Hey ya'll, at least with my life, phobias and fears seem to have been just as innate as sexuality.
From the very first thoughts I can remember, I've always been been absolutely terrified of heights and of the dark. I've never had any traumatic physical encounters with these two things before the fears took place (though I have had many terrible dreams involving both since.) I'm terrified of both of these things to the point that certain heights will make me suddenly cry, curl up, shake, and it evokes this feeling as though someone's trying to kill me, that I'm literally going to die. With the dark, it's more of a deep, slow fear that makes me fanatically sit up in the bed and look around the room (even with a nightlight on), to make sure nothing supernatural is there (I'm so atheist that I make Marilyn Manson look religious, but I somehow am terrified of ghosts!)
I figure that something must have happened before the age of 3 (because I remember every even slightly important or effecting day I've ever had since that age) involving both these fears, but I just don't know what. I figure it may have been pre-memory abuse, since my parents later became abusive when I was in my middle childhood (and anyone who abuses a child has the possibility to have done it before or to do it again), but like I said, I can't remember anything before the age of 3! So either something caused it, or it's entirely innate.
Anyone here want to share their innate fears that they've had even before they could remember?
I've always been been absolutely terrified of heights and of the dark.
Pretty common fears, and I'm not even so sure that 'heights' is a phobia as any fall over five feet or so can kill you. It's a natural fear.
I don't have any fears like that, however the slightest hint of curry in the air will make me almost vomit every time.
i fear dentists, and using any machine that i don't know personally
Butterflies. I am absolutely scared of butterflies. I have no idea why. After that one, little bugs.
I love curry, but I have a hatred approaching fear of forms.
Robots from Uncanny Valley...
I don't mind bugs for the most part, but I have an intense fear of ticks, fleas, and other similiar creatures-- anything that burrows under the skin or sucks blood. As much as I love nature walks, it's difficult for me to feel calm because of these little critters.
dentists .. and needles .. got both from childhood . a dentist tried to strangle me .. and i cant stand the though of anything going under my skin .. AUGH !!! RUNS !!! other than that im pretty cool ..
Birds. I don't trust anything with feathers, though Farrah Fawcett would be fine for a night. Bad joke. :D
I have a innate phobia of moths. They're creepy and some have fur and they will purposely attack you. >_< Also, I have a phobia of mosquitoes and spiders, ick!
And then, I have the norms, dark and heights and needles and claustrophobia. If you've ever had 4 nurses, your mom, and a doctor have to hold you down to give you a shot, you'd be phobic too. Although, I have absolutely no problem giving myself shots, it's other people sticking me that freaks me out. lol. Also, the fear of the dark and closed spaces is from my mother's abusive boyfriend locking me in a dark room and holding me under blankets while I was struggling to breath (also why I don't like it when people hold me down). And I don't know why heights, that's a fear I've worked for years to conquer, even so far and cliff jumping and any carnival ride that suddenly drops you from a great height. ;D
Quote from: Forum Admin on July 07, 2011, 01:08:46 PM
Birds. I don't trust anything with feathers, though Farrah Fawcett would be fine for a night. Bad joke. :D
To quote Woody Allen:
How wrong Emily Dickinson was! Hope is not "the thing with feathers". The thing with feathers has turned to be my nephew. I must take him to a specialist in Zurich.
;D
I will second the Robots from the Uncanny Valley and also bring up Real Dolls. Looking at pictures of those makes me feel incredibly uneasy.
Quote from: Renton on July 07, 2011, 12:57:14 PM
I don't mind bugs for the most part, but I have an intense fear of ticks, fleas, and other similiar creatures-- anything that burrows under the skin or sucks blood. As much as I love nature walks, it's difficult for me to feel calm because of these little critters.
Bleh yes I'm the same way. Spiders too! They build webs across my nice trails and it's the most horrible feeling to accidently walk into one. :(
i have a strong fear of southern fundamentalist preachers
I have an embarrassingly intense phobia of small chattering teeth toys. Though, that wasn't innate, it developed (don't ask how). It would be hilarious if I wasn't serious :embarrassed: And the internet is the only place I'll share that strange little fun fact....lol
Innate phobias - oh, I don't think there are any. I think all phobias are learnt.
I tend to not like heights - but I'm absolutely fine on rides for example (Like a Rollercoaster) and in fact, can find some quite a disappointment. Then again, I spent many years winch launching gliders *Sailplanes as also known* and believe me when I say, going up on a winch launch at a rough 45 degree angle, 50/55 wind knot speed kinda makes most rides pretty tame.
I don't mind bugs *But NB screams like a girl* I don't mind the dark.
I do hate wasps, and it took a lot of practice to get rid of that fear. Its still there, but I no longer freak out at even the sight of one - but that is because someone disturbed a wasps nest, I was walking up behind where they were, didn't know what they had done and I was the one who got caught! Stung on just about every exposed bit of skin. So a valid fear there me thinks.
So heights - yet in some situations, that isn't a problem. Go figure!
Oh - I don't have a phobia per sa, but I hate clowns. Smarmy freaky things!
Yes i do scream like a girl at spiders!! LOL i hate them! :o
Okay so my phobias.... Celery. Might sound weird but i used to dream it was growing out of me when i was a teen. I cant even stand the smell of it now. Spiders as i have already said! ewwwww. I also hate any bug, absolutely any of em, although i quite like ladybirds.
Kia Ora,
::) I have a fear of becoming phobic ...But I guess this fear keeps the real phobia at bay ;) :D ;D
Metta Zenda :)
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
Kia Ora,
::) A phobia is "irrational" fear...
So Phobophobia= "irrational" fear of "irrational" fears. Not "rational" fear of "irrational" fears... ;)
Metta Zenda :)
Didn't really know that.
Thanks for clearing that up.
The thing I was reading just said fear of fear.
I guess you really do learn something new every day!
Thanks, Zenda!
-Richie
I'm scared of becoming old and senile. I never want to get to the point where I can't even get up to go to the bathroom by myself and have to wear one of those adult diapers and have someone take care of me.
I'm terrified of becoming completely deaf. I wear hearing aids, and each year I tend to have to get them programmed to be "louder". I figure I'll probably be too deaf for hearing aids to help very much by the time I'm in my 50's. It still scares the crap out of me.
Ghosts kinda scare me. I believe in them (in a half-agnostic way), and I do like them, I'm just pretty scared of them. Clowns as well, they creep me the hell out. I saw a poster of this killer clown horror movie when I was a little kid, and the poster alone gave me nightmares for 2 weeks. I still really can't stand clowns now.
Senility scares me, too. I'm mostly just scared of getting to the point where I can't remember who's real and who's just a character from one of my stories.
Not sure if this is a phobia, but most social situations scare me. If I'm expected to interact, it's worse. I'm fine in crowded classrooms if I can read or ignore everyone, but at a friend's dinner table, if they want me to speak with the other people seated, I will panic internally.
Fear of spiders. Now, this is not unusual, but mine is a bit more specific. I am afraid of web building spiders with large bodies and long skinny legs. But I think hunter spiders such as wolf, jumping spiders, and tarantulas are just plain adorable!
That is the only phobia I have that I can not attribute to trauma. I have a fear of roads too, like, being a pedestrian, treading where cars tread, no event I can think of cause this, but I am sure there is one. Cars are scary, though...
Spiders.....i can't sleep in the dark as i have a paranoid fear as soon as i turn off the light one might come and walk on me. Wasps....i jumped out of a moving car to escape a wasp once. Mirrors, heights, the dark, fog really scares me, clowns, windows at night. It's not a phobia as such but drunk people tend to scare me.
Wasps, heights, needles, and guns... Hmmm... Most of those can hurt...
Innate. That which I don't know, so I try to understand it. I do have claustrophobia, which came on the day I could not breath. That was when I found out I had COPD. Since then I can not even stand to watch something on TV, that is remotely about being buried alive or in a small tunnel.
Heights
Rapid movements
Crowds
Becoming mentally disabled
But how do you feel about Endives or Arugula?
I'm pretty afraid of needles, big crowds, most creepy crawlies, and a whole host of other things. I only have one fear that I'd class as a phobia, though, and it's a bit of an unusual one: I'm utterly terrified of crabs. The beach type, as opposed to the type you can get from sleeping around. ^_~ My older brother threw one at me when I was about four years old, and ever since they've provoked real horror in me. Images of them cause my heartbeat to race and my body to start shaking involuntarily, and knowing that there's even a piece of one of their shells near me usually sends me into panic and tears. I'm fortunate in that it's not something you're really thrown into contact with every day, but I absolutely can't go near beaches, fish markets or certain sections of aquariums and museums.
I have a fear of confrontation, couple that with paranoia and I fear crowds and meeting new people, I'm afraid of going blind, Im afraid of being alone in the dark, (i sleep with a lamp on), needles dont really scare me, per se, but they do make me very uncomfortable. I'm also afraid of heights, elevators, enclosed places, being underground, and anything poisonous(animal or chemical).
Sleeping alone in the dark.
There must be some sort illumination, no matter how dim.
I can not relax, to be able to go to sleep,
unless I know I can see what's going on around me.
Falling into the ocean and being eaten by a megalodon.
Logan, never play silent hill 4.
Quote from: Logan Bann on August 23, 2011, 10:43:16 PM
I also despise and fear vents. I watched an X-Files episode when I was little and yeah I don't want to talk about it. Something being in the walls...
Eugene Victor Tooms!! ;D Sorry... huge X-Files fan.
While I don't have that fear of vents, I had a moderate fear of storm drains when I was kid, after reading Stephen King's
It. "We all float down here."
I wouldn't say I really have any phobias, defined as irrational fears. I don't like insects much, especially flying ones, though I think this has alot to do with being attacked by a wasp as a small child. I was dumb enough to follow my brother's urging and look into a hole in the wooden bird feeder post without knowing why he wanted me to look in there. The wasp inside flew out and attacked... And of course my luck it went for me and not him lol. Always been afraid of tornadoes too, though I think that is a very rational thing to be afraid of ;)
My main phobia is pholcid spiders — i.e. daddy long legs, but several different arthropods are referred to by that name, and my phobia is specifically of pholcids. I don't mind other spiders that much, not wild about them walking on or near me but it's nothing like how I feel about pholcids.
I don't usually tell people IRL because people then seem to think it's absolutely hilarious to capture one and surprise me with it and then laugh while I start hyperventilating. I don't know why so many people are horrible about phobias like that... most people wouldn't, say, lock a claustrophobic in a cupboard*, and yet so many people think other phobias are less serious and therefore it's acceptable and funny to exploit them. The same thing used to happen to a friend of mine who had a phobia of mould — people would always chase her around with mouldy food until she started crying and everyone would laugh because "it's only mould".
I'm also very afraid of heights. Oh, and I'm unreasonably nervous around horses. I know why, it's because my first experiences of them when I was very young involved adults repeatedly telling me "Don't go near its legs, it will kick you and you'll be killed!" so I have this strong subconscious idea of horses as UNPREDICTABLE DEATH BEASTS and prefer to keep a fence between them and me at all times.
*I know some people are really nasty, but I'm talking about the average person
I'm afraid of spiders. Once I came within inches of a dead tarantula the size of my hand (outstretched) before I noticed it was there. It scared the hell outta me.
I'm not afraid of heights but I am afraid of falling. I get VERY vivid death images in my head when I am up high.
Last but not least I'm afraid of (or at least was) clown dolls in the dark. I had one in my room when I was a child and I swear that thing would turn it's head and look at me when the lights were off.....Creepy!
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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 :P
Quote from: blake on September 19, 2011, 04:43:01 PM
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.
I HATE mold. Ugh! I cannot stand mold! :embarrassed: :'(
Quote from: mimpi on September 28, 2011, 04:50:45 PM
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!
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.
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.
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. That thing was terrifying! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ool1i-1Jv7M#)
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Quote from: riccirules on July 14, 2011, 01:09:10 AM
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. :laugh:
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.
I get sick on whirly cups and saucers and rollercoasters at amuzement parks due to getting dizzy. Heights above 40 ft bother me unless i am in a tree.
I live in a very old 1820's house with spiders etc etc and well as long as they don't bite me i can deal with them.
Oh i fear being tickled .. if anyone even pretends with me i get violent. I was held down as a child and given a cherrybelly grrrr
I have a mortal fear of damage to my eyes. Not of being blind or disfigured, no. Of just that eye scream moment. Eyes are so fragile, you know. Made of jelly, practically. I've gotten paper cuts on my eye 3 times before and it is pain...so fragile, eyes are. So easily destroyed. I was freaked out before getting the paper cuts, now, it's just so much worse. *squick*
I'm also terrified of Slenderman. But that's more learned than innate...
Ouch paper cut on the eye sounds brutal. One time I was in a store working and not paying attention. I was hanging up new stock and I bent down really fast to pick something up and bounced my eyeball wide open off a pegboard hook. Scraped up the whole front of my eyeball. They actually brought the doctors in training in the ER to take a look at it. Basically it looked like a styrofoam cup would if you dragged your fingernail down it. PAINFUL Worse than labor. so I don't blame you.
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kc-store-fixtures.com%2Fimages%2Fpegboard-hooks.jpg&hash=e2c61465983c7831a25ce9b86e05b047cb1dfa90)
Basements. I've always been absolutely terrified of basements. Probably stemmed from when I was about 3 or 4 when my babysitter locked me in a dark basement by myself x_x I'll never forget that day.
Doesn't help that our upstairs bathroom has been under renos for the past 2 months (sigh) so we've been forced to use the downstairs bathroom. It's kind of helped me a *little* bit to get over my fear but I still always run up the stairs like the bats of hell are after me.
I have a fear of spiders and the fear of the music on video games that plays when you have to pick your character but time is running out and the music that plays when you die or fail a mission in the video games.