Phobias/fears

hi all, i have just been reading a book about phobias.claustrophobia
agoraphobia.i never knew there were so many!. i have spoken to several people recently who opened up, and told me of their phobias. my own daughter just informed me that if she sits down at a table ,to eat (she cannot stand sauce bottles on the table) she feels nausia. a friends wife cannot stand touching animals,she would require to wash several times if she touched one.another person said she could not use escalators,she froze ,if she got on one.personally i cannot travel a long distance in a 2 door car,as a passenger sitting in the back seats. i was involved in an accident some time ago and was trapped in the back of the car.so my reaction now is, the fear of being trapped at the back of the car, i require the security of escape .
anyone any phobias/fears, things we will avoid if we possibly can avoid,and make an excuse to get out of the situation????. music

 

Everyone is afraid of something.

For me, I would say a touch of arachnofobia (fear of spiders). Its ever since I was bitten by a rather large house spider which I had allowed to walk on my hand (I wasn't bothered by them at the time). My hand swelled up like a balloon and I had a yellow puss filled blob in the middle of my hand.

There is no logic to my phobia, I've been bitten by dogs, stood on and kicked by horses, as a youth I've had scrapes with other people, I've bashed myself, cut myself, twisted bits of myself etc on various tools and other inanimate objects over the years, yet I have no fear of any of those things, but just because one spider bit me once, I fear them now.

I also don't like heights unless I'm secured somehow. I abseiled from a 170ft viaduct and loved it, I've climbed vertical rock faces, all great, as long as I'm harnessed up and know I can't fall. In fact last time I went abseiling (years ago now), I remember being frozen to the spot when it was my turn to go. The instructor who was near the edge asked if I was ok. I replied that I would be when I got my harness on. He threw the rope and harnass towards the spot where I'd froze. I got the harness on, then large as life I stood up, strolled to the edge of a 100ft vertical rock face, and went without hesitation.

My sister is terrified of flying (in an aeroplane of course ), but she knows that statistically it is the safest mode of transport by a considerable margin.

There is often no logic to phobias. The best way to deal with them is to tackle them head on. Irrational fear often goes away if you consciously question it. I'm getting past my arachnophobia by reminding myself that there are no really venomous spiders in the UK and that they would generally rather run away from me than bite me anyway. I've progressed from throwing the yellow pages at them from a safe distance to catching them unharmed in a jar and taking them outside, although I still dread the moment of release in case they swing round and land on me.

 

hi music, interesting thread, ive got agrahobia at times i dont go out for days at a time had it for over 10 years now and my fear of spiders and im terrified of wasps, im a bit frightened of bees also as i was stung by one when i was young

 

I have a phobia which doesnt go down well with my better half,i seem to have a serious fear of emptying the kitchen bin when it gets full, i would rather cram everything in until its extremely difficult to remove the inner bag.I think my partner has now realised (after a year or two may i add) that it is definetly a phobia and not just laziness.
Oh and that Jeremy Kyle sends shivers down my spine,im sure i could manage to jam him in my bin. :wink:

 

Another interesting thread! I thought 'phobia' meant an irrational fear of something (could be wrong, what me? never! lol ) but to me there's nothing irrational of fearing something that can hurt you,:(.

I too hate heights, have no reason to that I can recall but I really do.

Also, I am a very bad traveller except if I'm driving, which is strange cos mum told me that I was brought up in the back of cars - not literally, lol, just that I was in my cot on the back seat a lot. Oh those were the days, no seat belts, child seats etc just the cot (carry cot obviously) stuck on the back seat, eeek!

I can get sea sick in dry dock! So travelling is a bit of a phobia for me. Don't like slugs etc but don't freak out about it.

Claustophobia (sp?) definately. Agraphobia, yes like you Rosa very bad at times.

How weird are we?

cheers

 

None other than a dislike of spiral staircases., not a phobia, I just dislike them (a lot). :D

 

For the neurotics amongst us, here's a comprehensive list to find your favourite phobia!

http://www.phobialist.com/reverse.html#P-

 

I really don't do slugs or snails...but I love salting/slicing or crushing them. Not sure if it's Blennophobia though!

 

Wow!!!!! I am shocked I never knew house spiders could bite. Im one of the few females that are not afraid of them, infact I am the one who capures them in a glass and throws them outdoors.:usr: 02

 

Little bit of a side track here, but talking about spiders -
I heard on the tv recently that they injure the most people in Australia. Not because of their venom anymore (cos we have anti-venom) but because of where they 'pop' out of ie driving along, pull down visor, out drops spider = accident!
At least we don't have venomous ones - yet!

cheers

 

Apparently the spider with the most potent venom by volume does live here. It is the daddy longlegs (whatever its proper name is), but its fangs can't penetrate human skin, and if they could the volume of venom is so low as to make them harmless.

 

Spiders make a good Turkey substitute, not much meat but everyone gets a leg.:D

 

strongy, ha ha. Wouldn't like the hairs though!

clue, knew there was a reason I didn't like them!

cheers