Phobias

[Darwinian]

Just watching the T.V. where a woman has phobia of soup! The only phobia I have that I can think of right now is heights. Once I get up too high I have this compulsion to jump and fly

What phobias do you have?

[leo-rcc]

The only one I can think of is my fear of standing on ladders. I am perfectly fine with heights, I've stood in Gondola Building Maintenance Units without a problem, but if I have to get up a ladder any higher than a few feet I break out in a cold sweat.

[Kyuuketsuki]

I don't suppose a fear of me dying counts does it?

I suppose the only thing that absolutely terrifies me is the thought of harm coming to my kids ... it happened to me on this Thorpe Park ride called The Slammer which I went on with my (then) 11/12 year old, she was smallish and as we flipped over I was utterly terrified she might fall out and I was just "praying" the ride would finish.

Kyu

[Sam]

Hmmmm ...

I'm afraid I'm a mans man, no phobias here ...

I do however have a passionate dislike of bees and wasps, since one of the blighters stung me in the throat a few summers ago and forced me to trek down from the moutains with a swollen throat ... B@^%ards!

Sam

[Overmars]

My only phobia is that of heights, if I find myself somewhere higher than 3 meters from the ground I freak out.

[Eilonnwy]

I have arachnophobia, which is fear of spiders. I've had it as long as I can remember. The fear can be very debilitating for me. If I see spider somewhere that area becomes tainted and I can't go near it for as long as I can avoid the area. My fear is so severe that I can't even kill a spider if I see one unless there's no other option and I have to get rid of it somehow. If I do have to kill a spider it takes me a long time to work up the courage and I tend to hyperventilate afterward. I like to kill them with vacuums if I must, because with the long hose I can keep my distance. My fear also extends to centipedes and essentially any bug with more than 8 legs or very creepy legs. I can tolerate ants, and beetles, or most any other insect except the mosquito eaters because they look like flying spiders. Over the years my phobia has calmed down, but it still affects me in a way that it is definitely a phobia and not just dislike of bugs.

It's the absolute worst when you have a fear reaction to something when you KNOW it's an overreaction, you KNOW it's all in your head, you KNOW the spider won't kill you (There aren't any dangerous ones in Boston as far as I know) and you still can't do anything about it because my body just reacts.

I once stepped on a millipede with my bare feet in the kitchen and began screaming and crying when I realized that my neighbors called to see if I was okay.

Phobias suck.

[LEDO]

I fear supernovas and kryptonite.

[Edwardo Piet]

I have trouble thinking of anything. If Phobia is defined as 'irrational fear' then I guess sometimes I get really distressed when total silence and a feeling of deep suspense has been going on for too many minutes (and if it's longer.....UGH!!!) - it tends to feel like my life is wasting away because like...nothing is happening and/or no one is saying anything!

I fucking hate those 'uncomfortable silences' :S

Not sure if that's a phobia or not. Maybe just a major agitation(?)

EvF

[Eilonnwy]

pho⋅bi⋅a
–noun
a persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that leads to a compelling desire to avoid it.

To me personally, I think something qualifies as a phobia if it interferes with your life and makes you go out of your way to avoid those things. So being agitated is not the same as consistently going out of your way to avoid the agitation. Like I said with my arachnophobia, if I see a spider, I can't go near that spot for hours even if it's gone.

[Edwardo Piet]

Well that's interesting - the definition I've heard is that in its broadest most fundamental sense at least... - 'Phobia', in essence; just means 'Irrational Fear'. As it says there, but goes a bit further.

Depends on the dictionary I guess...and I guess it doesn't have to have all those properties and maybe in essence it's just 'irrational fear' - but it commonly has the connotation as meaning more than that - and it is commonly used to mean more.

I found it interesting how Stephen Fry said 'Fear of Flying'--as in when on an airplane-- is a phobia because such a fear is irrational...there's nothing dangerous about simply flying in and of itself - fear of crashing however, fear of crashing however isn't necessarily a phobia in and of itself - because there might be some situations at least, when it's reasonable to fear it. Fear of simply flying however, in and of itself - is never rational so is always a 'phobia'.

I bet I must have some phobia...I wonder what it is tho...

EvF