List your phobias--rational and irrational alike

This was inspired by the "fear of flying" thread. (And the "fear of frying" copycat thread).

What phobias do you all have? They could be very understandable or completely irrational, I don't care.

For me, I'm afraid of getting some unexpected or obscure life threatening illness which you have no control over. I don't know why. Perhaps because I hear about others getting obscure/unexpected life-threatening illness and you at first think "That will never happen to me." And then you think, "Or will it?" And then it becomes an unhealthy (literally) obsession of mine. Although it's more like ALS or Parkinson's or some odd cancer for me--bacteria based illnesses don't scare me. I've got a strong immune system, knock on wood (I got over mono in a week), so I'm no germophobe.

Or more specifically, the things that could be *hiding* in the dark, which amounts to fearing the dark. I really dislike large spiders, but wouldn't say I'm phobic of them. I'm phobic of catching stomach flu, or seeing/hearing/anything other people throwing up.

there is no name for the first one-I have looked. I don't like being around it and touching it is out of the question. I had to sit and concentrate and train myself to be able to wear my wedding ring.

Balloons and rubberbands-I fear that they will pop and take out an eye.

I had this process involving a paper bag and either a rolled up newspaper or a papertowel.

My wife used to crack up when she realized she had left her ear rings.

FREAKS me OUT!

I bet she thinks it's adorable. :)

I hate talking on phones. I have panic attacks if I have to call strangers or people I don't know very well. I'm usually okay if they call me or it I'm calling my close friends or family. I still find talking on the phone very awkward and uncomfortable and I don't do it if I can avoid it.

Cell phones are a living nightmare for me. They're phones that you carry on your person, all the time! *shudder* I refuse to own one, and I have never regretted it, except for this one time when my radiator exploded in the middle of nowhere Montana.

Drives me loopy.

I can deal, though. I went after a wasp in my apartment with a broom the other night. It only *felt* like I was having a heart attack. :)



Ooh, and the dark. :scared:


Oops, forgot another: tight spaces. Just a smidge of claustrophobia.

where "trapped" is subjective. It would include being in an elevator that's stuck between floors, in the middle of a large, open field or in a long line at a store, bank, left-turn lane, etc.

I couldn't even swim in the deep end of my pool at night when I was younger (and not 6 years old, but like 14) because I had this irrational notion that a shark was going to eat me. I have gone diving with great whites in an attempt to get over this feeling, but I still do not feel comfortable swimming in the ocean.

I also have this compelling urge to jump from anything high. Off the roof of my building, off bridges, out my office window. I can't look down because I feel compelled to jump. I also went skydiving hoping to get THAT out of my system - also to no avail.

you tend not to find many sharks on bridges or in offices

Welcome to DU :hi:

I'm not claustrophobic, really -- I don't mind crowded elevators and whatnot -- but if I'm completely enclosed to the point where I can't move and can't readily escape the situation, I start acting like a freaking cornered rat -- pure fight-or-flight stuff.

I used to have a worse-than-normal fear of spiders after being attacked by a tarantula when I was very young. But immersion therapy solved that one -- I went to Missouri for college, and a house I lived in was absolutely infested with the little buggers, especially those brown recluses that can cause your skin to rot and fall off. Given those conditions, I had to get over my fear pretty quickly.


On edit: On the other hand, I don't have a lot of the fears that most people have. I don't have any appreciable fear of heights, for example.

I trace it back to a cartoon I was when I was 10.

My anxiety attacks on planes are so weird. They come and they go, unpredictably. I used to burst into tears at the very thought of having to get on a plane. But last year I flew by myself from Kuala Lumpur to Newark (!!) and was fine. I suspect anti-anxiety pills may have played a role. :)

Spiders: big hairy ones. Little normal-sized ones, OK, but anything wolf-spider-ish and up, BLAAAARRGHHH!

Gruesome medical information. If someone starts talking about their surgery or disease or whatever and getting all TMI on the details, I start to feel lightheaded and dizzy. Just cannot handle it. This is especially bad for pregnancy/gynecological stuff (I'm female).


But some things that bother lots of people don't bother me at all. I love snakes, I think they're sexy and adorable. I'm utterly indifferent to all 6-legged bugs. I LOVE public speaking, I'm a total stagehound.

God, I have a crazy, crazy fear of needles. The very idea that something could pierce under my skin just... ewwww... you'll never see me freebasing drugs, getting piercings or tattoos. Even when I get shots I have to look the other way. :scared: