, and figured that if I was WEARING the clothes the moths decided to eat, that they would eat me too. I know now, that none of that is remotely accurate. And yet I still have a fear of moths. I CAN force myself to be near them, briefly, when absolutely necessary, such as when leaving a building with a porch light that has attracted moths, but it's not comfortable. And when I encounter one in an isolated situation, I sweat, my heart rate accelerates, I feel a sense of dread.

I KNOW it is irrational, but I can't help it.

I'm uncomfortable with heights, but it's not a phobia. It's just discomfort. But the moths thing is a legit phobia. (I consider arachnids fascinating... did you know scorpions have eight lungs?... But I imagine a lot of people's phobias involve arachnids.)

Do you have any phobias? If so, rationally thinking about them, can you explain why? As I've demonstrated above, a rational understanding of why you are afraid doesn't remove an irrational fear. I just like the psychology of fear. It's an interest of mine.

I can't stand moths at all. Everything about them makes me shudder. For me the main thing is that they are so unpredictable, and they have a habit of flying directly at me. I'm sort of okay with butterflies but I did get freaked out once at a butterfly sanctuary. I don't open windows at night either. And yet I'll happily walk into the creepiest of basements. Once visited the morgue of a derelict psychiatric hospital. Interesting but in no way scary. Yet I can also tell you that flamethrowers are legal to purchase in Texas for "agricultural" purposes and yes, it is related.

[Afsana]

Moths and butterflies. I hate moths and butterflies. They drive me crazy. When I was 2 years old, my parents took me to a butterfly house. All the other children there were like: "Purdy, purdy butterfly, sit on my finger!" and were soooo unhappy when the butterflies flew away from them. I was stiff in shock and the damn things SAT DOWN ON ME! My father had to carry me from the butterfly house screaming, crying and kicking.

I worked with the phobia... and nowadays I can breathe and just go away when there's a moth or a butterfly. But I cant sit on an illuminated place outside at night. I just can't. I tried once (I really thought I was so much better with my phobia) and it ended with me in tears, unable to move, sweat all over my body and uncontrollable trembling.

And (and Im ashamed of that one) saliva. I couldn't hold babies. I TOLD people I couldn't hold their baby, but they didn't believe me till I almost dropped one. I got therapy for that, because I always wanted to have a baby! The baby survived and is a healthy toddler now. Spit-bubbles still give me the creeps. And I don't french kiss ever.

[Lux12]

Well to start with I'm scared of heights. There's even been points in time where I nearly fainted from being really high up without a whole lot of walls around me or being too close to the edge.

Then there's asphyxiation. Good God few things wreck my nerves worse than having my breathing limited or cut off. I am a kinky guy who gets high off of pain, but good God I insist on not having bindings around the neck (collars and leashes being an exception for some reason) and I'm iffy about gags for that very reason. I'm often a shaky mess if I've recently thrown up or nearly choked on something. Having my breathing cut off in anyway just utterly scares me.

I'm not scared of sharks in general, but specifically great whites. I know they aren't particularly aggressive and they play a valuable part in maintaining the ecological balance so I don't hate them or want to see them eradicated. Quite the opposite. However, the appearance of them sends a wild surge of dread pulsing through me. Those eyes combined with the teeth and that perpetual smile of sorts on their faces just disturbs me. I have a similar reaction to Mako sharks.

Then the next one I kind of want to put a spoiler on because it's some really heavy stuff. I mean, I don't want to trigger someone who might be dealing with related trauma, but tit is one of my biggest fears.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

I've never had it happen to me thankfully but I am utterly terrified of being raped or sexually assaulted, especially by other men. Reading about it or watching media that discusses the stuff in any extensive fashion has left me frequently feeling really fucked up afterward. Seeing even fictionalized depictions of it, no matter the intent behind it can leave me feeling messed up, but it's not as bad as reading about real life instances of it happening or hearing about it....That's something which hammers on the fear centers of my brain like nothing else. I think it may be one of the reasons I have a harder time trusting other men than I do women. It's also one of the reasons I really, really do not like walking alone late at night only to see another man walking close by behind me or in front of me. I have even gone out of my way to cross the street to avoid getting close for that very reason. Having generalized anxiety disorder is bad enough. Coupling that with OCD and a phobia only makes it worse.

Some people I know may have speculated that even if it does not reach phobia levels, I may some kind of ingrained fear of other men in general which is weird because I do have male friends. However, it would make sense to say so.

[Scylla]

I have eisoptrophobia when I’m drinking heavily.  Meaning I can’t look at myself in the mirror when I’m drunk.  It’s not a shame thing- I don’t feel shameful for drinking.  I lead a perfectly healthy family life and drink rarely.  But when I do drink, I can’t bring my eyes up to the bathroom mirror when I go into use it or wash my hands.  It’s just an odd irrational fear.  Like I’m going to see something weird or something.