What are your innate phobias? *non-gender related*

[silvershadow17]

I've afraid of bears.  I always have been since I was a child.  I used to have nightmares about them getting in our house and attacking our family.  I have no idea why.  It's just always been that way.

[mimpi]

Have big phobia about dogs, pork and heights. Lesser ones regarding peoples' personal hygiene and seriously giant spiders, the ones in West Africa that team up and make 'football nets' between the electricity poles. Dozens of them just waiting there for their prey!

[AudreyH]

I got stung by a yellow jacket at the tender age of four and it has left a scar on my pysche. Whenever I see a bee approaching me, I will literally drop whatever I'm doing and sprint as fast as I can away. One time unfortunately, the biggest hornet in world came into a car I was in while waiting for my dad to get out of the store. It was blue and red, all exotic-like. It landed right on me and just stayed there. I couldn't even breathe out of horror and I almost passed out but I kept myself from doing so because I knew me passing out would equal sudden movement and perhaps a sting. But thankfully it eventually just flew away. It was one of the worst experiences of my life!

[Mr. Fox]

I'm afraid of cockroaches, and anything vaguely cockroachy, like water bugs.  Some other things depend on context.  For example, if I see a large spider in my room, I'll be scared and imagine finding a nest of them or something, but if I just see one outside I don't care.  Any kind of large creature becomes more scary when it's where I live (I only really mind cockroaches and wasps otherwise).  Potato bugs, actually, are the worst of them all in my opinion, but they don't live where I do, so yay!  I just saw them when I was visiting my aunt in California.
 
I'm also scared of heights, and I thought it had no origin, but apparently it developed when I fell down some stairs when I was really little.

[blake]

Crane flies. Absolutely terrified. Everyone thinks I'm ridiculous for this, but just seeing one makes me shriek like a child. They bounce, they fly, and they dive straight at you with their legs splayed. I'm sorry, but they are out to get me.

I hate them because they are so unpredictable. Spiders usually have a trajectory, so you can relocate yourself. Spiders also tend to move away from you. Crane flies usually move towards me, and always seem to be able to box me into a corner.

Basically, I get outsmarted by spindly flies. That is terrifying.

[Joeyboo~ :3]

As far as i know I have two irrational fears that both have made me break down crying.

I'm terrified of vomiting(emetophobia) and the dark(achluophobia).

People just don't understand me when I say I get so freaked out by those two things lol.
i'm often made fun of for it.

[Jayne]

As a child I used to be amazed by spiders, i'd catch daddy long leg flies & put them into webs to see the spider go to work but at some point I became terrified of them.
I've often wondered if it's because of the almost constant itching I live with, as i'm trying to get to sleep my duvet settling on me can feel like somethings crawling over me, also I often get an itch that "runs away", as I get close to scratching the itch it will move & this feels like something crawling over me.

Unfortunately even with this rationalisation I can't get over my fear, just seeing a spider move makes me shudder head to foot & feel like i'm going to be sick.

I'm also terrified of needles after I had an accident as a child & spent most of a day having what was left of my bottom teeth removed (thankfully they were baby teeth) & what was left of my top (adult) teeth repaired, at one point in my early teens I got an absess & had to visit the dentist every day to have the inside of the tooth filled out to remove the crap inside, I had all this done with no injection.
I would also have extractions done without anasthetic & barely flinch! mind over matter......I dont ind so it dont matter 

[mimpi]

Crane flies. Absolutely terrified. Everyone thinks I'm ridiculous for this, but just seeing one makes me shriek like a child. They bounce, they fly, and they dive straight at you with their legs splayed. I'm sorry, but they are out to get me.

Is that 'Daddy Long Legs'? Can't stand them and zap them my electronic tennis racket thingy.

[Hulud]

I HATE mold. Ugh! I cannot stand mold!

[blake]

Is that 'Daddy Long Legs'? Can't stand them and zap them my electronic tennis racket thingy.

Yep, the very same.
Where can you get those tennis rackets of doom? I think I need five of them!

[Cen]

I wouldn't exactly describe any of these as phobias, but:

-Mirrors/Reflective surfaces:  I'm often afraid to stand in front of them, as I expect something in the reflection to behave unusually or violently in some way.  I know that logically that wouldn't happen, but I can't shake the feeling.  I have similar issues in the dark and in water (bath tubs, pools, hot tubs, lakes, oceans, etc...)  My SO has been out of town for almost two weeks, and I've had to sleep in the living room with the cat with the light on.

-Food: I view all food suspiciously, as I fear it may have been tampered with.  This often leads to entire meals being thrown away.  Most recently I wasted an entire pizza and a danish because I detected what I thought were abnormalities.

-People:  People make me uneasy.  I usually become too nervous to articulate my thoughts clearly into speech when I'm around someone unfamiliar or intimidating.  This causes a lot of problems at work and school.  I almost bailed on class last night because I couldn't handle it, but I forced myself to stay.

[Crypt]

I'm not good when it comes to meeting new people
Scares the pants off me unless they talk first and even sometimes then

Also I'm afraid of sleeping.
Not because I'm afraid I won't wake up or anything like that but rather that I don't know what's going on while I'm asleep.
Which in turn has gotten me into a lot of trouble because my mind and my body crank all the defense mechanisms onto high and so my first reaction is to lash out at whatever comes close to me unless I knew it was there before.
So I've had friends attempt to wake me up only to do so in the wrong way and trigger the defense mechanisms in my body which then results in an unconscious ass whooping being delivered to them and me not realizing anything happened when I wake up the next morning.
It's kind of like when you get drunk and black out and don't remember doing anything but people tell you, you did this and that and they have proof to show that it really did happen.

[Fighter]

Spiders, Bees and Wasps, and Heights...

And sea monsters. I've been afraid of the concept of giant creatures in the sea (including fish) ever since that damn Eel in Super Mario 64.

[jakey_star]

I am absolutely terrified of swans. I don't really know why I just think they're evil.

if i'm in a park and there's swans about I feel uneasy and i can't go within a certain distance of them without ceasing up in fear.

[Felix]

I have a lot of stupid fears, nightmares, and maladaptive habits from past traumatic events, but the only actually innate phobia I have is maybe hard to explain. I'm afraid of holograms, pod people, something like that. I'm afraid of finding out that the people I care about aren't real, or are just talking cardboard, or imposters of some sort. I'm afraid of finding duplicates of a person and so knowing that the uniqueness was an illusion. I'm afraid of fakery and shallowness. Science fiction stuff.

It's a really ridiculous, really unlikely situation, but is nonetheless the subject of all my worst dreams.

[Jayr]

Anything that alters gravity; riding escalators, elevators or midway rides like Ferris wheels and roller coasters.

Roller coasters are the worst, I panic just at the sight of them.

Quite embarrassing v__v

[AmySmiles]

I think my worst fears are heights and tight spaces.  I'm not afraid up high so much as I'm afraid of being close to the edge of things when I'm up high.  Even if there's a railing or a window, I'm afraid of looking out too far in case I lose my balance!  And tight spaces are the worst.  I can't even wear a bracelet that takes too much trouble to put on because I'm afraid I won't be able to get it off and that freaks me out so much.  I've ripped clothes that were too tight just to get them off of me when it's bad.

[Hadrian]

I've posted here before about my phobias, but I have one more that I didn't know there was a name for: Chiraptophobia or various variations of it. It's also known as aphephobia. Fear of being touched. This oddly doesn't interfere with doing hair. I can comfortably cut, dye, and style other peoples hair. Nor does it usually interfere with my job which is that I take care of the elderly, but it has ruined relationships because I freak out if my SO touches or kisses me. I usually don't have a problem with long time friends unless they touch me spontaneously. My coworker touched my back once showing me where she hurt and I panicked but luckily I've gotten very adept at hiding this phobia. Also, sometimes if I'm taking care of a resident for the first time I panic, but I've been a CNA so long that I know how to ignore the fear at least as it pertains to my job. I just wish it wouldn't interfere with SOs; it's bad enough that if someone tries to kiss me, I literally have the urge to vomit or if they hold my hand, my hand feels really weird and I have the urge to jerk away and distance myself as much as possible. Ugh. This is one of those fears you seek help for because it's so bothersome! Oi.

Edit: oh and this is absolutely not gender related at all, this fear manifested after a traumatic experience.

[Felix]

I have trypanophobia (aka belonephobia), fear of hypodermic needles (or, more specifically, medical procedures involving hypodermic needles).
It's actually a real, recognized phobia... as is phobophobia (fear of fear), mottephobia (fear of butterflies and moths), acrophobia (fear of heights), coulrophobia (fear of clowns), etc.
**Edit: Not that I have any of the phobias following trypanophobia, just giving examples...**

When I had my fillings done and my wisdom teeth removed, I had them done at the same time (to save time and money), and I ended up having a horrific panic attack at the mere sight of the hypodermic needle coming at me.
I hyperventilated, cried, screamed, and passed out.

I don't think when I'm on T, I'll ever be able to do injections because of my phobia.

-Richie

When I had my wisdom teeth removed, I was given some nitrous oxide before they inserted the IV for general anesthesia. So I wasn't all there, and I grabbed the nurse and shoved her and pulled the needle out. I didn't know what was going on and I just went into survival mode. Lol the last thing I remember was them putting the mask back on me. 

[mixie]

Waterbugs used to be the thing that set me over the edge.  But a few years ago in Cyprus I actually inhaled one inside a scuba tube, it got stuck in my throat until I hacked it out.  After that (I screamed blue murder) ain't nothing can come close so I'm sorta over that one.


I have a phobia of sorts of people touching my face.  And holding hands.  I can't hold hands with anyone, not even my kids but I don't think it is innate, I think its based on years of sticky gross baby hands.